Hills of Helotes

Another training session under our belts! Friday afternoon saw Dylan and I geared up to hike the hills in Helotes. Forecast was slightly overcast that day, with a breeze which provided major relief but temperature was still around 100. Dylan is the better of the two of us and wears long sleeves, regardless of how hot it is outside. I, on the other hand, after about 5 minutes of seriously sweating and drenching my clothes say "Forget this." Don't worry! I put sunscreen on. :)

Average distance for a good training session is slightly more or less than 5 miles. In all honesty, the camera does NOT show how steep these hills are. Some of them are easily 50% gradient. The hard part too, is NOT going up!!! Seriously! The hard part is going down because the hill is so steep that your body is at a weird angle the entire time, trying to find some kind of balance with pack, boots etc. Dylan and I are always soo glad to be down the hill!!

Scenery was gorgeous, which made the many, many hills we went up and down easier to do. Key to the hike is to drink lots of water! I always "double-fist it", as Dylan likes to call it and finish 2 water bottles by the time we are through, with one of them being a SOBE or VITAMIN water in order to give me a boost of B12 and electrolytes. Recovery includes a good meal full of energy and fuel, along with plenty more water and good nights rest and then I promise, you are ready to go the next day. :)

We only did a small portion of the neighborhood on Friday, so we will be back!

Respecting the Mountain Part 2

Each one of the aforementioned places was beyond amazing and blew each one of us away; however, now I want to do a big one. I want to be on top of that actual mountain and know the feeling of looking down at the world, perhaps getting to see things as God sees them. (As much as He allows us humans to see through His looking-glass) Dylan has always been offering to take me up; I just never wanted to accept the challenge until about 6 months ago. Once my courage and determination were set, Dylan picked the mountains. The first 2 weeks of August 2012 we will be hiking The Matterhorn (slightly under 14,000 ft) and Sunshine (slightly above 14,000 ft) near the city of Ouray, Colorado.

The Matterhorn

Matterhorn scramble

Sunshine

Matterhorn

Sunshine scramble

Each one of these mountains presents a challenge in their own right, so to get ready for them, we are training as much as possible. Training includes lots of squats and lunges and learning to use your own body weight to handle obstacles. Training also includes drinking more water than normal, eating more red meat for better oxygen blood count and filling your body up with healthy foods to give you strong, lean muscles. More training can come from any aerobic activity. Once that is on its' way, you start to hike with the backpack and boots you will be wearing, which is what we do as often as possible, frequenting places like Eisenhower and Freidrich Parks in SA, making sure we take the hardest paths, usually doing them more than once. Dylan is a strict trainer. :) We have a little over a month to make this happen and have full confidence in both of our skills that we will succeed in respecting the mountain for what it physically is by making it to the top, fully understanding that we will be giving a small... or in my case large piece of ourselves up in the process. :)

Respecting the Mountain Part 1

Dylan atop Old Baldy, Garner State Park

About 4 years ago, Dylan discovered the outdoor activity of hiking, quickly drawing me into it as well. At first we started small, visiting local parks and green belts in the San Antonio area, but found quickly those were just not challenging enough. As we grew stronger, local places like Lost Maples and Garner State Park beckoned and continue to call us back each year. We know each park inch by inch; so now the objectives are to do these timed. (We can do entire Lost Maples (12 miles) in under 4 hours!). Garner has Old Baldy, which always presents a challenge.

Dylan then decided to hike a real mountain (14,000 ft) with his crazy, lovable buddy Cohl Brazil in Colorado, and they had a blast! The two now go once a year to have a "Man Vs Mountain" trip in Colorado. As of last year, the boys are up 2-0. :) I was not quite up to the challenge yet, so we decided to plan our summer trips around places with mountains so I could get used to hiking and being in higher elevation, such as the Columbian Gorge and Mt. St. Helens in Oregon, Mt. Rainier in Washington, Big Bend, Texas and the Swiss Alps in Switzerland.

Mt. St. Helens, Oregon

Mt. Rainier, Washington

Mount Eiger, Switzerland

Meadows of Swiss Alps

Atop Big Bend, Texas

Dallas Family Reunion 2012

My mother's side of the family had a reunion at Lake Ray Hubbard in Dallas this past weekend. Both Dylan and Goobz were able to come! Celebrated the 80th birthday of my grandfather and the 60th wedding anniversary of the two as well. Around 48 hours were spent sailing, swimming, eating and enjoying the company of family, some of which I had not seen in over 10 years. Truly enjoyed being with all of the family and seeing how all of my cousins have grown up. Life is good... :)

My brother, mom and 5 month old 2nd cousin Ethan

Thar she blows, Captain Kirk! 

Getting our tan on...

My worn out boys.. Too cute! 

Working on my baby skills...

He is too cute! 

Goober aka The Goobz

Goober Carey aka The Goobz joined our little family on April 8th, 2011 as an early birthday present from Dylan to me. I cannot begin to express the absolute joy and laughter this little guy has brought to our house since then. We rescued him and think he is a Yorkie/Poodle mix of some sort. As you can see by the photos, he has grown and taken over our lives. Goobz goes everywhere we do, if possible. I am that obnoxious lady who treats her dog like her child, with the exception of carrying the dog around in a bag and putting clothes on him. Goobz has a variety of toys and loves to bury them in places where Dylan and I either sit or lay down on. We always have to be ready for a "surprise".. Bottom line, he is our world and we just think he is too wonderful not to share with everyone! 

2nd day we got him... look at his ears!! 

This little guy could play all day long

Every piece of furniture is his own personal jungle gym...

Snuggling w/ mom is the best!! 

Lake Falcon

Corpus 

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