The Hazard Chronicles

Addy is a pretty cool kid. I mean, we already knew that, but now this opinion is a little more widespread. We mentioned this in a post a few weeks ago, but now we have the rest of the story. So, one day, sort of out of the blue, Addy decided she wanted to start an after school club. This idea led her to talk with some friends, and then to some teachers, and eventually she had a room reserved at the school, a date set, and a teacher who was willing to help out with this experiment. She did some advertising, I think. Or maybe she didn't. The club would be called "School'n" and it was exclusive to 5th graders. She was hoping for at least ten participants.

Well, the day came, and she had somewhere between 30 and 40 kids attend. That is over half of the combined 5th graders at her school! She got up in front of these peers and ran a meeting and planned some stuff. It seems like this thing is sort of taking off. The club now meets regularly and has become a popular hangout, all because of her crazy idea. Sort of cool, right?

A couple weekends ago, Rach and I went out to watch the Seahawks in their miserable last showing against the Rams. Regardless of the outcome, it is always fun getting out with Rachel and relaxing, and when the game was over we both just did not feel much like adulting again. This is where Evelyn's awesomeness comes into play. We gave her a call, set things up and then drove to a nearby hotel where we soaked in the hot tub and spent the night without worrying about whether or not the kids were keeping things clean or going to bed. For the past couple of years Ev has been a terrific babysitter, but this was the first time she has ever gone overnight. It was nice that we were just a phone call and 5 minutes away, and  as we expected, the the house was perfectly clean when we arrived back home the next day. I feel like we've gotten pretty lucky to end up with the kids we have!

This last weekend we had almost all of our kids invite friends over for sleepovers. It was a party night for sure, but unfortunately Maren's friend was unable to come. This meant that we made plans of our own. Instead of staying up past midnight like everyone else, Maren happily went to bed at a reasonable hour so that just her and I could get an early start the next morning on fresh powder up at the resort. We were up there before anyone at home was even awake, and we had a great day!

The next day we skied as well, this time with a couple of other families. Lindsey and I spent most of the day together and she made some major breakthroughs. Honestly, it was probably the best ski day of her life. It was fun to watch her confidence build as she managed run after run with no falls and tighter turns, and she was actually sad when it was time to go at the end of the day. She told me she can't wait until next time and, truth be told, neither can I. Go Lindz!

One more thing this week- Bo, a good climbing friend of mine, just finished converting his basement into a training room. A few of us helped set his spray wall last week and between his place, my own home setup, and the gym, I am anticipating a fabulous season. The weather is starting to get warm enough to tease us, and Rachel and I have a trip planned for Red Rocks in a few weeks. It's gonna be great!

Alright...have a good week!