Back to school clothes are purchased, and backpacks and school supplies are ready to go. We, however, are not ready to say goodbye to Summer yet.

Rewind a few months ago to May. Ev and I took a trip to Boise to see her favorite band, Cheap Perfume. It was an epic trip that will be remembered for years to come. Feel free to read about it here: The Hazard Chronicles (loganandrachel.blogspot.com) The day following that concert, Ev and I decided to continue the fun by booking tickets to Cheap Perfumes upcoming concert with Bikini Kill. Fast forward to today: We just returned from a Utah trip for the much-anticipated show.

This time around, we decided to bring the other kids with us. Unfortunately, Logan was unable to come due to an awesome dental course he is currently attending in Seattle (more on that to come!). 

It is important to mention that this was a big trip for Adalie, too. A few weeks ago, we were in Park City. We went to the Olympic Park to take a tour and watch the ski jumpers use the Olympic Park freestyle pool. Adalie was particularly enamored, and after some research, we found an opportunity for her to take a ski jump course. She was all in and was willing to pay half for her participation, so we booked a Friday afternoon session for her since we would already be in town for Cheap Perfume. Upon arrival, we found out that she would have a private lesson since no one else had signed up for the time slot  (previous weeks had seen up to 30 kids in a lesson!). All of us went to watch her jump.  Check out the front 90 that she absolutely nailed! We always joke about this as a family. Sometimes people are working on 180s or 360s, but the front 90 is golden. The picture says it all.

This girl is so fun to ski with! She is in the air more than on the ground, and it is fun to watch her effortlessly move around the mountain. This effortlessness was noticeable as she practiced her jumps.

A perfectly executed front 90. Adalie came up sputtering because she was laughing so hard! She knew that she had nailed it.

Other happenings:

Adrian surprised us with tickets to an unknown event. He put them in an envelope and gave us an address and a dress code. It wasn't until we pulled up to the circus tent that we knew what was in store. Adrian originally wasn't going to be able to come, but the show was delayed by wind just enough for him to be there. 

Mini golf is always a crowd pleaser. This is the only picture we have of my mom. We were able to spend sometime with her on this trip, I was also able to go to a long lunch to catch up with Brandon. We didn't take any pictures, but it was nice to hang out.

Adrian, Shannon, and I went to a Flamenco dance concert. It felt like we were invited to view a performance for a gathering of family and friends. It felt intimate and almost spiritual.

Quick break for a random picture of a walk we took outside of our hotel in Idaho Falls. This is our driving break now when we head to Utah.

We stayed with Shannon, Adrian and Nathan. They were great hosts, and we were lucky to catch Nathan's soccer game!

Cheap Perfume:

Cheap Perfume

Blisster

Bikini Kill

Cheap Perfume brought all of the same amazing energy to the stage that they had when it was a concert just for the two of us! Ev and I went to the merch table during intermission, and we were in line when someone walked up to Ev and called her by name. It turns out that the bassist, Geoff, sent his sister out with the sole mission of finding us during the show so that we could meet up with the band afterward. After a quick selfie (to prove that we were found!), we made plans to meet up.

After the show, we reconnected with Jane, Stephanie, Dave and Geoff. We waited for a bit for the crowd to dissipate, then we were able to have some time together. Unfortunately, Geoff and Dave had to take off to load equipment before we had a chance for a picture. I am pretty sure we will be to Denver (Cheap Perfume's hometown) for a future show. We'll be in touch! Thanks for making us feel so special. 💜

This is a random new thing that I tried with Shannon.
Have a good week!

It has been a very full week for us as we finish up our summer vacation. It is crazy to think that school is starting up again so soon. The high-school kids have registration and stuff going on over the course of the next couple of days. Rachel knocked out back-to-school shopping in a flurry of shopping sprees and online orders. Haircuts are in the works, and carpools are getting assigned. Addy is tuning up her saxophone, and Lindsey is tuning up her bicycle.

We were sitting at the Wallace house this weekend talking about how this has been such a wonderful summer. The Hoh backpacking trip was a definite highlight, but so were countless other things. Camping. Family visits. Swimming. A newfound independence for Evelyn with her own car and going to concerts on a weekly basis with friends. Tennis. New climbing friends and trips for me and Rachel. The list goes on. 

The weather has started cooling off just enough to hint at changing seasons and I think we're ready to settle back into a routine. These next couple of weeks have some big trips planned, but we'll address that later. For now, let's get to more recent happenings.

This week:

Lindsey and Rachel went to Silverwood

I celebrated a birthday

We picked a bunch of huckleberries, and then baked them into all the things

We spent the night in Wallace, got some yardwork done, and went to a festival in town

We went camping and rock climbing with friends at Tum Tum

We went to a work party

Here are some photos:

Silverwood. It'S SoOoo FuN. I lOVe sILveRWoOD!

Actually, I don't. I think these two had a great time though.

Huckleberries! We found a great place where we could pick to our heart's content. Around here they call places like this "honey pots" and knowledge about them is guarded as closely as any family secret out there. I think that's weird.

More huckleberries

Climbing at Tum Tum. This was a good trip for a lot of people. I'm going to focus on Evelyn here, because she finally did her first lead, as well as her hardest climb to date. Lindsey also did her first lead, Addy did her hardest climb, Rach got in some hard climbing, and Jackson got all the moves on a project that at first seemed far above his level. Great trip!

Evelyn leading

That dot on the left is Evelyn on a slabby pitch of granite. Nice high step! Jack led this climb in a bold display of mental toughness, and Evelyn and Addy both top-roped it as their hardest clean send to date.

Jackson working the moves on this sporty climb. It is a full number grade above his hardest lead, and the end involves an all-points-off dyno for him. After about fifty falls in the same place he was finally able to get the move, proving to himself that the climb was within the realm of possibility for him. And that is the beginning of a project.

Summer nights around a campfire. I love it.

Last week was full of family reunions. We did a lot of stuff. Together. And it was good.

This week was a little different. We still did a lot of stuff, but it was on a more individual basis. Actually, Rachel and I were going to do a camping trip- just us- on Saturday, but because we had felt so detached during the week from everyone else we decided to make it a family affair instead. Evelyn's boyfriend, Josh, was also able to join us. We discovered a really neat little campground way up near the Canadian border, brought a bunch of kayaks and paddle boards, and spent a day on the river. I'd wanted to check this area out ever since some friends went there last summer, and it did not disappoint. It was nice. 

Here are some photos. 

This waterfall is accessible only by water- there is no trail or anything to hike to it. Consequentially, there were not a ton of people around that you normally see in a place this beautiful. There was also good cliff jumping and swimming. Even though we just spent the day up there, it gave us enough of an appetite for the area that we will probably plan a longer trip sometime to explore the river.

Maren did a theater camp all week that focused on the audition/callback process. At the end of the week there was a showcase with numbers from High School Musical.

Here's Maren during her solo. I like the personality that she brought to her character.

The five of us went and saw Pippin. It was a wonderful night out with great acting. People around us seemed surprised at the enthusiasm of our kids and knowledge of lyrics/vocal harmonies during the singalong part of No Time At All.

These two have been trying for weeks to get out on this trip. Leigh Lake is a beautiful alpine lake in Montana, and Ev was itching to plan an overnight trip of her own. They went and apparently had a great time, including the part where they had to troubleshoot some minor car issues. It is fun to watch them doing these things. It reminds me of when I was their age, planning my first trips with just siblings/friends/cousins. The next few photos are from this trip.

Rachel spent Saturday morning watching her friend do the CDA triathlon

And finally, there is this picture. These three have been climbing a lot together lately. Rachel is becoming a confident leader and they seem to have a good time. After this trip, I met them with their SOs for a fun trivia-night.

Have a good week!

Well, we just finished the Hazard reunion and are back into the normal hustle and bustle of the week. Rachel and I have been watching sport climbing in the Olympics. Maren is right in the middle of an acting camp. Evelyn and Adalie are leaving today for a short backpacking trip. Tomorrow night a few of us will go and see Pippin at a small local theater. In short, things are good.

Here are a few photos of last week:

Finishing up the Almond reunion. More cousin time.

Also the Almond reunion. We went on a tour of the olympic park in Park City. On the tour we saw a lot of things, but our favorite was watching people practice in the freestyle pool. The people doing the biggest jumps were superhuman and unrelatable, but we also saw a lot who were working on more accessible tricks and it was pretty inspiring. So much so, that Addy decided to pay a lot of her own money to register for a coaching session on these ramps when we come back down in a couple of weeks.

The Hazard Reunion. We actually took all these family photos at the end, but we'll put them up here first. Here is all of us.

Here's the original Hazard family.

And here's us!

We did a few impromptu hikes

Hanging out in the back yard at my parent's new house

Everyone trying to fit in the shade of a single umbrella. We did a few lawn games as a family and there were some viscously competitive kids that put themselves in the mix. We will not soon forget the stick fight between two specific cousins.

Just up the hill from my parent's house is a great place to watch the sun go down.

Tennis continues to be a thing

Me, Ev, and Addy woke up early one morning to do this hike before the action started for the day. The destination was actually a pretty cool wind cave thing.

I went out one day to see Evelyn riding my dad's motorcycle and surprised myself with parental concern that I didn't know I had. She survived and the bike still runs, so I guess it was successful.

This was a big highlight for everyone. We went and floated a river. There were several small rapids and some cliff jumping along the way. It was a ton of fun. Nobody brought cameras on the water though because we were all too scared to ruin our phones.

Ninja Turtle buddies

This was also a lot of fun, and personally rewarding for some of us. We rented out a gymnastic gym and just played around for a while. Jackson and I did our first backflips on a trampoline. Neither of us had ever done that before and I am honestly pretty excited about it. Addy also started doing backflips off of solid platforms, which is a step up for her.

Alright- that's pretty much it. HAVE A GOOD WEEK!