I am sure that a few years from now when I go back and read this in its printed form it will feel like all these trips just run together. We ski a lot. I get it. What's new? And in the summer time we climb a lot. We camp and we backpack and we go on long road trips and we stay in a lot of hotels and we eat a lot of pizza. During the week we go to school, go to work, go to see plays and movies, go to the gym, do our individual extracurricular activities, and eat a lot of pizza. It's who we are. And if there is anything we can take away from all that, it's that we DO things. That's our lifestyle, and I love it. But reading it, post after post, can make it seem somewhat routine.

On a day-by-day basis, however, it doesn't seem repetitive at all. Because each trip has its unique highs and lows. Just as each climb, each ski run, each play and each delicious bite of pizza (I really like pizza) is a little bit different. I don't believe these things will ever feel old or ordinary. A big part of this, I think, is in the word WE. These activities are all awesome in their own right, and open doors to great adventures. But once people- friends, or family- are introduced, these adventures transform into something even greater. Because seeing a sunset is a sublime experience. But sharing a sunset with those you love is unmatched in its transcendence and significance, and there will never be enough sunsets in a single lifetime to satisfy the desire for yet one more. 

Anyway. This week we went skiing. And we saw a play. We stayed in hotels, and we ate pizza. It was a good week. That's all.

Have a good week!

Jersey Boys. Fun show. Evelyn is currently taking a "History of Rock and Roll" class and it was neat hearing from her about the influence of Motown on the music scene.

Jackson was cleaning the fridge. I opened it to get something out and was surprised to see Addy just chillin' (get it?), reading a book on her phone. I'm not really sure what is going on here, or why. Was she hot? Is she training for winter sports? Is she just a strange child? The questions are endless.

Big Sky, Montana. This place feels like two different mountains. The lower lifts are cruisy and fun and feel very tame and "resorty." It's hard not to smile, or even laugh, as you ski these runs. The higher you go, however, the wilder and more serious it becomes. We were gifted with amazing big mountain conditions, and a contingent of us spent much of our time trying to maintain composure on some of the steepest terrain we have ever skied on. And then, back to the lodge for more sunshine and rainbows before heading out again. What a place!

The storm started two days before we arrived. We came out of our hotel the first day to calmer conditions, but almost two feet of fresh powder over night. By our third day we had bluebird conditions with nearly unlimited visibility, but a week's worth of accumulation on the ground to enjoy. I seriously don't think we could have hit the window any better. At Big Sky, winter lives on. It was perfect.

What are you putting on your foot?! I normally don't pay much attention as people are getting ready for the day, and I only vaguely remember buying these relics for Evelyn a few years back. She liked the rear entry or something. But seriously, these boots should have been retired about 25 years ago. I think an upgrade is in order, but I'm not sure she will allow me to take these away. "They work fine, Dad." Uh...right.

Us, on a warm-up run. These bumps through the trees were a family favorite.

The four of us (Me, Ev, Addy, Jack) took a few laps off the Headwaters/A-Z ridge. It gets obvious pretty quickly that the game has changed once you start walking up this ridgeline. The prolonged exposure can be nerve-wracking, and you find yourself needing to pull out skills like route-finding or slough management that aren't super typical for in-bounds skiing. In fact, the actual skiing was probably the easiest part. The lines are super committing, steep, and fast, and there are some true "no-fall" zones along the way. We were all up to the task and had a great adventure together.

Tired but very satisfied

Lindsey took a time-out from skiing to lap the elevator for about three hours. To each their own.

Party on. Five days in a row. Good week.

Addy: "To family, adventure, and skiing!"

Also Addy: "I heard somewhere that if tears come from your right eye it means you are happy, and if they come from the left it means you are sad. I can't stop crying out of both eyes though! I am happy we came, and sad that it has to be over. My eyes are so confused!"

The day after we got back home the four of us went up for a quick day at Silver Mountain. It's fun skiing as a smaller group and comes with a lot fewer conflicting priorities. Spring skiing at its finest. What a great day.

Silver Mountain Pizza. Addy is the Wildcat (look behind her). 

Well, that's it. Bye now.

Last week, Adalie got to be featured a little bit. If you haven't read it already, you should. In short, she is doing well. As a follow-up, her and her partner got their scores back from the showcase and they both got the highest points possible. Even with a broken reed. They weren't actually competing since they aren't in high school yet, but if they were they would be headed to state. So, that's pretty neat.

Anyway, let's shift the focus here a little bit. Because it turns out that we actually have five awesome kids who do awesome things, and this week it was Evelyn's turn to shine. Seriously, it was a pretty good week for her.

For starters, her and her band entered the high school talent show. And they rocked! I think there were some nerves before this one because, unlike things they have done in the public sphere, this one was exclusively in front of their peers who they have to see every day in the hallways. They were the very first act which I think was a really good call on the part of the organizers because they definitely got the energy up in the room. They played Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," which I thought was extremely ambitious of them, but they pulled it off. 

There were only a few times during practices that I thought cops might show up at our house for neighborhood complaints over the noise, but the hard work paid off and I can definitely say that they were a crowd favorite in the show. Kind of cool.

Second, she was given a letter this week for excellence in academics. Based on the image she goes for I don't think that most people would guess, but she currently rocks a 4.3 GPA. She seems to do it effortlessly because she is so quiet about it, but when you pay attention it becomes obvious that she puts a ton of work in. If anything, she is gifted in tenacity rather than having a natural talent for school. And lest there is any misunderstanding, I say that as the highest form of compliment. She will go as far as she wants to, simply because she wants it. That is something that I don't think is super common.

This trait carries over into the third thing I'll mention in this post. Evelyn, without a doubt, has taken the longest, hardest, gnarliest falls on the mountain this season. She has brought herself to tears multiple times, and as a dad, I have had moments of genuine concern for her physical safety as I watch her push herself. But there is never any hesitation on her part to shake it off and try again. And again. And again. This, I think, is a huge credit to her character. There are more naturally gifted skiers on the mountain, but it is rare to find someone with as much drive as she has. As a result, she is currently, week after week, pushing through boundaries that were unthinkable for her just a few months ago. This last week she probably skied more doubles than she has in the rest of her life put together. What's more, I expect that next week will be even more of the same. Again, she is so cool about it that you don't notice the effort until you put in the time with her, but when you do see it, it would be hard not to be impressed.

As an aside, we switched our season passes for this next year to Silver Mountain. We'll miss Lookout, but the bigger resort simply has more to offer for the whole family. It's also a little bit closer both to our home in Post Falls as well as the one in Wallace. It should be a good year.

This was actually taken earlier this year at Jackson Hole, but I thought it was fitting for this post.  Rock on, Ev.

Yesterday I was riding a lift with her, and kind of out of the blue she turned to me. "Hey dad," she said, "I really like living." 

I think my silence and maybe concerned look caused her to go on.

"Well...that sounds wrong. I don't mean it like that." She started laughing. "But like, I really like not just going through life, but like, really living it, you know? Like, doing all the things. I think it's really cool." 

Like, yeah, I get it, Ev. I like, really like living too. It's like, pretty awesome.

Have a good week!

This week Part 1: We went to Mission Ridge with friends and it was awesome

This week Part 2: Adalie does all the things

This week Part 3: A combination of these two things

*****

Part 1

Mission Ridge is a smallish resort in Wenatchee, Washington that is an absolute gem. Seriously, it would probably make the top three out of my favorite places to ski. Part of the reason is that, for a place that bills itself as a "family resort," it has incredible terrain that is on par with many of the more popular places we have been to. The runs may not be as long, but this place has pretty much anything you are looking for. 

The other part of what makes it good though, is probably more important. As with most places, it's not just about the skiing, and that was certainly true this past weekend. Mission Ridge has become somewhat of an annual tradition among us, the Misners, and the Ericksons- a group of three families that happen to all get along pretty well. We lodge together, we ski together, we eat together, and it is just a lot of good fun.

Here are some photos:

Obviously this isn't skiing. This is what I was doing most of the day on Saturday. Addy (showcase), Evelyn (friends), and I (study club) drove up later in the afternoon to meet everyone who was already there.

Evelyn has come into her own this year. Here she is headed down a steep chute.

Phil, stylish as always on his telemarks

Lindsey is our aspiring park rat. She spent upwards of eighty percent of her time lapping the park- long after the rest of us went off in search of different adventures.

*****

Part 2

Adalie had a lot of performances this week. She seriously does all the things, and wouldn't have it any other way. She is good at balancing responsibilities and doesn't really do anything half way. Sometimes she likes to pretend that this causes her stress, but usually she seems to just be playing and having fun.

The week started off with a vocal performance. Her group did a few songs from Dear Evan Hansen as well as from The Greatest Showman, and she had a big part in one of them. She was front and center most of the time and had a small solo where she had to hit the "money note" of the song. She nailed it, and everyone cheered and it was awesome. So that was cool.

The second performance was at a band concert. For starters, she got up and announced the band. Cool, I guess. I didn't know she had that part. We went on with the rest of the concert thinking it was just a typical middle school band doing their thing. Just as we thought it was ending though, Addy and her friend stepped away from the group with their instruments and approached a microphone that was in the center of the room. They played two different saxophone duets, which Rachel and I had never heard before and didn't even know she was practicing. Adalie told us she wanted to surprise us. She did great.

The final performance was at a big weekend music festival thing at the high school. She signed up for this without telling anyone, arranged rides and carpools, and then let us in on her plans. The rest of the family was already at Mission Ridge, but I got to be there when she went up and played her part. She did great, in spite of a broken reed, and got great feedback from the judge. Part of the commentary was, in essence- "Don't smile so much while playing your music because it turns out that smiling affects the tone of a saxophone." Pretty obvious, but I thought that was so characteristic of what one might have to say to this girl!

***Follow up: I am writing this one week later. It turns out that Addy got the highest score possible for someone in middle school. If she were in high school, she would be going on to state-level competition. Go Addy!

I really love this photo. After she hit her note and held it out she did a little double fist pump on stage in celebration. She knew that she nailed it, and so did the girl standing next to her.

*****

Part 3

Since I wasn't able to be up at Mission Ridge for most of the time on Saturday, I had planned on spending an extra day just for myself once everyone went home. That is, until we were loading up the car.

Addy: "Hey Daddy-O, I have straight As and nothing due in school tomorrow. Can I skip the day and ski with you instead?"

Me: "Absolutely, Addy-O! Let's have a day!"

And we did. We got a hotel that night and ate pizza. We got up early the next day and drove up to the resort. And both of us agree, it was one of the best days of the year. 

The first three runs were in the thickest fog we have ever been in and it was suuuper eerie and disorienting. With no visual frame of reference it was impossible to tell how fast we were going or even what way was up and what way was down. Between the slope, our speed, and the wind, we seemed to just be floating in a giant white void. Our minds played tricks on us, we saw shapes in the air that weren't really there, and we finally made our way to some trees to guide us down. As things cleared up later in the day it was crazy to find the same trees along a cat track, with another row of trees just about 25 feet to the other side that were completely invisible to us. Seriously, 25 feet may as well have been the edge of the earth for all we knew. It was an adventure and I'm glad that Addy got to be there to share that with me.

As things cleared up we were able to go all over the mountain, skiing as fast or as slow as we wanted, going where we wanted, and not having to wait for anyone. We both put in some of the best athletic performances of the year and came away proud of the day we had just finished. On the way home we played "Name that tune- Broadway musical style" and had a great drive. Turns out that Addy-O is really fun to hang out with.

On our second run we followed the lift line so we could always look up for a sense of direction. Skiing in these conditions was a "sensory adventure." It was disorienting to the point of dizziness, and we had to take a break between runs two and three just to give our eyes a chance to catch up with the rest of our bodies. Addy: "I'm not sure of anything anymore. Like, do I even exist, or am I dead?" It was cool.

Have a good week!

As I sit down to write this, I feel "unsettled." I actually sat for several minutes trying to think of that word before starting this post. It's not a bad thing. It's just that this week feels, in a way, really significant, and at the same time I have no idea why it should feel that way. Nothing super important happened. Events were fairly routine, and by all accounts it was a pretty forgettable week. And yet, it seems meaningful.

Maybe it's just one of those times where I subconsciously take stock of things and come away pretty grateful to find myself where I am. Maybe it's the turning of the seasons. Maybe it's reflecting on small changes that have taken place over months and months across multiple aspects of my life. Again, nothing super insightful to offer here, and I promise I'm not holding anything back- it just feels...well...unsettling...exactly because I can't explain it.

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

As for our activities, I'll put some descriptive captions on the photos.

Have a good week!

This is a "let's make the best of things" photo. It was actually taken after Rach had an awkward lift experience, but it is applicable to the following story: Jackson has, by far, the best ski gear in the family with the exception of Rachel and me. Expensive Black Diamond mitts, a brand new helmet with Bluetooth capabilities, legit alpine boots that aren't just former rentals...the works. A lot of this is because he puts a priority on skiing, and these have been birthday or Christmas presents. Anyway, when we walked out of the house on Saturday morning he was running a bit late. We were all waiting for him in the car when he came running out from the house with his bag, still chewing on the last remains of his breakfast. It had been kind of a rough morning. He quickly got in and we drove off, happy to be headed to the mountains.

But what was that scraping sound coming from the car? Probably just snow rubbing on the tires. We keep driving. Several minutes later it is still making that sound and we pull over to investigate.

Turns out that instead of putting his ski bag in the trunk, he simply dropped it behind the car. We inadvertently ran over it, and then dragged it under the car for a considerable distance. We actually had to jack up the car in order to dislodge the remnants from underneath. Long story short, pretty much everything is wrecked. It was bad.

I continued on with the rest of the family, and Rachel and Jack took a quick trip to the second-hand ski shop for new boots. They met us a few hours later on the mountain, Jackson dressed in extra gear that nobody else wears any more (we could open a small store with the amount of extra junk we have laying around). At least Addy was nice enough to trade him her black jacket for the pink one he had on. 

It's less than ideal. Thank goodness we only have a month left of the season to "make do," and then a whole year for him to build back up. I feel bad for him. But what're you gonna do? Buttons come and buttons go...or something.

I really like these last couple of photos. It was a week of spring-like conditions and the time of year has come where goals and objectives and performance and all that just take a back seat to FUN. Sometimes I tend to lose sight of that. Here we see Lindsey (top), Addy (bottom front) and Jack (bottom back) taking a lap through the park.

The whole family skied Saturday. We spent that night at the Wallace house, and Rach and I went out that night to watch a friend who happened to be doing a solo gig at a newly-opened business in town. The next day just Rachel, Evelyn, and I headed back up to the hill and the rest of the kids spent the day watching movies and "jumping off snow piles" around Wallace. We didn't get any phone calls from the police or child protective services, so I think we can call that a successful weekend for everyone.

This group of friends spends a lot of time together, and though they aren't in the same band, they all play instruments and can often be found busking together on the streets of downtown Coeur d'Alene. This week they added themselves, last minute, to the lineup of bands that were playing at a local coffee shop for some charity. They introduced themselves as "The Unprepared" and according to Evelyn, had "practiced for about an hour in the basement" in preparation. Some of their songs went well. Some, not so much. I guess that's what happens when you try to BS your way through a gig. Lesson learned? At least they had fun.

Last night Rachel and I went to the Reel Rock film festival. It's a big gathering of climbers, with lots of fun and a community where I feel recognized and valued. It was a great night!