The Hazard Chronicles

It has been a really wonderful week, where all the things just seemed to line up and balance really well. We saw three (three!) Broadway musicals this week, all acted superbly by professional touring companies. One of them (Sister Act) was interpreted by Rachel, and she did an amazing job. As for me, I go a lot done on the website for the dental study club, and I played in the band at church on Sunday. We also went backpacking as a family and had a wonderful time exploring in the mountains, followed by a fun afternoon walking around the charming town of Wallace. There are some little stories here and there that I will include in the captions, but the main thing is just that we had a good week.

That is all. Enjoy the photos!

Oh, and as always, you can click on photos to see them bigger and with better quality. I'm just mentioning it because I think that some of them on this post maybe deserve that more than on others.

Rach and I went to Seattle to see Hamilton! These are tickets that we actually got forever ago during Covid times, and then they were rescheduled, and then they were rescheduled again. The day finally came though, and it was sooo worth the wait. What a wonderful day, capped by a wonderful evening!

Come From Away is a play that we saw a few years ago in New York. It was fun and wonderful and has an extremely hopeful message regarding the goodness of people. However, since we had already seen it we weren't originally planning on going when it came to Spokane. But then Addy entered the picture.

"If I pay for my ticket with my own money, will you go with me?"

Tickets were fairly expensive, and we figured that if it was worth it to her, it was worth it to us, so we told her we would. We were thinking she would probably just get the cheapest ones available. This was Addy though, and Addy loves theater. That same day, she went on and bought the best seats in the whole theater. I have to say, it was a night to remember. Seriously, Addy and Rachel both made great dates and it was one of the most enjoyable theater nights in my recent memory. And that's saying something!

Sister Act was a show by the Summer Theater that Rachel interpreted. I think we all had a great time watching the show, and it was one of the few times the kids have actually gotten to see Rachel at work, so that was kind of cool too.

This is the first photo of many that we will post of our recent backpacking trip. All the kids did great, and they are now planning a kids only overnighter where Rachel and I are not invited. I think that is cool.

Relaxing on the trail

At one of our snack stops I forced people to get together for a photo. Also, Lindsey looks like she just saw a ghost.

We decided to shave off much of the hike by climbing straight up this talus slope. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I think that some kids maybe regretted the decision about half way up. It was cool though, when the kids who had already reached the top went back down to take the packs of the others and to talk to them on the way up- "because it is always easier when you have someone with you." Little things like this, especially when unprompted, make my dad heart happy.

I love mountain lakes- especially during sunrise and sunset. There are several photos here of the latter, and the colors were legit. The entire landscape seemed supersaturated and made the experience a little surreal.

These three girls slept in a tent, Jack and Lindsey used bivy sacks, and Rachel and I shared a tent. Jackson was super nice to carry the girls tent for them even though he wasn't planning on using it.

More sunset photos. I think I am down there pumping water for our dinner.

That evening, Jackson got a little too excited jumping around on some logs and fell in the lake. He didn't bring a change of clothes. He was in for a rough evening.

Our campsite had this makeshift chair that was actually pretty comfy.

So, it turned out that Evelyn and Addy had carried some extra clothes with them, and since they were so thankful that Jackson had carried their tent, they let him change out of his wet ones into theirs.

Also, we should always remember the whooping and cheering we heard from the forest as Jackson changed. I guess he was running around naked and said it was just so liberating. Alright then.

I woke up early, because I am me, and walked to the top of the mountain.

Rachel with her stick that Lindsey gave her.

This was our favorite log, and we took several pictures on it. The setup was just too good though, with the waterfall in the background and everything.

We started calling Lindsey "our little dirt clod."

I feel like these pictures all need captions, but don't have much to say about some of them. They are just photos we took along the way. Addy and Maren spent a lot of time hiking and playing together on this trip.