The Hazard Chronicles

Today is the first day of school for our kids. It has been an amazing summer vacation, but I think everyone is ready to take a few deep breaths and get back into a routine. I think that Rachel and I are ready to be able to go to work without constantly arranging for sitters. I think that our house and yard are ready to recover from being used and abused day-in and day-out beyond their capacities. I think our bank account is ready to have a little more growing room.

Don't get me wrong. Summer is fun, and we have made the best of it. 

But it takes a toll.

So let's all take a big collective sigh of relief and then enjoy the next couple of months of relative calm. I know I will.

Evelyn is going into 5th grade- masters of the school! At her back-to-school night she had fun catching up with friends and meeting her teacher. It is so fun to watch her thrive.

Judging from the back-to-school night, Ms. Addy is the most popular kid in her school. She is the only one who did not experience any nervousness or sadness about summer vacation ending. School can't start soon enough for this social butterfly.

Nice shirt, Jack! This guy has been working hard over the summer and is ready to excel this year in third grade (same as Addy). He still has the biggest emotions out of all our kids...put together.

For the first time ever Adalie and Jackson are in the same class. We'll see how this goes.

My goodness, I have a hard time believing that my Maren is a first grader already! She is ready for this. In the past few weeks she as been asking us more and more if she can read to us or do math pages to prepare. She was a little bit nervous, but I know she will do awesome.

The crew from Mullan Trail. What good kids they all are.

Lindsey is in her second year of preschool. Already she can count to 100, read simple words, and do basic arithmetic.  Academically, she could easily go into kindergarten right now, but she is too young. So here she is, queen of the preschool. 

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So how did we use the last week of vacation? Well, for starters, Addy and Rachel went to Silverwood.

Addy got to help with the magic show.

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The biggest event of the week though, was the visit by my parents. The arrived on Friday night. The next morning we left bright and early- just the adults- for Leavenworth. We had a fun time exploring the Bavarian setting, peeking in bakeries and gift shops, eating good food, and hiking in the surrounding mountains. That night we went to the outdoor Summer Theater's production of "The Sound of Music" before driving to a cute guest house where we were staying. The whole trip was pretty quick, but was a very satisfying getaway with my mom and dad. 

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When we got home from Leavenworth we didn't sit around for long. A quick lunch saw us out again, this time with cars full of bikes and kids. See, Maren had a breakthrough recently and she has been riding around a lot on her two-wheeler. It was time for us to test her newfound skills on the trail. She did great.

Here she is, proud as can be. The band-aid on her knee is the official stamp of a kid who learned how to ride a bike.

After the bike ride we came home and had a backyard BBQ. It was a good day.

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But the vacation was not over yet. The next morning we woke up and went to a wonderful little breakfast place in Post Falls called the Old European. It fits with the Leavenworth theme in that it serves a great German-style breakfast that is just enough outside of the norm that it feels special.

Once we were all fueled up with food we drove straight to the lake and spent the next several hours on the lake. Unfortunately the water was really choppy that day so we didn't do any skiing or tubing, but we still had fun.

I really like this picture

And this one too. These were the only sane people out of the group who didn't get wet on this beautiful windy day. 

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Last but not least we parked the boat at a dockside snack shop and got ice cream. It was a good visit from my parents and we are already looking forward to the next time they can come up.

Have a good week!