"Today while I was going to the bathroom my nose started bleeding and it got really messy but it was okay because my dad cleaned it up with toilet paper!"
            -Maren, very loudly, while standing in front of our entire church congregation. Lovely.

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As I'm sure everyone knows, we had a major holiday this past week. It's true- according to Wikipedia, Earth Day is the largest secular holiday in the world, and is celebrated in 192 countries. To celebrate this momentous event, we went to not one, but two different festivals. Yep- we like the earth that much...and there wasn't much else going on this weekend.

The first one we went to was in Spokane. It was characterized by a lot of politically outspoken young people who wanted to save the planet. Most of them had hemp jewelry and/or dreadlocks, wore recycled t-shirts, and had lots of piercings and tattoos of either flowers or tribal symbols. The air was filled with sounds of Indian drums and the distinctive sweet smell of...earthy things (remember, this is Washington). It was interesting, because as I looked around I realized that I probably agreed with them, at least in principal, on most of what they stood for. At the same time, the culture was completely foreign to me, and my own lifestyle probably had very little in common with theirs. I felt a little bit out of place with our little family circus. Also, if I'm honest with myself, it made it so that I was probably less likely to buy into the ideas they were advocating for.

The one kid-centered booth in Spokane. Make a Salmon? Weird...and a little fishy :) It was next to the booth where you can give a "peace blessing" on the earth. The person running that booth was holding an inflatable globe in his hands and singing in a high falsetto "I've got the whole world/in my hands..." You can't make this stuff up. 

The second festival we went to was in Coeur d'Alene and this one seemed like it was tailored specifically to families like ours. We got there and the first thing we saw was a huge water table with sand and plastic plants and toy animals that the kids could play with. There was a guy there to explain erosion and stuff to the kids who were interested. A little further down we saw a group of volunteers helping kids to plant their own vegetables in makeshift newspaper cups. Still further was an animal-rescue group who had live-animal demonstrations showing the harmful effects that environmental negligence can have. Other interactive booths and demonstrations were plentiful, and our kids had a great time. The expected political activists were there too, with their booths and petitions and causes, but they didn't seem quite as angry and they actually explained their positions rather than simply raising their fists of solidarity into the air as if that was a good enough argument in itself. I had fun at this one, and I was disappointed that we didn't have more time. Also, I found myself identifying more with the message, and I even got suckered into signing a petition for a very nice young college student who seemed almost timid to talk to me.

Planting vegetables

Maren explaining to me how an owl can catch food with it's sharp talons.

Does anyone else find this interesting? I guess I am pointing out the power that ethos can have in a conversation. When you can identify with the person talking to you, it's amazing how much more credibility they seem to have, and it makes it so much easier for that person to influence you (and vice-versa). Realizing this makes me wonder what ideas or opinions or feelings I think I have for "logical" reasons, but which are really just imposed on me through my own psychological conditioning, and whether or not there is a good way for me to be able to tell the difference between the two. Personally I think there are ways (even good ways) to tell the two apart, but that it requires a great deal of diligence and humility which is difficult, if not impossible, to exercise one hundred percent of the time.

Anyway, just another random Logan-thought for the week.

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Earlier this week, Evelyn arranged a play-date with one of her friends. She made an invitation and everything, and when her friend came over it was my cue to leave with the others. I think Ev had a great time, and I know we did. Everyone got ice cream in the end, so I guess it was a successful evening.

Addy, Jack, Maren, and I went and explored the river before getting hot fudge sundaes- "Papa Sundaes" according to the kids.

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Well, yesterday was my last free Monday for a while. .

Lately, I have been reaping the benefits of having three doctors to split between two practices. This meant that I only had to work 4 days per week, and that I had virtually unlimited vacation time. Well, recently one of our doctors had a great opportunity to open a new practice in Pocatello, and is leaving our group for greener pastures. Who can blame him? And while I'm happy for him and wish him all the best, my selfish side still kicks in a little and wishes it wasn't so. Starting next week I will no longer have three day weekends or free vacations.

Life is so full of first-world problems sometimes.

As a sort of farewell to Mondays, Rachel and I took Maren and Lindsey out to eat at a "fancy restaurant" (Denny's) yesterday, and then went on a hike and to a bounce house. Maren said it was the best day ever. I had fun too. The bounce house had a giant wall of velcro and the kids could put on suits so that you could throw them at the wall and make them stick. There was even a point system based on how high you got them to stick. Unfortunately, Maren wasn't as into this idea as much as I was. Where's Jack when you need him?

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Who would have thought that a drawer like this would be at the front desk of a dental office? Well, it is.

 

At least we have this drawer to keep the score even

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Well, to finish up I'll share just a few more Lindsey pictures and then wish everyone a great week:

Her favorite things: coloring while laying on the kitchen floor and trying on shoes

Have a great week!

So, the other day I was out for my morning run and I noticed a flock of geese flying above me. Immediately, I thought of the song "Wind Beneath My Wings" and then I thought "that song is totally wrong!"

Around this time, I thought "where do these random thoughts come from," but then I just wrote it off as a side effect of running- kind of like when you are half way between being awake and asleep and you don't really have total control over your thoughts- running will do that to you.

Anyway, back to the geese. See, I thought about how the only birds that actually need wind beneath their wings are the ones that don't ever get anywhere- they just go in endless circles (until they find a dead thing to eat...then they land, I suppose). The birds that go the distance though, those are the ones that create their own wind by flapping their wings, and it doesn't matter what the wind says or what anything else says- they are going where they want to go because they are going to make it happen by their own sheer force of will. But even then, they can't do it alone. Nope. Birds that fly the absolute farthest go in flocks and fly in aerodynamic v-formations and constantly change the lead to make things easier on the others. This requires all the birds to be strong since they will all have to take a turn supporting the others. None of them NEED the others to succeed; rather, they choose to fly in groups in order to be even better than they already are.

Yeah- it's a weird thought, but Rachel said I should use it as a blog opening, so there you go.

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Well, this weekend has been pretty fantastic for me. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of everything, but I can still write about it.

To start out with, all three offices of Loftus Family Dental took Friday off to hold their first annual summit (a big team-building day of rah-rah-rah and gimmicky motivational talks- but a lot of fun too and very productive in bringing people together around a common goal). We did it at the Coeur d'Alene resort and it was actually a really, really good time. I am lucky to work with such an amazing group of people. That night we rented a cruise boat on Lake CDA and we had a reception-like thing. Again- lots of fun.

The team I work with every day- couldn't ask for a better group of people

Here we are in "Great Gatsby" costume before the cruise. 

A random picture that ended up on my phone during an activity we did.

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Saturday was all about family. We started out by going to a park and riding scooters and bikes for several hours. We then picked up lunch at a fast-food place and went straight to the Kroc Center for swimming. The kids love the pool there (especially when the lake/river are still too cold) and we had a great time. It gets easier and easier to do things like this as the kids get older and I am really looking forward to this Summer.

That night, we got a babysitter and Rachel and I dressed up and went on an awesome date. First we ate at one of our favorite places, then we drove to the river and just walked the trail for about 45 minutes while we talked. Finally, we drove downtown and saw an outstanding production of "Next to Normal," a Broadway show about mental illness. 

Wow. It was definitely not the kind of show you go to for light entertainment. It was, on the other hand, the sort of performance that sticks with you for a long time and forces you to think about the implications of things. Oh, it also had a pretty awesome musical score- like, how to people think of this stuff? Genius! Two major themes it explored are summed up in the lyrics "Everything's great. Why wouldn't it be great? It's great." Versus the idea of "Give me pain, if that's what's real. It's the price we pay to feel." Another lyric that really got me thinking was "What happens if the cut, the burn, the break, Was never in my brain, or in my blood, but in my soul?" On top of all this, it definitely helped me to appreciate the life we have together in our family that suddenly seems very "normal" even though from time to time things can seem a little crazy.

Anyway, I think that for me, the thoughts and feelings evoked by this play will continue rippling for a long time.

Jack is really into tree-climbing lately

Exploring the park

Before our date. Can I just point out how radiant Rachel is in this picture?

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Sunday was a great day for me on a personal level. First of all, it was my turn to play lead this week at church and the songs that were selected were some of my favorite to play and I totally nailed it, including my little solo part. Can I just say that feels good? It does. Man, I love the guitar.

After church, we went to a park for a family picnic and more playing/exploring/scooter-riding. Rachel bought these Razor scooters for everyone about a month ago just sort of on a whim, and it probably turned out being one of the best ideas ever. Our kids will ride around for hours at a time, and never seem to get tired or bored. The scooters are small enough to take with us when we go places, and they are easy enough to ride that even Maren can get in on the action. Chalk up a win for the parents!

After lunch I went and ran a 5k and set a new personal record, which also feels pretty fantastic. I genuinely think that I am in better shape right now than I have ever been at any other time in my life, and I am loving that my body lets me do that. Thank you Mom and Dad for passing down some pretty great genetic material- it wasn't so awesome when I looked like I was in middle school during my senior year, but it sure is nice now that I can predictably plan on being "25" well into my 40s.

After my race I went down to Qemiln park with the drummer from our band and some other friends and we climbed for a few hours and just enjoyed the mountains in the beautiful weather of a North Idaho spring.

Follow that up with dinner and a great family dessert night (Me and Addy made Andes Mint brownies) and it makes for one really full, really good day.

The scooter gang

Lindsey was a great helper with our picnic. Also, I'm not 100% sure where that hat came from. 

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And now here we are on Monday. Once the kids were off to school this morning, Rachel and I went shopping with Maren and Lindsey for paint (we're doing Evelyn/Addy's room) and then we brought the kids on a hike by the lake. Now the kids are sleeping, the house is clean, and Rachel is at work. I just finished the blog and I think I'll take a quick nap before school gets out.

Life is good.

Evelyn's school pictures

That stuffed animal on Jack's back is "Rocket." It's his class pet, and Jack has taken him on some pretty wild adventures this week. If I get a chance, I'll share Jackson's report on a different post.

It's been a few weeks, and I need to get something out of the way before I update- a confession, if you will. The lack of recent updates on this blog is in no way indicative that we haven't been as busy as ever. In fact, we have probably been even more busy than average with the beautiful weather and everything. So, what does the relative silence indicate on this blog?

Laziness. Yep, I admit it. I think about it from time to time, and the further behind I get the more it forces its way to the front of my mind, but so far I have been able to force those nagging thoughts to the side and just not do the work that is required. So, for anyone who will believe it, believe this- I am a lazy bum.

I feel bad too, because there are literally dozens of people who read this blog, and I am sure they are all feeling very let down right about now by my complete lack of attention to their needs. To them, let me just say...

The weather has been beautiful and I have better things to do with my time. Deal with it.

Oh, and I'm sorry. :)

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To start, let's revisit Spring Break where we went to Rexburg and had a mini-family reunion. We did Easter egg hunts and took family pictures and played games and talked a lot. In the past our family has been so spread out that informal gatherings like this have been nearly impossible (Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, Idaho). Many of us still aren't super close (in a geographic sense), but we are a lot closer now than we have been in the last 10 years or so, and it is nice that people are willing to go out of their way to get together like this. I'm already looking forward to next time.

I wish I had more pics, but this is all I took with my camera...

Never one to go easy on the kids, Griffin tries his best to get Bennet out in our family "softball" game.

BFFs

More Besties

On one night, all the ladies went to a church thing and the guys cooked ribs and ate junk food and played with fire.

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Spring is one of my favorite times of the year because it means that we get to start climbing a lot more outdoors. Now, I climb for a lot of reasons. I love the intellectual problem-solving aspect of a difficult sequence. I love the physicality of the movement. I love the emotional challenge of embracing the risk of failure and trusting yourself during a difficult lead in spite of sometimes-overwhelming fear and fatigue. I love the social aspect- standing around with other climbers and working routes while talking shop- or just talking about nothing at all. I love getting outside in beautiful areas and enjoying views and positions that are only rewarded to those who put the work in to deserve them. I love it all. Climbing is, to me, a perfect sport, but it's also so much more. I also see it as a poetic metaphor of life that takes place in the give and take between a climber and the unforgiving rock. It's beautiful.

Lately, I have also began to enjoy climbing for another reason, and that is in sharing this pastime with my kids. Of all of them, Jackson is by far the most enthusiastic and he will often initiate the planning process for a climbing trip. He's also pretty good, for a six-year-old. I don't want to put too much pressure on him, but secretly I hope he stays with it for the long haul. I think he has a lot of natural talent and it would be a commonality between us that could last for a long time. 

On one of our many trips, Jackson practices placing quickdraws on a 5.6 route in Q'emiln Park

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Here are a few more pictures of things we have done recently:

Every month, The Home Depot does a craft day that we like going to. Here, the kids are building butterfly houses and then painting them. Very fun.

We are constantly finding new places to go. This is a new trail system we discovered last Sunday and the kids and I had a great time starting with a picnic and then a lot of exploration both on and off the beaten path.

Our first camping trip of the year (in the backyard). Many, many more to follow. I think we'll even try a few backpacking trips this year so the kids can develop a taste for "real" camping.

On Monday when I got home from my normal run, Rachel arranged for a babysitter to watch Maren and Lindsey while we enjoyed a great breakfast date and hike together.

I'm sure people are tired of hearing it, but I'm going to keep saying it over and over again- I LOVE WHERE WE LIVE!

Have a good week!