We finished up our weekend of outdoor adventure with a little road trip and hike today with friends. We drove up a super bumpy 6 mile winding dirt road that went most of the way up Mount Ord. Then there was about a mile of walking up the rest of the way to the summit – 7129 feet elevation.

We had a quick picnic lunch in the parking lot before doing the hiking part of the trip.

It was a steep walk but the boys all did great. Brendan and elevation don’t get along, so he rode in his backpack. He called Bill his BatBot and Brendan would “steer” by turning Bill’s head. He says the backpack is only for Batman. The view at the top was amazing.

Roosevelt Lake from above

There is a giant array of different communications towers on top this mountain (cell phone signal was great!) There is also a Forest Service watch tower, but there was no ranger today. Sometimes the rangers allow visitors to come up in the lookout.

That’s the road we drove in on.

In some of the shady areas, there were oak leaves covered in frost.

The leaves were cool (literally, I suppose)

Awesome frost!

Trevor was spent on the way down. I carried him for some distance until he got too heavy. Then SuperDaddy took over and carried them both down the last 1/4 mile of the trail!

We had a nice dinner in Payson with our friends and then headed home just in time to get the boys to bed!

Full week = long post!

We had a GI appointment on Wednesday. It was good to finally follow up with his new GI doctor. We talked about the emptying scan he had months ago and it turns out his stomach actually empties really fast, instead of slow like they thought. His retching and throwing up during feeding could come from “dumping” and not really reflux. We have some samples to try a new kind of formula to see if it helps. We will be trying that soon, but not while we had big weekend plans.

Tip to self – don’t forget to lock the medical supply toolbox. These boys both LOVE tape.

Fortunately this kind of tape is easy to remove!

The boys got their next Lego set from their Lego rental service. This one was a big complex demolition set with a building that it designed to blast apart.

We did not have any plans for Thanksgiving and making a turkey dinner for just us seemed silly. So we hit the road instead! Getting out of town for Black Friday madness was good! We did a little tiny hike in the dry creek.

Doesn’t this branch look like a weird critter?

Trying to stay warm while Bill lit the campfire. Brendan has been doing really well wearing his cap again, is off oxygen, and having a fire was a little bit of an experiment. There was a good breeze taking the smoke away and the boys did great. Brendan didn’t cough once.

Roasting hot dogs!

Some marshmallows on the perfect roasting sticks that they gathered in the creek.

Trevor’s very first s’more. Funny thing is, I ran to the grocery store Wednesday night to get last minute supplies for our trip. I get to the baking aisle and there was not a bag of marshmallows to be found. Bare shelves! It didn’t even occur to me how many people make sweet potatoes/yams with marshmallow topping.
As I was getting to the checkout, I saw an end-cap holiday display almost bare – with ONE bag of large marshmallows left!

It got down to the low 20’s over night and we woke up to frosted trucks.

Frosted trees

It didn’t stop Trevor from digging

Desert boys don’t get a lot of chances to go sledding. So they have to push trucks up the hill instead.

And go truckin’!!

They did about 20 runs!

In the end, the boys helped put up the stabilizers and pack to go home. Such good helpers!

We certainly missed all our family and the big Thanksgiving feast with loved ones. We have a lot to be thankful for. It was not a traditional holiday, but we made special memories!

Well, I have gone and done it now. I let the entire “Week 4” go by without a blog post. It has been a busy one. It seems like I have been on the phone, at appointments, in the car, or just trying to figure things out every waking moment. I have lost track of what day of the week it was twice.

It was not all bad stuff though, I just haven’t taken many pictures. The boys received a Lego rental subscription service for their birthday from their Pittsburgh family members. They got their first set, The Avengers Tower. They did a good job keeping the pieces together so that it could be mailed back for the next set.

Brendan selfie

We had company coming over for dinner last week, including a boy only 8months younger than Brendan and Trevor. We rolled out the (blue) carpet and set up a mega city with Geotrax to welcome our new playmate.

Friday, we took their new friend to the zoo. Trevor finally has someone that will ride the carousel with him since Brendan won’t.

We had to pet stingrays.

Trevor loves this so much, he would dangle on that wall all day.

It is good for the boys to have a friend come over to the house. We will probably be seeing a lot more of him!