Warming up

With the weather getting all warm (mid 60s) and sunny, we decided to head outdoors for some hiking. Our good friends Aaron and Russ had given us an awesome REI pack for Xander's birth, so we headed out for a test-run at Smith Rock State Park. The pack's manual states the intended ages of 6 months - 2 years. However, Xander is not you average sized 4 month old (in retrospect, we should have asked for 9-12 month aged clothes at the baby shower).

Since he's proven trail worthy on previous expeditions and doesn't resemble a bobble-head, we geared up and hit the trail. We decided on the "loop" which follows around the Crooked River and summits at Monkey Face figuring the skree slope would be better tackled on an ascending, rather than descending approach. (note for future trips: trekking poles are a God-send when packing 30 lbs. of child with a center of balance slightly above your head.)

Anyhow, the hike was a success if measured by getting from point "a" to point "b" without injury or loss of life. Realistically, we probably pushed him a little bit. On the descent via Misery Ridge (aptly named of course) he had a melt-down of Chernobyl proportions. This could have been caused by the heat, hunger, or time spent battened down by REI's overzealous 7-point harness. Anyhow, he was over it. Once past the technical section, we got him out and Chelle carried him the rest of the way while I followed with the child carrier sans child. Nice.

Back at the car Chelle noticed some serious hickeys on her shoulder. Turns out, Xander was teething again. Poor guy just gnawed on mom's shoulder for comfort. Sadly, I don't have any photographic evidence to post. Well, what can you say... we're learning. :) Here's some pics from the trip:

Back

Really no excuses for the lack of umm... updating. Do trips to Boulder and Seattle count? I didn't think so. Anyhow, how about some random thoughts in bullet point format?

1. Still no news in the future employment category. Coincidently, I've been doing a lot of thinking/studying/praying lately about discerning God's will. Fascinating subject when you really think about it. There are a lot of different opinions out there. Here's one and another. The last one I read was interesting. Did you know that the word "discernment" is only found once in the bible?

"...this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ." Philippians 1:9-10

2. I won some NCAA tournament pool$.

3. Punxsutawney Phil was right this year, but I think he was a bit off on his time frame. Winter is still hitting us hard here with snow on the ground a few days ago and freezing temps. Forecast? More snow and cold.

4. Mom, we saw you on the news tonight. Dang, give us a heads up or something! Then when I was trying to find the video to link, I ran across this article where they interviewed Al J.

5. I updated the menu links over there --->

6. Xander keeps getting bigger every day. Seems like every time I pick him up he weighs more. Maybe I just need to visit the gym a little more often.

8. Opening day of fishing recently happened here. Unfortunately, nobody could fish because all of the lakes were frozen over.

9. May is coming, and you know what that means.