Visit from Anna Jansen Deal and Clan

Anna and I were good friends in college and climbed a bunch together. We had not seen each other since Linda and I left Colorado Springs, but she and her family were on the road, running south away from winter in Palmer, Alaska. So they stopped by to meet the family and get a little climbing in. We managed to get them out on 5 different days to 5 different areas as well as two trips to the climbing gym for the mom's. Anna got to check out all of the Bio Park with the kids and they got a bike ride in, kind of along the Rio Grande, the bike path is under construction so it was more along Rio Grande Blvd than the actual river.

The first day we headed out to boulder at Ponderosa and Dylan and Alder, 27 months, had a blast playing with Dylan's sand toys in the dirt, Odin, all of 6 months on the road for 4 1/2 might have had some fun eating some dirt.

At some point we headed to the Taj Mahal to get diner, being only a few blocks away we walked and the kids shared the one child chariot.
Glen, Anna's husband and I went climbing in Diablo canyon on a cold and windy day but had a good time anyway while Anna took her pair to the zoo and Dylan was in school. Over the weekend I was gone for the 400km brevet in AZ. Linda got out with them to head to Socorro and climb at Dirt Wall. Here is Glen hiking down with Alder sitting on the rope.
And Linda was quite proud of herself for hiking Dylan up the hill without me around.
On Monday after my ride we headed to the Playground in White Rock with the whole crew to do some more craging. Again there was dirt play.
And some hand holding while going to look at the Rio Grande way down in the gorge. They both wanted to hold Anna's hand while she carried Odin, not going to work.
The three of them sitting on a rock...
Or maybe a broken off pillar at the base of the wall.
On Wednesday Anna was a champ and took all three kids to the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens so Glen and I could climb in the Sandias. Naturally, even though it was the warmest day of their stay the wind made it pretty bitter up at 10,000 feet. Anna apparently got some pretty odd looks and comments based on having 3 kid so close together in age a with obviously different fathers.

We made the mandatory trip to El Pinto for dinner on their second to last night, since Linda was out to dinner with the Asia ladies and is not such a fan. On their last night Linda and Anna headed to the climbing gym.

Here is Dylan and Alder at breakfast on their last morning.
And Glen and Anna before loading up to head out.
All in all it was a great week and a half. It was nice to have more people in the house without it being full to overflowing. Hopefully they will run south again next year, maybe in the late fall when the weather is better for climbing.

Finally here is a video of Dylan and Alder with his Thomas the Train book.