The Hazard Chronicles

This week is one of profound gratitude for good friends and family who are willing to hang out with our kids. As mentioned in a previous post, Rachel broke her ankle recently in a rock climbing fall, an injury  which had the potential to seriously cramp our style. We like to be active. We go on hikes. We climb. We swim. We travel. We DO stuff. Lots of stuff. And we love it. But suddenly we found ourselves looking at the rest of the Summer a little bit differently, and we had to figure things out.

Enter Kristin and Jamie. As soon as they saw Rachel in her boot they were quick to offer their services, and it made a whole world of difference. They both happened to be going to a family camp (like Aspen Grove in Provo, for those who know what that is), and they graciously offered to take our three oldest along. This gave us some much needed time to plan for the upcoming weeks. And our kids had a BLAST.

To the whole Erickson and Misner families...Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

Ropes courses, climbing, ziplines, archery, fishing, and more. Our kids were so spoiled!

A few days after they got home from the camp, we were headed off to Utah. Our original plan was to go to Colorado (Boulder area) for a few days of climbing. We had our tick lists ready and were looking forward to the trip. Obviously, that wasn't going to happen now. But Wendy stepped up and offered to take our kids anyway, giving Rach and me a little mini-vacation. Again, the kids had so much fun, and so did we!

To Wendy- THANK YOU!

We did a couple of walks around the peace gardens. Rachel's ankle forces a change of pace for us, but honestly, it is a little bit nice.

The pace doesn't change too much though. Sometimes I actually had to jog just to keep up!

It was so nice being able to see Griffin and Erin for a fun night out. We saw Bright Star at the Hale theater. It was a well told story with lots of fun bluegrass music. Afterwards, we met up with Shannon and Adrian for a fun late night out.

We did spend a little bit of time climbing at The Front- one of the coolest climbing gyms I have been to. We did this with Shannon and Adrian. In fact, we ended up spending quite a bit of time with them. Also, even though it isn't pictured, we had fun one of the days going out to lunch with Brandon and Kendra. Really, this was a great trip for reconnecting with people who I don't get to hang out with nearly enough.

This is at the Historic Draper Theater where we saw Pippin. It was a super ambitious show for a small theater, but given what they had to work with, I think they did a really nice job. We certainly enjoyed ourselves!

Wendy enjoyed a great mini vacation with the kids. The kids had a great time hanging out with her. Here are a few of their adventures:

Kids at the aquarium.

Kids playing at Grandma's house, including a painting project for the playhouse.

Kids at the planetarium.

As we were finishing up our vacation in Utah, we got a call from my parents. We would pass by their house right on the way home anyway, and they were wondering if they could take our kids for a few days. They would then drive up to our place to drop them off and hang out with us for a while.

Really! Wow!

We just got home yesterday. Rach and I went to an outdoor concert with one of our favorite local bands. The kids spent the day at Yellowstone with my parents. And I'm sure that is only the beginning of their plans.

Mom and Dad- THANK YOU!

The kids at Yellowstone. In case anyone was wondering, the geyser still works.

Rafting the river

I am so glad for good friends and family. This broken ankle thing has forced us to slow down a little bit, but because of them it hasn't hit our family nearly as hard as it could have. Meanwhile, Rach remains in good spirits and is becoming ever more proficient with her crutches and scooter. 

Life is great. Have a good week!

Resting the leg at the concert. Also, a nice reminder of how awesome this place is. I feel like "North Idaho" has become almost just as much a part of the family as the people who live there. I love it!