What a weekend we have had! I feel like I need the next four weekdays just to recover so that we can do it all again next weekend! Also, just want to add a little shout-out to Evelyn here. She had her birthday and now we officially have a teenager in the family. I am excited. Teenagers are cool. A little later this week I will do a whole post just on her. As for now, enjoy the photos!

Sledding with all the neighborhood friends at the golf course near our house. It is so nice that our kids are old enough to take care of themselves. They are all awesome and it makes it really fun to do stuff with them. 

Another trip to the petting zoo. Pretty sure this is our kids' new favorite place. This is me with a wallaby.

We met up with some friends as a bouldering gym in Spokane. It was fun to see them, and I think we all felt like we climbed well. This is me and Addy scoping out her big project for the day. She threw herself at this thing maybe 50 times. Her frustration with herself brought her to tears at times, but she refused to quit because she knew she could get it. Eventually, right before we left, she sent the problem to the cheers and applause of every person in the gym. Her own scream of adrenaline and celebration when she finally stuck that last move was the loudest of all. It was a neat moment to share.

I've got to say one thing about Addy. That girl is tenacious. Last week when we were climbing she was trying for an onsight at her limit (which she got). The best moment for me as a belayer though, was when she was doing a very strenuous move and as she pulled through she was grunting to herself "Type....two....FUN!" That made me smile. Addy accomplishes a lot in all areas of her life, and I think it is because somehow she just knows how to put herself out there and try hard. She is not afraid of failure (perhaps because of her easy initial successes?) and that has pushed her to go so far in so many things. It is very cool to watch.

We went skiing as a family. I have to say, Lindsey has really come into her own these last few weeks. I'll be honest, at the beginning of the year she was...kind of a pain to ski with. She complained a lot and needed help on steep sections. I don't know what happened to that girl though, because the last two times we have gone she has been the last person on the mountain when all the rest of us were ready to go. She skis intermediate runs completely on her own, and when she does fall she usually comes up laughing.

On Monday, Rach and I got out for a day of climbing with just us. Vantage had beautiful weather and perfect conditions. We both put in good performances, interspersed with fun easy routes and good conversation. Rachel, by the way, is a crack climbing machine! On the way home we stopped for a nice dinner and then got home to talk with the kids for a while before bedtime. What a wonderful day. What a wonderful weekend!

We had the best of intentions.

For Maren's birthday we had reservations for a nice hotel at a ski resort. We had the bags all loaded up in the car. We had prepared plans for a perfect pizza present party at the pool. The next day we would ski. It was all set and it was gonna be great. We drove to our destination.

But it was not meant to be. 

Turns out the hotel messed up our reservations. The weather took a massive turn for the worse with some of the coldest days of the season. And it turns out (surprise!) that Maren doesn't even like pizza.

That's okay. We turned around, drove back home, got Maren a nice chicken pasta (that girl is so weird), and watched a movie while the rest of us pigged out on junk food. The next day, instead of skiing, we all went to the Big Red Barn, which is a petting zoo. Many of us also went rock climbing at the gym. It was a good weekend. Just not what we expected. 

As for skiing- there is always next week.

Maren is so awesome, quirky, unpredictable, and just downright cool. We sure love this girl. 9 looks good on her.

Another zoo picture of Ev with a giant rat-pig-beaver hybrid. Actually, I don't know what it is. Ev is turning 13 tomorrow- a teenager!

This is Addy and me outside of the climbing gym. She has really taken to climbing lately. She'll practice on her own on our home wall, and she loves to go with me whenever she gets the chance. The competitive spirit and "try-hard" are stronger in her than in any of our other kids and it is fun to watch her crushing her goals.

Just a nice little night out at the resort. Everyone else posted Valentine's day stuff on social media, so I just wanted to reassure everyone that Rachel and I still hang out and stuff too. That's all.

Have a good week!

Addy is a pretty cool kid. I mean, we already knew that, but now this opinion is a little more widespread. We mentioned this in a post a few weeks ago, but now we have the rest of the story. So, one day, sort of out of the blue, Addy decided she wanted to start an after school club. This idea led her to talk with some friends, and then to some teachers, and eventually she had a room reserved at the school, a date set, and a teacher who was willing to help out with this experiment. She did some advertising, I think. Or maybe she didn't. The club would be called "School'n" and it was exclusive to 5th graders. She was hoping for at least ten participants.

Well, the day came, and she had somewhere between 30 and 40 kids attend. That is over half of the combined 5th graders at her school! She got up in front of these peers and ran a meeting and planned some stuff. It seems like this thing is sort of taking off. The club now meets regularly and has become a popular hangout, all because of her crazy idea. Sort of cool, right?

A couple weekends ago, Rach and I went out to watch the Seahawks in their miserable last showing against the Rams. Regardless of the outcome, it is always fun getting out with Rachel and relaxing, and when the game was over we both just did not feel much like adulting again. This is where Evelyn's awesomeness comes into play. We gave her a call, set things up and then drove to a nearby hotel where we soaked in the hot tub and spent the night without worrying about whether or not the kids were keeping things clean or going to bed. For the past couple of years Ev has been a terrific babysitter, but this was the first time she has ever gone overnight. It was nice that we were just a phone call and 5 minutes away, and  as we expected, the the house was perfectly clean when we arrived back home the next day. I feel like we've gotten pretty lucky to end up with the kids we have!

This last weekend we had almost all of our kids invite friends over for sleepovers. It was a party night for sure, but unfortunately Maren's friend was unable to come. This meant that we made plans of our own. Instead of staying up past midnight like everyone else, Maren happily went to bed at a reasonable hour so that just her and I could get an early start the next morning on fresh powder up at the resort. We were up there before anyone at home was even awake, and we had a great day!

The next day we skied as well, this time with a couple of other families. Lindsey and I spent most of the day together and she made some major breakthroughs. Honestly, it was probably the best ski day of her life. It was fun to watch her confidence build as she managed run after run with no falls and tighter turns, and she was actually sad when it was time to go at the end of the day. She told me she can't wait until next time and, truth be told, neither can I. Go Lindz!

One more thing this week- Bo, a good climbing friend of mine, just finished converting his basement into a training room. A few of us helped set his spray wall last week and between his place, my own home setup, and the gym, I am anticipating a fabulous season. The weather is starting to get warm enough to tease us, and Rachel and I have a trip planned for Red Rocks in a few weeks. It's gonna be great!

Alright...have a good week!