Well, it's a little embarrassing that here I am, writing about Christmas, when my last post was way back during Thanksgiving. It's like December just sort of slipped away from us. A brief recap would look like this: 

Climb, ski, ski. Ski, climb. Dance recital. School Christmas things. Ski.

Rach and Adz

So, there you go. We are now caught up.

Ev at the resort

Ringing the bell. Rach does this every year with all of the kids. For the kids, it's a two hour stint. For Rachel, it's ten hours in the cold. They have a good time though. Lindsey won this year's informal contest for who could raise the most money, coming in a little over $400 during her short shift. Not bad.

Lindsey, on the left, did great in her hip-hop dance recital

As for the Christmas vacation itself, my parents came up for about a week to hang out with us. We had a great time doing stuff around the house with them. We got out for a day at Vantage to do some hiking and climbing. Christmas morning was relaxed and relatively quiet- just how I like it. On one evening, the adults were able to get away for some interruption-free conversation. On a different day, a few of us went skiing. Nothing extravagant, but each of these activities was punctuated with laughter, smiles, conversation, and shared appreciation for each other. It was perfect.

Climbing and hiking at Vantage.

The ski crew

Bowling is always fun.

Going on walks.

Knitting. That was a little different.

And of course, playing games. Lots and lots of games.

A little later this week I'll fly out for a quick trip to see family in Utah, and then this crazy year will be behind us. It certainly been an interesting one.

Have a good week!

Well, the results are in, and there has never, in the past 16 years, been a landslide victory to match the likes of this one. Not only did we have more votes than ever before, but the race wasn't even close. The winners had three times more votes than the other two contestants put together! And so, it is with much humility and grace that I offer you the winners of the 2020 gingerbread contest.

Noah's Ark!

The other teams were good too. We are so thankful for our extended family for indulging us and being a part of our little competition. Besides building these houses, it was wonderful to be able to spend time with everyone laughing, playing games, reconnecting, and making memories.

As for our activities since then, I have been hosting climbing nights at our home gym. Rachel, Addy, Jackson, and I went hiking with some friends in Cle Elum. Evelyn is thriving in band and in her art class. Maren and Lindsey do dance. Jackson is lovin' the boy scouts. And the whole family is out on the slopes pretty much every week now. Welcome, winter! 

Have a good week!

It's that time of year again- Gingerbread house competition!!!!

Instructions: If you are reading this, then you are asked to play a key role in this event of paramount importance. There were three entries this year. All you have to do is look at the pictures (I'm pretty sure they'll get bigger if you click on them) and vote. You can do this any way you want, as long as I know what your vote it. Leave a comment on the blog or on Facebook. Text me. Call me. Email me. Send me a letter. Tell me in person. Show up in the middle of the night on my doorstep. Whatever is most convenient for you, works for me. But we need votes.

Got it?

Cool. Now for the contestants.

*****

Team A- Camp Candy

This cozy camp comes with cabins as well as tent sites to best suit your needs. You can spend the evenings walking the paths or relaxing by one of the two campfire areas. If there are any questions or concerns, the helpful people in the management cabin will be happy to help.

Team B- Burning house of 2020

2020 has been quite the year, and this house has come out a little worse for the wear. After all the fires, rioting, and pandemic madness, it is difficult to even stay standing- but somehow it still does. At least it is wearing a mask!

Team C- Noah's Ark

Gathering animals, two by two, and putting them onto the boat...um...ark. See if you can find the snakes, bunnies, alligators, tigers, pigs, and of course the dove with an olive branch. All is watched over by a slightly exasperated Noah.

So...What'll it be? The camp, the house, or the boat?

The real winner, I think, was Izzy the dog. She was happily keeping the floor clean while we all worked away. 

Stay tuned for when we reveal the real winners, and as always...

Have a good week!

On Saturday, Jackson and I went to Vantage where we met up with a bunch of friends and climbed all day. It was beautiful weather, and Jackson had one of his best climbing days ever.

Meanwhile, Rachel escaped with her friends to go skiing Lookout Pass. She also had perfect weather, and had a good first day on the slopes.

It is a good day when both of these activities can be enjoyed at the same time.

This week, we also went up to the resort as a family and all the kids enjoyed making their first turns of the year.

Meanwhile, school is back in session on an almost full-time basis, which is nice for all of us. We were all getting pretty tired of the home-school thing. 

Have a good week!

The biggest event this week was the climbing trip that Jon and I went on. We had planned this months ago, trying to predict good weather and how that would relate to our goals. We finally settled on Vantage- it was a place he had never been, it generally stays nice late into the season, and it is close enough to an airport that logistics worked out reasonably well.

And then it rained. And snowed. And we had a wind warning. All in the same weekend.

But that was here, in Post Falls. Vantage is a whopping two and a half hours away, so it would be great right? RIGHT?

Right.

I picked Jon up at the airport in the middle of a snowstorm. We drove straight from their to Vantage. And we enjoyed beautiful weather for our whole trip. Seriously, we couldn't have asked for better climbing days. A little on the chilly side for the belayer, a little warm for the climber. We didn't have any specific objectives other than to have fun. And that we did. Lots of talking. Lots of laughing. Lots of climbing. It was perfect.

Rachel joined us for a traditional after-trip victory dinner before heading back to our place for an easy session in the home gym. The next couple of days were easy with football, hanging out with friends, and just sort of hanging out with the family.

It was a good week :)

 First things first here: We had Halloween. The kids were out late, as always. They had their trick-or-treating routes planned weeks (in some cases, months) in advance. They had their costumes ready. In other words, things were pretty normal around here. Happy Halloween!

Jackson was a large inflatable T-rex. He definitely got the most comments from strangers.

Lindsey made for a very cute Anna from her favorite movie

Maren, quirky as ever, was a hot dog

Evelyn was Ticci Toby, a creepy pasta character. Kind of dark.

Addy was a human rendition of the Cheshire Cat. Adorable.

Here they are, ready for the night. Cool kids.

Here are a few of our other recent outings:

Evelyn took this picture. She wanted to make sure I gave her credit.

These pictures are from Deep Creek. It's a local hiking/climbing place we were checking out. I think that in the spring I will be spending considerable amounts of time here :).

The next set is from Copper Falls- a hike we did right up near the Canadian border. It was a long drive, but a really pretty area. We had a picnic lunch and I believe everyone had fun.

Jackson was the only one who stood under the water. And yes, that is snow right in front of him. It was cold!

Alright, that's it. Have a good week!

Last weekend my parents came to town. Months ago, we had planned a big trip even though at the time, such a trip was impossible (yet another reminder of the weirdness of 2020). We had confidence, however, that things would change by October.

It turns out that confidence was misplaced. 2020 continues to be weird.

But even though our original plans did not come to fruition, we still had my parents in town who were more than happy to spend a few days with our kids while Rach and I went out to play. It was a fabulous weekend, and we are grateful that they were so willing to give us this time.

So, what did we do? Seattle.

It really was a refreshingly fabulous trip. It's difficult to write about, because there wasn't anything that really stands out on its own. Rather, it was a conglomerate of time spent together, neat settings, good conversations, proud moments, and new places and experiences that made this trip so worthwhile.

Here are a few photos.

Exploring "The Exits" near Snoqualmie Pass. Ostensibly, we were checking out the local climbing scene. It was too wet to actually get on the rock, but the recent rain also made the atmosphere feel amazing and lush for a brisk Autumn hike.

Beach walk at sunset. The wind was really blowing, riling up the normally calm waters of the Puget Sound. You can't tell in this photo, but watching the waves crash against the retaining wall at Alki Beach was actually pretty wild.

Vertical World. In 1987 they glued some rocks onto some plywood and dubbed themselves America's first climbing gym. Since then, they have updated a little bit, and in the process have become known as the home of some of the nations strongest climbers. We actually spent time here on two of the days- both of which were very productive and encouraging for both of us. Let's just say that we both had, probably, the best gym days of our lives. At least on ropes...

More hiking. This was on a calm day at Discovery Park overlooking the bay. Pretty nice.

We went to a tasting room at Pike Place for lunch one day. It was a neat setting, we had a wonderful host, and the lunch itself was top notch.

One other noteworthy thing about Seattle was just how dead the city was. Lots of businesses (especially small ones) were shut down completely. We actually had a difficult time finding a cafe' to eat at for breakfast. I mean, when coffee shops are shut down in Seattle, you know things have really gotten really weird.

Also, our car got towed. Turns out you can't park in a bus lane. That was fun...

Ok. One more picture. This is the finished tension board in our home gym. I have already spent a lot of time on it and I LOVE it. I think I said this in a different post already, but having this gym really is like a dream come true.

Have a good week!