Hiking Maple Canyon

Continuing with delayed posts about our Utah trip ... after the Ironman we spent a few days in Nephi, UT with my parents. Ethan of course loved all the attention from grandparents. Luckily the cold snowy weather let up and we were able to spend a day hiking Maple Canyon which is about 20 minutes from Nephi. The scenery was beautiful and looks to be a great place to rock climb as the rocks were littered with climbing devices. Hiking is also a great way to entertain Ethan for the day. He had a blast climbing and jumping off rocks and exploring caves. We even found an area with some cool pictographs.

On the drive to Maple Canyon we had passed several sheep farms and promised Ethan that on the way home we would pull over so he could get a closer look. Well, to our good fortune on the way home a whole heard of sheep decided to take a stroll and we had to stop to let them pass. Ethan could not have been more thrilled as we all got out to get a close encounter with the sheep. Since it was early spring there were lots of cute little lambs for us to enjoy.

Ironman

About 3 weeks ago we traveled to Utah for Jairo to compete in his first Ironman in St. George on Saturday, May 1st. Ethan and I enjoyed gorgeous weather while Jairo spent 15 hours swimming (2.4 mi), biking (112 mi), and running (26.2 mi). I have to say that Jairo did an amazing job! I was just hoping he'd still be standing as he neared the finish line (I know, I know ... oh ye of little faith). Not only was he upright, he was still running! The morning after the event St. George sidewalks were littered with gimpy men and women who had participated in the event. Jairo was one of them, but he recuperated very quickly and was back to working out by the time we returned from Utah. If in some alternate universe I actually completed an Ironman I would hang up my workout gear and say, "there's nothing more to do." He's a crazy man!

The swim took place in Sand Hollow Reservoir just outside St. George. The bike and run portion went through Snow Canyon, Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and downtown St. George. The course was really quite beautiful and appeared (from my view in a car) to be quite difficult with many steep hills on both the biking and running routes. Again, WAY TO GO JAIRO!

The story behind this picture ... the owner of this motorcycle drove all the way from Florida with an attached bike rack for his road bike just to compete in the Ironman. Did I mention this was a crazy bunch of folks??

Last, a big THANKS to all who supported Jairo in making this event more meaningful by helping raise funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Jairo was able to raise $3,370. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Skater Dude

Ethan's new thing is his skate board. He's been asking for one for a few months now. I made the wrong move of stopping at a park that had an adjacent skate park and all Ethan wanted to do was watch the skate boarders and bikers do tricks. Ever since that time he has wanted a skate board. As we did with his scooter, we finally relented and bought him a board and, just as he was with the scooter, Ethan was instantly attached to his new skate board. We gave him the board the day before we left for a trip to Utah and when we woke him at 4am to hit the road his eyes immediately popped wide open and he said he needed to get something. PJ's and all he walked right to his skate board and said he needed to bring this. So we did.

While Ethan and I were passing the time at the hotel during Jairo's Ironman (a blog on that to come) Ethan asked if he could bring his skate board up stairs. I thought he just wanted to bring it to our room ... no big deal. So he grabs his board gets to the top of the stairs and asks for his helmet. I think, no problem, he just wants to ride his board to our room. Once his helmet is in place he proceeds to position his skate board so it is facing down the second story flight of stairs. I immediately drop my belongings at this point and grab him. "No mommy no. I riding my skate board down the stairs." Uh, no more skate parks or X games u-tube clips for him!