The newest Muratore - Cosmo, wonderdog!

After our trip to Arizona, and during our battle with the germs, we adopted a puppy from a rescue group in Hillsboro, Ohio. He was dubbed "Cosmo Fortibras Dog From Beyond," a name which has been duly shortened to Cosmo. He was quite sick when we first adopted him, and there was some question as to whether or not he would make it. He is now a healthy pup, trouble free, currently in the running for the "smartest-bestest-most-beautiful dog ever" award.
He is probably some sort of golden retriever, and he has grown considerably since this picture was taken, going from 8 pounds to 40 pounds in the last 4 months. The big question is, will he be as wonderful as Sparky, Muratore dog of ledgend -- or will he be even better.

There was an old lady who swallowed a spider and had rocks in her socks and got the chickern pox!

Well, Chris did not really swallow a spider, but whatever he did swallow did wiggle and jiggle and tiggle inside him! After we returned from the Grand Canyon, Chris began to become cyclically and progressively ill until he finally ended up in the hospital. As it turned out, he had a parasite. Many missed days of work and vicious medicines later he recovered, only to end up with the chicken pox, which he then proceeded to give to all of the children. (All three boys had been immunized against chicken pox, and two of them got really bad cases. Go figure.) The chicken pox was a big part of this summer, as it keeps you in quarantine for quite some time. However, everyone has finally recovered and Chris has promised that he will not be getting sick again for a long time. We did get to read a lot and watch some Star Wars. Also, thanks to the Valencia's PS2 Star Wars, we can now all have fond memories of pretending to be Obi-Wan, while recovering from the itchies.
Thanks to all of our nice neighbors and friends who tried to find ways to help us pass the time and preserve our sanity during our convalecsence.

Our First Trip to Arizona in Five Years

After our grueling expedition to the Grand Canyon, we high tailed it to Tucson. We stayed at Chris' parents house, but saw a lot of both Chris and Melani's family. We took the kids to The University of Arizona and showed them around our old stomping grounds. There definitely were not so many cell phones there when we were students. We also took the boys to the Arizona Historical Society where the boys had a great time messing about in the mine and trying on old-west-style clothes. They also went to a museum on campus where we saw an exhibit about Mexican Masks which was very interesting. We also went to the Desert Mueum and enjoyed not just the setting (which has a sort of exotic thrill when you have been away from Tucson for a while) but also some really super displays of mineral and animals that are totally foreign to our little guys. They are more used to being on the look out for poison ivy than poisonous snakes. We hiked in Sabino Canyon and enjoyed the river bed (which had water in it, by golly, just for us!) We went swimming and/or walking almost everyday. We went to a climbing party with Melani's family for Miles and Michaela's birthday. Little boys seem very well constructed both mentally and physically for the rigors of climbing up - up - up, though I would have to say that everyone, adults and kids did great that day! We did take one detour into Pheonix to go to Taliesin West (and go to Ikea, of course.) Which was a real treat. We also had a terrific barbeque with everyone at Reid Park. It was a great opportunity to thank our families for hosting us during the week. All in all, we have to say that it was a really fantastic trip.
We'll try and get more and better pictures out soon!

We spent all of the winter, after Christmas, training for our most our most dangerous adventure yet -- THE GRAND CANYON. You know why they call it Grand now, don't you? It is because we have been there. All through the cold winter months of early 2006, Chris and Melani filled their packs with phone books and hiked the flatlands of Ohio in a desperate attempt to ready themselves for the Canyon. We were actually really worried about the boys (and ourselves) getting down, and not being able to get back up again. As it turned out, we arrived at the rim of the Canyon amid flurries of snow. That night we slept in our tent, (well, Melani attempted to sleep in the warmth of the car for a couple of hours), and it was less than 20 degrees. The next morning we set out to hike the canyon. It was more beautiful and inspiring and hard than any backpacking trip yet. The trail is very primitive, marked by cairns. Much of the time you hike on the Hermit Trail, you are hiking with a sheer drop off to one side. This is no small thing with three children and a top heavy pack. The kids carried nothing at all, and as a reult were feeling fresh and fine for the majority of the trail. Our packs, on the other hand, continued to get more and more burdensome as the day wore on. Still, we met nice people and saw things that only a handful of people get to see every year. When we arrived at the Hermit Creek camp at the bottom, it was dusk. We had hiked eight miles, and to see the colored domes of the other tents as we rounded one of the last bends in the trail was like finding El Dorado. The bottom of the canyon was like a secret garden, with beautiful trees and flowers. Our camp that night was restful, and we woke early the next morning to get started. The next day proved to be difficult from the very start. To begin with, it is almost entirely onwards and upwards with little or no relief. We pushed ourselves very hard, as we had to be in Tucson that night. It was agreed by all the Muratores, that this was one of the hardest won accomplishments yet. Chris ended the afternoon with a bruised chest and shoulders from his heavy pack, and still had to drive seven hours to get to Grandma and Grandpa Muratores house!

Muratores rise from the dead

Over the last several months, the lives of the Muratores have been fraught with minor mishaps and misadventures. We are just now seeking to renew contact with the outside world, along with launching ourselves into to 21st century, by creating this blog.