via ferrata; klettersteig

When Deena told me about klettersteig, or the style of climbing with the use of steel ladders, I thought it sounded perfect! Rock climbing made easy. She and her husband Eli outfitted me completely, and even gave me a ride as someone had slashed our Honda's tire the night before, and I wanted to leave my saint of a husband the Subaru since he was babysitting the kids for half the day. Deena didn't mention the initial 2 mile uphill hike to the bottom of the climb, but luckily I didn't exercise that morning so I was ready to burn some calories. And although she kept on asking me if I had updated my will, and saying she hoped I wasn't afraid of heights (I am), I wasn't too nervous until I saw how far apart the steel ladders sometimes were. I am not the best rock climber and kept on having flashbacks to the one other time I went in St. George like 8 years ago.

The climb is in Waterfall Canyon - it was an awesome view. Both Eli and Deena took lots of pictures and videos - so fun to have it documented! On their honeymoon they went to the Alps to use the klettersteig there.

And almost to the top - apparently it is about a 700 ft climb. It certainly was an adventure! I am hoping to tone my climbing skills so next time Deena doesn't readily say yes when I asked if it was a relaxing and leisurely climb for her....Here is River, one of my Cub Scouts, with Ogden behind. He and little 18 month old Bjorn (in Eli's backpack) made the trek too, but hiked while we climbed.


And here is a small clip to give a taste of my speed (slow) and a bit of height perspective (very high).

neglect and easter in the desert

I am sure Adam was trying to tell me something else besides what he wrote. I left it up there for a long time, as the last time I received something in writing from him was Valentine's Day 2009.
I went downstairs one morning to do laundry and came up to an empty house. Outside I found my kids parading up and down the sidewalk with the markers that read: "Caution Buried Gas Line." Unfortunately I failed to see exactly where they came from...
And also Jack with no pants on with snow on the ground. I have to keep the doors locked to keep him inside, he doesn't care a bit about being cold.
The Bird's had a nice Easter egg hunt out in Kayenta. The kids were very excited and so cute. Lily ran around with her cousins and Jack was content with his two eggs. He would only allow candy in his basket - no eggs, no wrappers, no money.

And there's our Easter Bunny. He kind of went nuts at the store and spent $50 on candy and toys. Seriously? I was pretty ticked, and confiscated everything I could and returned $20 of it, but still.

kids

Lily drew on some paper today and brought it to me. She said she made it for me and it said "Lily Bird love you, after you mean." Followed by "You need to be nice."
Does everyone have kids that think their parents are nice when disciplining? Am I really screwing up that bad?

Here is Jackson's latest hobby - taking off his diaper. During this post I have put it back on 4 times.
On the back porch at Grandma and Grandpa's new house. Jack is pleading for the railing to be removed.
And obviously cute! This is a favorite of mine:

Lily was leaning her head on my lap and started to make snoring sounds. After a few seconds she jumped up and yelled "Wait a minute! You're not a bed!"

thresholds, and a recurring theme of my quick temper

In high school, I took Adam to Preference. We were talking after the date and I had bruise on my leg that Adam kept on poking - it was getting annoying so I very lightly slapped him.A few months ago, we were on a date. I don't know how the subject came up, but I asked him if he thought I had a high pain threshold. He said no. I was about to walk out yelling "why don't YOU try giving birth to a baby over 9 lbs with no pain medication and see how high YOUR pain threshold is!" But curiosity (and the fact I hadn't gotten dinner yet) won so I asked why. He referenced the story above, which apparently in his mind made me pretty wimpy, no matter what happened after that.
A week before this triathlon, I got really mad at a van door for not closing all the way, and subsequently closed the door with all my might, hitting my knee in the process. Dr. Kim said it was a bruised tendon and to "ice it, ice it, ice it." I did a few times, and cut out running for the week. It still hurt.
During the triathlon, the swim was good, the bike was good, the run not so much. But then during the second lap, I connected the initial bruise that Adam thought was so trivial, to my bruised tendon, and decided if I stopped favoring my knee it would be like me enduring Adam's poking 10 years ago, and maybe he would be forced to admit I have a high pain threshold. He said I did a good job.
But being always hard to please, he followed that up with saying that I need to work on my transitions, as I took longer than Mindy both times. *shrug* There's always next November.

I was very pleased with myself. I cut off 8 minutes from last year. Here are the times:
400 meter swim - 8:22
transition 1 - 4:02
10 mile bike + transition 2 - 42:35
3 mile run - 30:33
Total - 1h 25 min