Stupid Javelina!

Jon pointed out to me that those of you who have not spent time in the Sonoran Desert probably have no idea what javelina are. I cannot believe that I actually used to pay money to go see these things at the Desert Museum.

These creatures are now the bane of my existence. I used to find them so cute. Occasionally, we would be running in the evening and spot a family of them in the desert around our neighborhood. Now they are taking over the neighborhood (perhaps taking it back is more accurate, since they were probably here first). Anyway, on Sunday and Tuesday night they knocked over our garbage and flung it all over the side of our house. GRRRR. Since the garbage cannot fit in the garage with both cars, I now have the lid fastened shut with old climbing gear, and the battle of wits begins. Who is smarter, the wild pig-like creature or me?

...Don't answer that please.

someone buy me this please!

http://tucson.craigslist.org/cto/2290978482.html (sold- doh!)

How about this?

http://tucson.craigslist.org/cto/2288473193.html

Tanque Verde Ridge

This past weekend was probably one of the last that we will have were the temp is was under 90, so we were glad that we took advantage and hiked 2 miles up Tanque Verde Ridge in Saguaro East.

Of course Miles fell asleep during the quick 10 minute drive to the park. Yes, he does have a bruise on his forehead. He fell and hit his head in the bathtub on my (Sara's) watch :( Hiking up the ridge with Miles on my back. He is heavy now. View of Rincon Peak. About 1.5 miles in. Saguaro catus with Tucson in the horizon. Drew and Miles in front of a cave. Trail to nowhere. More views. We also wanted to thank everyone for their comments lately. You all have been great and it makes us happy. We love and miss you!

Happy 11 mo. Miles

Post 200: Thimble Peak and Miles' New Favorite Things

Miles LOVES the dogs. Here is a picture of him searching for them while they are outside going to the bathroom. Yes...I know, our glass door is filthy. I am not much of a housekeeper and neither is Drew.

Miles love to crawl under stuff now. I think that he is going to be a fort kid, which is awesome. My brother and I used to make massive forts in our basement and I cannot wait to build one with Miles. Here he is crawling under the dining room table.
While our heads were turned tonight, Miles managed to crawl up onto the dishwasher. How funny that he wanted to do this.

Drew got a great picture of Miles in the dishwasher.

In other news...In January, Drew signed us up for the Southern Arizona Hiking Club so we would each have someone to hike with while the other one was watching Miles. Ideally, we would all hike together but Miles is really only good for around 6 miles and sometimes (even though he is charming and "adorable") you just do not feel like carrying the extra 25+ pounds on a tough hike. Today Drew stayed home with Miles so I could hike up Thimble Peak with the club. Thimble Peak is at about 5,200ft and about half way up the Santa Catalina Mountains between Sabino Canyon and Mt. Lemmon. You can see it in this picture off in the distance between the two hillsides.

Here it is as we are getting closer. About this time, I was wondering if it is actually possible to get to the top of this thing without climbing gear.

The air quality was abysmal today so I did not take too many pictures of the views. But here is one of the Catalinas.

Getting closer to the Thimble...and I am getting more nervous.

Still not seeing an easy route to the top.

Now we are at the Thimble...this was not the way to the top.

Oh here it is. If you look closer you can see other hikers scrambling up a rock crevice.

The route is actually right in the middle of this shot, behind the tree. It was rough for someone like me that has a very luke warm relationship with heights, but I made it to the top.

Unfortunately, I do not have any photographic evidence from the top because I was too nervous to scramble with the camera. My name, however, is on the summit log and I suppose that if you want proof you can go up there and check it out.

The hike was amazing. I think I did over 13 miles in total.

Dear Family...Where are you?

Dear Relatives of Miles,

This is our 199th post. If you would like us to reach 200 we kindly ask that you leave some comments. It hurts our feelings when we take the time to post updates and new pictures of Miles and you say nothing. Are you still reading?

Love,
Sara and Drew

Baby Mohawk

Miles Likes Dirt More Than Snow: Sunday on the Butterfly Trail

The weekend started out with Drew and I being a bit sad about the prospect of no NFL next year. On Sunday, we headed out to U of A for the book fair and then to go hike the butterfly trail on Mt. Lemmon (at 8,500ft elevation). The book fair was a bit of a bust. It was pretty crowded and will probably be more fun for Miles next year. We also missed the friends that we were trying to meet up with. Mt. Lemmon, however, was awesome. While we were hiking it occurred to us that if there is no football next year it will be great. First, I root for the Carndinals and the Bengals. Yeah...I know that in itself is a little depressing. Second, my fantasy teams always suck and are huge source of disappointment. Finally, if there is no football next year every Sunday next Fall and Winter will be like today.

This is Miles and Drew at the start of our hike. It was around 60 degrees at 8,500 ft, which felt perfect in the sun.
Miles seemed to love the carrier today!
Thanks to another hiker on the trail, we actually got a rare picture of all three of us!
The goal was to hike 2 miles on the Butterfly trail and then take a small hiker trail to a 1957 airplane crash site that still contains the wreckage. Unfortunately, we only made it about a mile before the trail became covered with snow. If we were alone, Drew and I may have tried to brave it, but with Miles in the carrier we were both too worried about sliding. Therefore, we turned around and instead hiked 0.2 of a mile to the top of Mt. Bigelow. This picture shows the snow.
Here Drew and Miles are at the top of Mt. Bigelow, which is by no means a scenic peak. It has 3 radio towers at the top, but the views are nice. As you can see, Miles is in awe.
Hiking is always hard work for the little guy.

Miles is not sure that he wants to be woken up.
He became lucid quickly.
...then we introduced him to snow!



Happy to be out of the snow.
Miles wanting some of the water.
Miles happy to be out of the snow and back in the dirt.
We could not keep him on the changing pad for long.
It was a great weekend. Although Scout and Riley missed out on the hike, they got to run a lot at the park this weekend. They just do not like having their pictures taken.

Miles uses a Walker

Miles Likes Dirt: Hiking in the Santa Ritas

The weather was perfect on Sunday so we decided to load Miles into the carrier and hike in the Santa Rita mountains. It had been well over a month since we have hiked with Miles, so he was not thrilled when he first put him in the kid pack. The expression he made before we started to hike is tragically precious. Note, the loan tear near the bottom of his right cheek.
A view of Devil's Throne. Can you believe that Drew hiked to the top of that when Miles and I were in Ventura. That makes me nervous, and I am glad that I did not know to worry at the time.
Razor's edge, which Drew has also been to the top of.
A pretty prickly pear cactus with Mt. Hopkins in the background.
Miles and I at the top of the hill. He was great the entire hike.
Miles and I with Mt. Hopkins in the background.
I changed Miles' diaper at the top and he discovered dirt.
Miles realized that he LOVES dirt, and nothing beats playing in the dirt on top of a peak.
He is smiling behind that binky.
The road to the top of Mt. Hopkins.
The ridge we hiked across.
Miles gathering rocks.
Miles holding a rock with elephant head in the distance.
More fun with dirt.
Miles pitched a small fit when we loaded him back in the carrier. He really wanted to spend more time with his fingers in the dirt.
The scenic view we had hiking back.
Drew and Miles.
It was a great way to spend Sunday. We hiked almost 4 miles with a 1200 foot elevation gain, and Drew carried Miles the entire way. Even more impressive is that Miles only cried twice - both of the times that we placed him in the carrier, and who can blame him for being upset about leaving all those rocks and fabuluous dirt on the peak.