It's morning time and I am the only person awake. That is pretty normal though. We all got in late last night from a wonderful production of Newsies- performed on a theater under the stars, surrounded by the beautiful mountains of the Wasatch. We had arrived via a small, lighted walking path that traversed a ski hill, prompting several nostalgic-for-winter expressions from our kids. The show itself is always a crowd pleaser and did not disappoint. In short, it was a good end to day 3 of the Almond family reunion. Today we will be touring some of the Olympic Village in Park City. We might watch some skiers practice jumps into the freestyle pool, and we'll let our imaginations run wild with what it must feel like to exert that kind of control over one's body. 

We've been staying this whole time in a timeshare condo that Rachel's mom owns at the base of the mountain. My understanding is that she is assigned a week that typically falls in January (yeah- January. Slopeside. Park City. They don't ski though. Figure that one out.) and Rachel has described fond childhood memories she has of swimming in the pool and exploring the surrounding area. "This is the first place I remember feeling truly independent." Through some sort of convoluted trading and point system we are all able to be here for the reunion, which I imagine is a walk down memory lane for a lot of people. It's kind of neat to be able to share memories of this place with the up-and-coming generation. The lodgings are comfortable and we all fit easily, and so far we've had a pretty great time.

Let's back up just a little bit though. Before coming down, some of us actually had a pretty eventful week back at home. Addy and Maren both had week-long theater camps, and a group of us went out to see The Heathers by the Spokane Civic Theater. Come to think of it, this month is pretty full of theater stuff. We already saw Newsies and Heathers, and next week we'll watch both Pippin and The Buddy Holly Musical. Rachel just got back from a week-long interpreting camp-of-sorts focused almost entirely on musical ASL (I still can't wrap my head around that one), and Maren has yet another theater camp that she will attend all next week once we return from these reunions. I guess we've always enjoyed going to shows, but this just seems like a lot right now. 

Tomorrow we will leave Park City and head up to the Hazard Reunion. I'm sure there will be a lot of chaotic clowning around with cousins mixed with more mild mingling among the adults. That's a post for next week though. For now, enjoy some pictures. 

And as always- Have a good Week!

Here's Addy at her camp showcase, in the leading role as Tracy Turnblad

And Maren at hers- performing scenes from both Harry Potter and The Outsiders

The Heathers

The three of us went on a scenic drive and a little hike on Sunday morning. The mountains up here are breathtaking! 

Tennis under the lights. This is something our family has been getting into lately. People aren't quite good enough for serious games to occur, but they are getting there. I played a set with Ev, Addy, and Jack yesterday and it didn't suck. Personally, I hope that the stoke continues. I was never very good, but I did play a lot as a teenager and it could be fun to keep that hobby as a summer pastime.

The group of us at Newsies. We actually got really good seats.

Cousin time!

A tower of cans, I guess. My inner dad comes out in this picture. All I see is the open cupboards in the background. Ugh.

There has been quite a bit of activity this last week. Rachel has been in Nashville the whole time for a music/theater interpreting camp thing. Every time I tried to call her she was either running off to a see a show, interpret a show, or throw a party at her hotel room. It sounds like she had a great time. I'll put a bunch of photos up here for us to have for our own family memories. She can caption them if she wants, or add more about her trip.

Nashville was wonderful. Our typical day was classes Monday through Friday from 8-5, out to dinner together every evening, attending concerts to support each other, late night parties, and stealing time away to prep for upcoming shows. I did not go to sleep before midnight once. Then we had a full day of activities in Nashville on Saturday. It was a great time. Also, I feel like I need an additional week to digest everything that just happened! Mama Sam and Kim go out of their way to create a non-judgemental learning environment and a feeling of family. It works. 

Now, I wanted to mention what the rest of us have been up to while she was gone.

Melting. That's what we have been doing. Like, almost literally watching ourselves turn into puddles. Like, I feel like a puddle. It has been so hot and the heat saps your energy and motivation and it isn't even until the sun starts going down that we are even able to move again to go outside to skate or play tennis or something. Every day this past week was into triple digit temps and man, do I miss winter. 

While I was at work the kids have been doing various activities to try and stay cool. They went to the lake. They went to the movies. They went to the river. They played video games, and made cupcakes and lemonade, and basically did anything else that could keep them sane. When the weekend rolled around we pulled up a weather map with the intention of going to wherever the coolest weather could be found.

For us, this ended up being either the Oregon coast, or the glaciers on Mt. Rainier. Since we had just recently visited the ocean we opted for the latter. Also, snow. Snow makes a compelling argument when a person is melting. Snow is, by definition, NOT melted, and that seemed really nice.

There really isn't too much more to say than that. The trip was great. We did some hiking around. We played in some cold water. We played in the snow. The area around Mt. Rainier is really beautiful and we took a lot of photos. It was great.

Ok. On to the photos. Have a great week!

I was excited to hang out with Justine. She was the only person I knew from my previous BSL Nashville. In person is much better than Zoom!

Party time! It was a super fun party if you enjoy hanging out with colleagues and giving each other feedback related to performance interpreting.

Hanging out at the Grand Ole Opry Hotel

We were able to get a shot of all of us together!

On Monday we found out which concerts we would be interpreting for in Nashville. I had fun with the Bruce Springsteen concert. "Just be a man!" Other events included; New Kids on the Block/Paula Abdul/DJ Jazzy Jeff, a comedy show, and The Suffragettes to name a few.

Playing around with interpreting comedy. This was my favorite part.

Just for fun! We watched a comedy clip, then one of us interpreted it on stage. You never know what you are going to get as an interpreter- One day I am Bruce Springsteen, and then next day I am a puppet! 
 

 

The air conditioner is humming, and so are we. A lot of little things this week add up to a pretty involved stretch for our family.

Rach and I went to the annual Blues Festival in Wallace. Good food, good music, and lots of dancing. When it was all over, we walked up to our little house and spent the night. It was a nice getaway before Rachel flew off for the week (more on that later).

This is the band "Solis." Josh (Ev's boyfriend) is the drummer. They cut an album and have been playing a local tour, meaning that Ev is gone a lot to hang out with them and, sort of officially, be a "drum tech." They are actually playing at a largish (for them) venue in Spokane this week (Big Dipper), which is pretty cool.

Post Falls Days was SUPER busy this year.

Gelato during my Sunday morning art walk with these two in downtown Coeur d'Alene

While Rach and I were up in Wallace, the kids went to a parade in Post Falls

Quite the haul. Ev told me that after this picture, they sat around and "played communist" for an hour, divvying out the goods that everyone had collected.  

We have become really good, as a family, at spontaneous camping trips. Rachel was already gone at this point, but it still only took us about 30 minutes from the time we decided to go, until we were on the road. Once we got to the site, kids were all super helpful with set-up. It was a dream. I guess all those years of doing it for them have finally paid off, because I hardly had to lift a finger.

We caught the river at sunset, which was part of the reason for going to this place. What a beautiful area! We couldn't help but revel in the warm light and cool summer evening.

L and J

Ev, appearing to stand on the water

A and M

E and A

Some of our kids have become quite the naturalists. Jack showed me his collection for the evening.

Ev prefers to collect photos. These next ones are all from her. I think she has a good eye.

We didn't just take photos. There was also a lot of hiking around and scrambling on rocks. Because we are us.

I have alluded to it a couple of times so far, but Rach is currently away for the week on a much-anticipated trip to Nashville! While there, she will work to further develop her interpreting skills in music and entertainment. This means that every night she will be going to shows and either working as an interpreter, or giving feedback to colleagues, who, in turn, will do the same for her. She has a Springsteen tribute concert coming up that she is prepping for, and maybe a stand-up comedy gig.

There is a quote we often refer to with each other. It says that "If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find a bigger room." This explains Rachel's first text to me when she arrived in Nashville:
"I am in a really big room."
She is with some seriously accomplished interpreters from around the country, and she belongs there just as much as anyone else. That's kind of cool. This is a photo of her and a friend who also happened to be up there this week.

*****

Well, that's what we have for you this week. Coming up next, we'll hear all about Rachel's trip. Also, the kids and I are playing with the idea of a weekend in Banff, so that might happen as well.

Have a good week!