The Week That Was

A few stories from this past week. First, Isaac. The kids and I have spent some time each day after work playing ball out front. They take turns batting, and I lob softballs to them (we actually use tennis balls because they hurt less when someone is hit in the face by a line drive, as happened twice this week). The two who are not batting take turns chasing down hits that travel to the far reaches of the cul-de-sac.

On Thursday, Isaac was chasing a ball when he tripped and fell on the pavement, skinning his right knee and scraping both hands. I hurried over and picked him up, but before I got there, he had pulled himself up, and, here’s the great part—he kept going for the ball. Here’s a toddler bleeding and crying, but refusing to give up the play. I have high hopes.

On Saturday, the kids and I spent the morning together. We began by going to the foothills of the Sandias on the eastern edge of town. We’ve done some hiking here before, but there’s a lot to explore. The Sandias hug the eastern edge of Albuquerque, rising abruptly, a curtain of granite that marks the end of the urban space and the beginning of wilderness. The sign by the parking lot, for examples, warns of cougars and bears, a 15 minute drive from downtown. Here we see some of the other wild animals of the area:
After parking, we headed off, traveling south toward the pass through which I-40 runs on its way out of town. The trail stayed mostly flat for the better part of a mile, after which it ascended, circling up a small hill. At the crest, looking southwest, we got a beautiful panorama of the valley before circling east and then north around the hill and returning to the flats. Here the kids pose with the city behind them:

We found a 10 foot slab of granite that was perfectly flat and ideally suited for resting and eating a snack; here Isaac does just that:

The hike around the hill became pretty serious, and Isaac spent much of it atop my shoulders. Allyson and Ryan, however, both tackled the slope well. We had started off early, so the summer heat was not unbearable, but we were all sweating nicely by the time we got back to the car. The gentle breeze was exquisite. Here is a shot of the older kids on the steepest part of the climb: