A couple of years ago, Lindsey was invited by a friend to go to an Irish Dance class. The other mom offered to give her rides, and it was easy for us to just shrug our shoulders and say "sure," without really even knowing anything about it. Irish dance? Like, clicking your heels and the stuff of the Lucky Charms guy? Ok.

Since then, the friend that invited her has moved on to other things, but Lindsey has stuck with Irish through it all. And somehow, even after years of doing this, I have still never really watched her do a full dance routine. There haven't really been any recitals or anything. At the end of the year, the teacher usually puts together a montage video of everyone dancing, but watching it on tv isn't the same.

But then it was announced that the dance school (really, just someone's backyard shop-turned-studio), would be entering an actual, real life competition, and that a select few kids could go. Lindsey was ecstatic and determined that she would be one of them. And she was.

That competition happened this weekend. We drove down to the Missoula county fairgrounds in Montana and it quickly became apparent that I had no idea what I was in for. As soon as I entered the building I saw kids and teams everywhere, leaping around like little forest animals, doing their hair, tying their special dance shoes, and getting ready for their moment in the spotlight. The periphery of the building had vendor booths with Irishy things, and there were food trucks on the lawn ready to serve up our lunch (tamales, so...not Irish). Some of the parents (mostly moms) were coaching their kids. Some of the parents (mostly dads) looked as out of place as felt. After a while, the announcer's voice came across the loudspeaker for the first groups to get ready. It was about to start. Then a foursome (Quartet? Four-hand? Four-leaf-clover?) walked stiffly onto stage, signaled they were ready, and the music began. 

It was actually really, really cool. The mixture of the music, the atmosphere, the movement, the energy- it was just kind of neat. I don't really know what I was expecting, but I know I came away taking Irish dance a little more seriously. The traditional-ness of it added to the feel while at the same time creating a common playing field of sorts for the dancers. The interactions between teams and individuals was always encouraging and fun, and never really competitive. In short, I was genuinely impressed.

As for Lindsey's team- they won first place in their category, and "most creative" overall. The other team from the school won second place in their category. So yeah- not a bad showing for the competitive debut of a new school- especially since the dances themselves were choreographed by the students. The teacher should be proud. Lindsey was very, very excited to be there. And I really enjoyed watching her in her element. Good vibes all around.

Outside of the dance comp, we are still doing a lot of spring cleaning. I got the garage and my gym looking a little better, and we got some garden boxes for the back yard. Rachel and I are also a part of this little landscape project at the church, and we made some progress there, which is fun to see. Evelyn and Adalie actually spent the weekend down in Moscow at a Jazz thing and said they had a good time. They have a concert later this week at North Idaho College that we will go and watch, so that should be good.

Anyway- here are some photos. Have a good week!

With the end of ski season last week we have officially shifted gears into "spring cleaning" mode. Lots of projects around the house and yard. Nice weather. It was good.

The rest will be shared with photos:

I'd say the biggest event of the week was going up and helping with the clean-up of "Craiglandia." It is a private property/climber's crag that some friends of ours own. They had a great turnout, we cut/moved/burned a ton of brush, roasted hot dogs, and had a good time climbing afterwards.

Most of the time we were there was spent loading/unloading endless trailer-loads full of branches and logs

A couple years ago a large fire went through the property, making most of the wood pretty sooty.

Lindsey and her friend ran a 5k last weekend. You can tell how seriously they took it by the jeans and high-top converse shoes.

Coming into the finish line

Lindsey is also on the middle school track team, where she takes things a little bit more seriously. But just a little.

The weather is getting nice enough for tennis. To some of us, this means actually playing the game. To others, it is more about dancing and springtime vibes.

I thought you could enjoy this little video depicting the joy of spring slush. This was a couple of weeks ago. I am clearly having more fun than Addy!

Have a good week!

There wasn't a dry eye among us as we looked around at each other. 

It had been a good day- sunny weather, playful snow. We were dressed in 80s gear, and had danced, more than skied the mountain that day. Lots of encouragement from the lift line and the deck. Good fun. And now the day was over. We sat on the patio with our food and drinks, initially laughing at the antics of the day, but eventually coming to the realization that this day marks an important milestone in our family.  

Because the end of a ski season is always a little bit hard, but this particular season was particularly painful. The end of an era, really. Next winter, Evelyn won't be here. Our ski family is growing up, and the stationary, empty chairlifts were a stark physical reminder of this reality. The road trips. The fighting over who gets the best seats in the car, or who shares beds in the hotel. The seats around the table at the end of the day, eating pizza or Mexican food. The fast runs through the trees, or staring down at something scary, and the looks that say "we've got this." I mean, we'll still do all these things- but it won't be the same.

Here are just a few of my favorite photos from over the years.

These two have been partners forever.

Ev will still go on many ski trips with us. But it will be as a visitor. We're gonna miss her.

*****

Also, I need to post this photo. We went to see the tour of the Tina Turner musical. It was gritty and more intense than I expected. It also had some great music. As an added benefit, we went at a time where we could watch the ASL interpreters at work! Doing shows like this takes a lot of time and creativity, and everyone did a fabulous job.   ;)

I just sat down and realized that we have some things to catch up on. It's been a busy couple of weeks for us. Spring is definitely here, and we have started to shift attention to yard plans (nothing big), BBQs, and warmer weather. I have been back out on the trail a little bit, and still feel grateful every time for where we live. Ski season is wrapping up, but isn't quite over yet, and I am reminded of the special joy of skiing the playful spring slush with light layers and good music. It feels like a party every time. 

For spring break we spent a couple of days at Grand Targhee, followed by several days in Utah to hang out with family and ski what little snow they had left there. 

Grand Targhee has some of the best views! We were planning to go to Jackson Hole as well, but Targhee was so good that we opted to stay there a second day instead

Lunch party!

It was great weather. Super fast in the morning, and super soft in the afternoon. Best of both worlds!

The owner of the thumbs

After the resort closed, there was enough daylight for Ev, Addy, and Maren to take the car and find a hiking spot. You can tell by the sort sleeve shirts that it was pretty warm- especially considering that this was in the evening

They were gone for a few hours and ended up on top of a mountain!

In Utah they went to a dance show. This is the BYU folk dance team that holds a special place in Wendy's heart since she was a part of it in college.

Working in Marissa and Wesley's yard. Jack got to drive the backhoe, and we moved a lot of dirt and planted a lot of trees.

Have a good week!