Thanksgiving in Phoenix III

David took off the whole week from work, so on Tuesday morning, while Marianne and all the Luken kids were in school, we hiked a 3-mile trail going up South Mountain. While we could have attempted the trip with the Mackintosh girls, we thought it wise to have them play in the pool at the hotel where Grandma and Grandpa were staying. 

The weather in Phoenix was beautiful the week of Thanksgiving and unseasonably warm. We began the hike pretty early and finished right around lunch time. I felt more sporty than usual doing this hike, but I paled in comparison to all the athletes out on this trail who were literally running up parts of this trail (very steep, rocky parts). 

I figured you couldn't talk about Arizona without at least one picture of a cactus

The beginning of the hike

The middle of the hike

Nearing the end of the hike

Phoenix from South Mountain

On Wednesday, we all participated in Jack and Clare's annual "Turkey Trot." Some of us (Alan and David) actually ran in the Turkey Trot, while the rest of us cheered everyone on and took pictures. Jack and Clare's school puts this event on every year to encourage fitness, and kids and parents run around the school building a certain number of times depending on their age.
Jack and David as they are gearing up to start the run
Moira decided she wanted to participate too, so Alan and she ran together during Jack's run. Jack was a speed demon--he came in second in his entire class, which was very impressive. Moira ran for a good section of the course before she relied on her dad to carry her the rest of the way!



Clare's run started off well for Clare and very rocky for Moira. Moira asked me to run with her, but what she didn't say was that she wanted me to put her on my shoulders the same way Alan had earlier. I declined her invite (running was going to be enough of a challenge), and then my independent little girl took off running the course all on her own...just to prove to me that she could do it without me there. She made it halfway around the course with no trouble whatsoever, and fortunately for all of us, she decided to end the Turkey Trot at that point in favor of a nice, refreshing drink of water. 


All in all, it was a nice day out at the Turkey Trot. The girls had a lot of fun!


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