Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas was actually pretty great this year. Usually I'm a bit of a grinch about the holidays- a title I wear proudly, I'll have it known. (As far as I'm concerned, the Grinch SAVED Christmas for the Whos...but that's a digression I'll leave for later). This year was a little bit different though, because our family is growing up. A lot of the hoo-ha about presents and Santa and seasonal sentimentality was circumvented by a common realization that we, as a family, don't really need all of that. We did the normal traditions, sure, but they were done in a more mature way this year than in times past. I like the direction this is headed.

Anyway- besides normal Christmas things, we skied a bunch. That's just what we do. Later this week we are driving down to visit some family and ski a bunch more. Should be good.

Enjoy the pictures!

Annual Christmas Pageant. Addy took charge of the sheep crew. Maren was an enthusiastic angel. Lindsey made for a somber shepherd. And Jackson was very proud and excited to play the part of the star.

Rach and Jack. Every year she schedules five shifts of bell-ringing- one with each of the kids. They make it fun :)

More parties. This is from a work thing I did at an escape room.

Christmas Eve PJs!

Lindsey is the queen of the lodge. 

I actually really like this photo that was taken from the window of the lodge. You've got the icicles, the lift, the trees, and Evelyn zooming by in the bottom corner. 

'Tis the season!

First day of skiing! Many more to follow.

Addy, Maren, and me- the diehards. Traffic to the resort on opening day was horrible and we didn't get as many runs in as we would have liked- but fresh powder was abundant and there is a certain "essence" to the first turns of the year that just can't be matched. We all agree, it was worth it.   

*****

'Tis the season! School programs, and projects and concerts and stuff. Mostly for our own kids, and a few with friends. Now that these things are all out of the way, we have one more week of freedom before the kids are off for a nice, rELaxIng, three-freakin'-week-long vacation.

School band concert. Sorry, but these are the best pictures we got. Here's Ev on the drum set, keeping time for the jazz band. She's a confident musician and counted them off and kept them together without a conductor. She was a little nervous about that, but she did great. Also, just as a side note, she is looking forward to a little later this month when she is going through the initial steps of forming a girl band with some other musicians at the Rock School. That should be cool, and the music is a little more up her alley. It's also more fun to listen to while she practices :)

More great pictures, I know. Here's Jackson (Clarinet) and Addy (Sax) in the sixth-grade band. They've all been playing their instruments for less than six months, and it is actually pretty impressive to see what they can do after so little time. Also, all middle school band teachers should get medals. They are the real heroes of the arts.

Sigh. Invent Idaho. Second grand and fourth grade. Five kids. Do the math. Lindsey did a great job and was proud of her presentation. We were relieved to have it done.

*****

'Tis the season! Work parties and lots, and lots of food. It's fun, but my body feels like somebody put sugar in the gas tank. Ugh.

One of many parties we will be a part of. This is one we did at our place with my dental team and their families.

*****

'Tis the season. Christmas is just around the corner. And while I'm not super into the "festive" side of things, there are certain parts that I really do look forward to. The first snow. Hot chocolate by the fireplace. Quiet music. Warm colors. Friends and family. Quiet streets with sparkling lights.

Lovely Coeur d'Alene

Happy Holidays :)

It has been a while since we had a weekend this good! Wow.

So, there are three big things to write about here: The office, the goal, and the game. Each one could be a whole post in itself, and I don't want the significance to be lost of either one by grouping them together. In fact, if it was a slow time of year for us, I might actually do different entries on each. As it is, the next couple of weeks look pretty full of activity as well, so this is what we get. Just know that I am really excited about each of these things. It really was a wonderful weekend!

The Office

For anyone who has been keeping up with our family, you know that we have been in the process of building a detached office on our property for Rachel to work out of. The idea started when Covid forced her into more work from home. The idea grew when this situation looked like it would be semi-permanent and we wanted our bedroom back (where we had set up a small workstation). It was way back in August when, over an evening conversation on the deck, we committed to the project. 

And ever since then it has been this huge weight that we have carried around with us- interfering with weekend plans, forcing us to learn more about building than either of us ever wanted to, and taking up more space than we were really comfortable with. The permit process with the city and the HOA was a chore, and it took a little trial and error to figure out each step of the construction. For sure there were times of excitement and accomplishment along the way, but for the most part the project made me question my sanity. Why had we started such a committing and ambitious (for us) project in the first place?

Well, I have to say it was all worth it. On Saturday afternoon we made the final touches with carpet and trim. We touched up the paint, cleaned up the tools, and took a step back to admire our handiwork. And guess what? It doesn't suck! It actually looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. It is cozy and I think it will serve our family very well. We still have to put furniture in, but besides being a workspace for Rachel it can be a quiet retreat for people to do homework, read books, make plans, or play games away from the constant clamor that is our house. 

We did it!

This will be a little reception area, with a small sofa, an accent chair, and a coffee table. Also, some art.

This will be the "office area", with Rachel's computer and everything. Also, you can see a little loft area above this. We haven't really decided what to do with this yet. Probably storage, but maybe a little reading nook for kids. There isn't tons of space up there, but there is enough for a mattress and small bookshelf. We'll see.

The Goal

Way back when I was a teenager I started getting pretty interested in rock climbing. I would go to a little bouldering gym pretty much every day after school and climb with the local college students. Some of them became pretty good friends over the years. It was at that time that I bought a training manual for climbers called "How to climb 5.12." 5.12, a rating of difficulty, became a holy grail for me. At the time, it represented a fairly high level of performance for climbers. It was even possible to get low-level corporate sponsorships if the grade could be reached consistently. (Times have changed as climbing has become more popular.)

It wasn't until a couple of years later that I climbed my first 5.12. Because of school, climbing was sort of an on-again-off-again endeavor for me, but it has remained a part of my life through the years, and every once in a while I would hit the grade. Last year, I really upped the ante by putting time into sport-specific training, and I completed eight climbs that were 5.12 or harder. Some were actually much harder, and I was very proud of that. 

But pretty much all of these climbs were, for me, what climbers call "projects." This means that I worked on each one a number of times- sometimes over the course of several weeks- before being able to climb it "clean" (without any falls). It is easy to conceptualize this process as learning the choreography to a very intricate and physically demanding dance- but where if you don't do all the steps one hundred percent perfectly, you fall down and have to start over again. You can rehearse the dance as much as you want, but you don't "send" until you make it through the whole thing without any mistakes.

But what I really wanted- what I had been reaching for since high school, was not only to climb 5.12, but to become so proficient at the grade that I could do these climbs predictably with little-to-no rehearsal. In climbing, this is called "onsighting," because you have to "read" the route as you go and adapt in the moment to what you see. It requires a person to have a wide "vocabulary" of movement to draw from, the physical fitness to execute the moves, and the mental capacity to solve complex puzzles in the moment. Most of the time, once you commit, you can't go back. You only get one chance to get it right. Once you fall, it can never be an onsight again. 

To this end, I made a goal for myself. I would do, over the course of a year, 52 climbs that were 5.12 or harder. That is an average of one "hard" climb each week. I could rehearse if needed, but I couldn't count a climb until I did it clean- bottom to top, with no falls. I figured that with this sort of volume it would force me to learn new skills. It would push me physically and mentally. And as I adapted, the climbing would start feeling easier- at least in theory. I would begin to "onsight" more, and "project" less. Basically, I would get better.

Which brings us to this weekend. When I first made this goal a year ago I happened to be in Seattle, and we thought it would be poetic if we returned to the same area to finish it. And finish it we did! On Monday morning I climbed, onsight, four 5.12s. They felt easy. And with the fourth one, my tally for the year reached 52.

I have to say, I feel great! Of the 52, 20 of them were onsight sends- mostly toward the end of the year. It is clear to me that I have gotten better- gotten to be very good actually. The most difficult climb I did this year was rated 5.13a- and it was also one of the onsights! This means a lot to me, as 5.13 is a grade I reached for the first time just one year ago and it is only the fourth one that I have ever done. I mean, in the competitive world that climbing has become, these achievements are pretty modest. I'm not about to get a phone call from The North Face or anything. But in my own world- that of a dentist/dad who is quickly approaching his forties- this is huge for me. Nothing less, really, than a childhood dream come true. Everything after this (and there will be more) is just a cherry on top.

Thanks so much to Rachel, who was a very supportive partner and belay slave for many of these climbs. I Couldn't have done it without her. Seriously. As a side note, she has had many of her own breakthroughs during this process. Pretty cool!

Also, though I'm not about to stop climbing anytime soon, the timing couldn't have been any better. The ski resorts open this weekend :) 

Bring on the snow!

The Game

As mentioned above, we went to Seattle this weekend. Originally, the trip was just so I could finish my goal. As the time got closer though, we started looking at other things to do while we were there. Long story short, there was a series of events that happened that led up to us getting tickets at the fifty yard line for the upcoming Seattle/49ers game.

Woah. Though I was excited about the climbing, this quickly became the emotional highlight of the weekend for both of us.

Rachel and I have been Seahawks fans for years. We rarely miss a live game, and when we do, we avoid the score religiously until we are able to watch it later. Our favorite places for important games have been either at football-centric parties with friends, or at rowdy sports bars with other fans. There is something about allowing yourself to get caught up in the excitement that is intoxicating and fresh and fun, and football- at least from an armchair- has become a way of life for us during the season.

But we had never been to a game. It just wasn't in the cards. Either kids, or money, or time, or something else would always get in the way. But this time, at the last minute, we found ourselves with tickets. That, and some great friends who offered to take care of any needs the kids might have, transformed our weekend into one that will go down in memory as one of the best ever. 

I don't even know what it was exactly. Part of it was the game (which, incidentally, was the best game of the season). Part of it was walking to and from the game through the crowded downtown streets of Seattle. Part of it was screaming until I no longer had a voice. Part of it was being with thousands and thousands of other people who, in spite of their differences, all came together in one place to be a part of the same thing. There was excitement and drama. But mostly, there was and "essence" that can't really be described. At least not in words that I have. It was an "experience."

I'm pretty sure this is going to become a regular thing we do.

Alright. That's all.

Have a good week!

Breakfast at a shipyard. What a very "Seattle" thing to do. It was lovely.