The Hazard Chronicles

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.