Sunday, October 25, 2009
Will's Bad Day
What happened to my little sweet boy who could do no wrong? Today during the Primary Program at church, Will said his part (I don't think it was his part actually) in a high pitched squeal leaving the congregation in snickers. Eric thought he had said something about not wanting to be at church. Eric and I couldn't help but laugh but I don't know if it was more from embarrassment of our child who was acting up or because it really struck us funny. His poor Primary teacher had to wrestle with him much of the program because he didn't want to participate. When we asked him later what he said into the mic, he said "I want to go down the stairs". His part was supposed to say "(I love my daddy because) he's funny". He normally loves the op to speak in the microphone at church and mostly does very well. Today must have just been a bad day for Will.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Viva Bike Vegas
One of the main reasons I was really bummed when Eric came home with a spranged ankel was because he had been working very hard to get into shape to do Viva Bike Vegas with his brother Chris who was traveling from Maryland. We won't go into the other selfish reasons that I was disappointed (I'm supposed to be the gimp being in my last month of pregnancy and two weekends in a row of fun and adventure for Eric while I endure my last of pregnancy-whine, cry, sigh). Anywho...
We all really looked forward to meeting our new nephew Charlie for the first time. He is nine months now but this is the first time we've seen him. Such a cutie and a lot of fun to have around. He warmed up quite easily to Eric.
Taylor and Will really enjoyed having a baby around and getting to know Charlie better.
Chris and Charlie at mile 51 station break in this 62 mile bike ride.
Schroeder boys waiting for Chris to cross the finish line.
Eric seems a little bummed that he didn't get to ride.
Hooray for Chris!
They had a bike course for the kids where Taylor, Will, and Reagan all got free bike helmets.
Grandma and Grandpa Schroeder were down for the weekend as well. We really enjoyed having family come to visit. Thanks Chris for bringing Rachel and Charlie with you. It was fun to get to know my sister-in-law better as we don't get to see each other very often and of course seeing Charlie finally! Come visit again!
We all really looked forward to meeting our new nephew Charlie for the first time. He is nine months now but this is the first time we've seen him. Such a cutie and a lot of fun to have around. He warmed up quite easily to Eric.
Taylor and Will really enjoyed having a baby around and getting to know Charlie better.
Chris and Charlie at mile 51 station break in this 62 mile bike ride.
Schroeder boys waiting for Chris to cross the finish line.
Eric seems a little bummed that he didn't get to ride.
Hooray for Chris!
They had a bike course for the kids where Taylor, Will, and Reagan all got free bike helmets.
Grandma and Grandpa Schroeder were down for the weekend as well. We really enjoyed having family come to visit. Thanks Chris for bringing Rachel and Charlie with you. It was fun to get to know my sister-in-law better as we don't get to see each other very often and of course seeing Charlie finally! Come visit again!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Hidden Falls Canyon
With the completion of their Canyoneering class last July, Eric and Marcy were ready to put their new skills to the test with some of their friends from the Canyoneering class. So finally they decided to check out Hidden Falls Canyon (also know as Long Canyon) in the Red Rocks National Conservation Area on October 3, 2009. Eric's friends Kirk and Pippa were coming down for the fun, A.J. from class was coming with his friend Ryan, Clark from class was coming, as well as Mark from Eric's work.
The first tragedy of the trip happened October 2, when Marcy informed Eric she was very ill, and would not be able to make it down for the trip. She was very conflicted about what to do, and was willing to try and drive down even though she was sick in hopes she would feel better the next day, but Eric talked her out of it, they would just have to plan another trip soon.
The second complication of the trip happened that evening when Kirk's flight from Oakland to SLC was delayed, and he missed his connecting flight to Las Vegas. Pippa had driven down earlier that day, and was disappointed Kirk did not make it down to meet her. Kirk waited to see if he could get on the last flight to Vegas, but it was full so he had to fly to St George. He arrived in St George just after 11:00 PM, got the last rental car in town, and finally arrived in Las Vegas around 2:00 in the morning.
Despite these hiccups, we got up at 4:45 to head out for our hike. We had to get all our gear organized in the morning since Kirk came in so late, and made it out to meet A.J., Ryan, Clark and Mark around 6:20. Luckily they waited for us since we hadn't really talked about how to get a hold of each other in case of a delay. We ran into another group doing the same canyon from the local Climbing Meetup group, and headed up the trail from the back side of the mountain.
The view going up the back side of the mountain was amazing, and it was a nice brisk hike up to a great view of the Las Vegas valley below. Here is a good shot from half way up the hill of the road below and the valley itself.
The trail into the wash of Hidden Falls Canyon started out with a bunch of rocks, which quickly smoothed out into a flat slick rock canyon. There was a short rappel to start the canyon as well.
After the first rappel, Eric led a small group off to the next rappel to get things setup while the rest of the group came down. The gully was filled with leaves, and as Eric stepped down a rock step about a foot tall, his foot caught the edge of a hole completely filled and hidden by the leaves. He sprained his ankle pretty bad (level II sprain), and rolled on the ground in agony.
After regaining his composure without crying, Eric tried to walk on his ankle, but it quickly gave way resulting in a new wave of pain. Eric's ankle had no strength. Luckily Bruce from the other group had some duct tape to tape up Eric's ankle, and Ryan was very generous to trade his hiking boots with good ankle support for Eric's Keene sandals. With these preparations, he was able to start limping down the canyon like a lame crab with only three legs (or two arms and a leg in this case).
While the going was slow, the canyon was still a lot of fun. Even though it was a super narrow slot, there were a lot of amazing things to see, and a lot of good scrambling. One of the fun parts was navigating over a really disgusting pool of stagnant water. Even though A.J. almost dipped in, we managed to get past with no casualties.
The final rappel was down the waterfall at the top of the Children's Discovery Trail, so there were about thirty people at the bottom. After finally getting everyone to move out of the way for the rope toss, Pippa made the first decent to a cheering crowd.
Even though the hike took about twice as long as it should have due to the injury, and Cydnee was very disappointed that Eric came home with a hole in the butt of his pants from all the scooting around, it was a good hike and everyone involved had a good time. And there are plenty of other canyons to explore in the area in the future as well.
The first tragedy of the trip happened October 2, when Marcy informed Eric she was very ill, and would not be able to make it down for the trip. She was very conflicted about what to do, and was willing to try and drive down even though she was sick in hopes she would feel better the next day, but Eric talked her out of it, they would just have to plan another trip soon.
The second complication of the trip happened that evening when Kirk's flight from Oakland to SLC was delayed, and he missed his connecting flight to Las Vegas. Pippa had driven down earlier that day, and was disappointed Kirk did not make it down to meet her. Kirk waited to see if he could get on the last flight to Vegas, but it was full so he had to fly to St George. He arrived in St George just after 11:00 PM, got the last rental car in town, and finally arrived in Las Vegas around 2:00 in the morning.
Despite these hiccups, we got up at 4:45 to head out for our hike. We had to get all our gear organized in the morning since Kirk came in so late, and made it out to meet A.J., Ryan, Clark and Mark around 6:20. Luckily they waited for us since we hadn't really talked about how to get a hold of each other in case of a delay. We ran into another group doing the same canyon from the local Climbing Meetup group, and headed up the trail from the back side of the mountain.
The view going up the back side of the mountain was amazing, and it was a nice brisk hike up to a great view of the Las Vegas valley below. Here is a good shot from half way up the hill of the road below and the valley itself.
The trail into the wash of Hidden Falls Canyon started out with a bunch of rocks, which quickly smoothed out into a flat slick rock canyon. There was a short rappel to start the canyon as well.
After the first rappel, Eric led a small group off to the next rappel to get things setup while the rest of the group came down. The gully was filled with leaves, and as Eric stepped down a rock step about a foot tall, his foot caught the edge of a hole completely filled and hidden by the leaves. He sprained his ankle pretty bad (level II sprain), and rolled on the ground in agony.
After regaining his composure without crying, Eric tried to walk on his ankle, but it quickly gave way resulting in a new wave of pain. Eric's ankle had no strength. Luckily Bruce from the other group had some duct tape to tape up Eric's ankle, and Ryan was very generous to trade his hiking boots with good ankle support for Eric's Keene sandals. With these preparations, he was able to start limping down the canyon like a lame crab with only three legs (or two arms and a leg in this case).While the going was slow, the canyon was still a lot of fun. Even though it was a super narrow slot, there were a lot of amazing things to see, and a lot of good scrambling. One of the fun parts was navigating over a really disgusting pool of stagnant water. Even though A.J. almost dipped in, we managed to get past with no casualties.
The final rappel was down the waterfall at the top of the Children's Discovery Trail, so there were about thirty people at the bottom. After finally getting everyone to move out of the way for the rope toss, Pippa made the first decent to a cheering crowd.
Even though the hike took about twice as long as it should have due to the injury, and Cydnee was very disappointed that Eric came home with a hole in the butt of his pants from all the scooting around, it was a good hike and everyone involved had a good time. And there are plenty of other canyons to explore in the area in the future as well.
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