The Hazard Chronicles

First things first- If you want a full update on everyone in the family, make sure you check out the post that Rachel did last time. It is very comprehensive and full of fun details.

As for this post, it is a bit of a hodge-podge of little things that have characterized the last couple weeks for us. It is noteworthy, I think, how these little things, when taken together, can paint a pretty good picture of our family life even though none of them are huge in-and-of themselves. In a few days the kids are off school for spring break and we'll be staying with friends in a cabin while skiing in Montana. That should make a good "big event" post, and those are fun to read and to write. They make good memories. But after several years have gone by, the smaller things tend to be the ones that are the most fun for me to look back on. This is us- right now- just living life.

Anyway- let's move on to some pictures.

We had a night out at the theater and saw Wicked! Rach and I have seen this 3 or 4 times now, but it was the first time for all of the kids. It's one of those shows that checks all the boxes that a Broadway musical should check- it's fun, insightful, emotionally moving, has big scenes and big numbers. It was perfect. We had a nice dinner beforehand, and as we sat in a rather upscale restaurant I realized that we didn't really have to think twice about bringing our kids into these more "mature" venues. In fact, their etiquette and decorum was often better than some of the adults around them. I love that we can enjoy nights like this as a family.

Moving on, I have several pictures to post of "friend time." Rachel mentioned an observation in her blog last week about how sometimes big families like ours can become a little insular- we have each other, so what more could we ask for, right? Wrong. I love that we have each other, but I think that everyone needs some good time away from "the family unit" in order to explore and discover themselves without the baggage of an entire life's worth of preconceived notions coming into play. This is especially true, perhaps, for kids who are constantly in the midst of change.

Zoe (bass), Ev (drums), and Vix (lead) have become pretty close as they work on their music together. They sound pretty good too! Their public debut is coming up in a few weeks.

Personally, I laugh at this photo because I know what happened soon afterwards. That cup that Evelyn is holding is full of the spiciest wing sauce they could get their hands on, and she is about to down the entire thing in a single shot. I wasn't there, but apparently the aftermath was something worth remembering- I don't think she'll be doing that again any time soon!

Addy and Thea. I think these two have been friends since kindergarten. Both are avid skiers, but usually go to different mountains. This is the first time they have spent an entire day together on the hill, and I'm pretty sure they had a great time since they've already decided to do it again next week!

Mira and Maren. Mira seems like an extension of the family at this point. Both these girls are quirky and fun.

How about some music! Some of you might remember "Stomp," an elementary school thing they do where kids bang on buckets. For Evelyn, this program unlocked an entire part of her identity. Here she is in a recent school concert, still banging on things.

As for Stomp- it continues to be a thing. Now it's Maren doing the drumming though, along with her entire fun personality.

Switching gears, we have some sad news to report. In 2018, Evelyn and Adalie saved their money and bought two parakeets, Kiwi and Aquamarine. The birds were good friends, and we all became accustomed to living in a house that was full of their music. Well, the other day Rachel and I were in the backyard when Addy came out in hysterics. Kiwi was just sitting on his perch singing with the girls in the room when suddenly he acted dizzy, and then just as suddenly, fell down, landed on his back, and died- just like that. It was traumatic and scary. We all cried a little bit and we will all miss his music.

The weather is warming up, and climbing season is just around the corner. I have had many nights on the Tension Board lately, some alone and some with friends, trying to get the fingers ready to pull hard. At the same time, it is sad to see winter coming to a close. This has been such a good winter for us, and no post would be complete without a few ski photos.

Here's the first in a series of photos with Rachel. These are her new skis and she wears them well. To put them to a full test, she skied at all three North Idaho resorts in one weekend. I guess that is important to testing skis? Or maybe it's just fun to link the days. This photo is at Lookout Pass.

Here she is with Jamie at Schweitzer

And the two of us at Silver Mountain for our Monday date on maybe the best powder day of the year.

It's not all just about downhill performance though. We have to have a little shenanigans here and there...

Check out the ski in Addy's hand- she ripped the rear binding clean off doing a jump on a steep run  No worries though, Addy and Jack were almost too enthusiastic about skiing the rest of the day like this- they got pretty good too!

As for Addy- she is already breaking in her new skis.

What's more fun than skiing? Skiing as a hot dog and a pickle! These two were easy to recognize on the hill.

I spent the majority of this day with Maren. Everyone at the resort came to know her, and whenever we would get on a chair you could hear a chorus consisting of her, me, and two-to-three lifties shouting "Pickle Away!" at the top of their lungs as we lifted off. Also, by the end of the day Maren had impressed at least one patroller with her skiing finesse- "This pickle can really ski!" was the comment we overheard as she whizzed by on her way to the next run. 

Maren is so weird.

I love it!

Well, that's about it. Have a good week!

A good personality photo of us. And yes, I have a thing for goats :)

Après-ski

That was a good day. I'm sure glad that Rach and I are still best friends :)