This is a post where pictures tell the story better than I could in words. We spent a couple of days, as a family, biking along the Coeur d'Alene river. It was a chill ride, and we couldn't have asked for better weather or a more beautiful time of year. Enjoy!

Here we are at the trailhead, spirits high. Actually, spirits stayed high pretty much the whole time.

This is a recreation of the picture we took under the bridge the last time we did this ride. Some people have changed a bit. Some, not so much. Rachel is even wearing the exact same shirt!

This is the "album cover" edit. Just for fun.

We made a few stops along the way. This photo was taken when we ate lunch at Silver Mountain- Pizza, of course! Right after lunch on this day, I actually wrecked my bike on a jump at the BMX park they have set up in the parking lot. It turns out that a 50 pound trailer doesn't do jumps all that well, and it was a pretty comical fail on my part.

These last few were at a park we stopped at. There was a pond that must have been recently stocked with fish, because people were catching trout with pretty much every cast!

We got to camp with plenty of time to relax in the shade or wade in the river. 

Lindsey, setting up her bivy. Notice the wrist brace? She doesn't need it. I picked it up for my wrist after the bike crash described above, but didn't really end up needing it. You will see it on several pictures of Lindsey though. It's quite the fashion statement.

The sunset that night was pretty nice. I love being in the mountains.

It seems like we always have to have a good morning photo of the two of us enjoying our breakfast. If you look at the two of us, it would be hard to guess at the weather. 

The next few are just some random photos from the trail. We went about 60 miles in all.

And of course we saw a lot of natural beauty and wildlife along the way. Moose, deer, snakes, frogs, and lots of different kinds of birds accompanied us at varying times on the trail.

Acres and acres of water lilies

The braded bunch!

At the end of our ride we got ice cream in Harrison, then drove to our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch in Wallace (it was right on the way for the shuttle). After lunch we went up to the house and took naps before finishing picking up the car and heading home. Great ride. Great weekend.

Have a good week!

What an amazing place we live in! On Friday, we had no specific weekend plans. Just staying around home. Well- it turns out that "staying around" is pretty spectacular. Captions on the pictures will tell more. 

Also, we are in the home stretch of school. Tomorrow is the last day. At the elementary school, Lindsey is doing a "day of awesome." We used to call it field day. But school, for her, is basically done. For the other kids, the end of school means finals, finals, and more finals. One more day.

Here are some photos:

Here's Ev with her awards from the year, and two letter pins. Junior year is usually the hardest, academically, and I'd say she pulled through pretty well. 

Lindsey had her last choir concert. This is a picture to prove that I was there.

I walked in on Maren getting ready for church and I thought she looked really pretty so I took a picture. Also, Ev and I played again at church, and that is always fun.

I wrote about this last week as well, but the trail is so nice and so close. This is a bike ride that Rach went on.

We've been playing tennis several times a week. Sometimes we do pickleball instead, but everyone prefers tennis. We still aren't very good at either game, but we have fun.

Rachel interpreted a pride-in-the-park event for like five hours on Saturday. We went to watch her for one of those hours, and had a good time with the various family-friendly activities.

Lake days are becoming a weekly thing now. The water is still a little chilly, but it's so hot outside that nobody seems to care.

#Goals for all the drummers out there (I'm pointing at you, Ev!)

Rachel and I kayaked out to a little island to camp on Sunday night. After a bumpy dirt road to the put-in, we were met with this sign. I can't really say why, but I think that is pretty funny.

This is one of the few non-selfie photos of me on this blog. Thanks, Rach!

Back to the selfies. We had the whole lake to ourselves, and we spent the night at a little campsite on top of the island. It seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere, even though the drive was only like 40min from our house.

This was our view as we ate dinner. No civilization in sight- just lapping water and animal sounds. Perfect.

What a way to wake up. From here, we paddled out, and then went to Wallace to plan what furniture to buy for our new bonus room.

The Buoy in CDA has the best fries, frequent live-music, and a great lake-front vibe. We end up there almost every time we are downtown for an afternoon.

Just a picture of Rach and me. We still have several moments every week that we look at each other and one of us will ask "how did we get so lucky to end up here?" It's not always perfect, but is sure is good.

This was one of those weeks where I just felt really grateful for where we live. Just look at Monday- Rachel and I got up early, drove five minutes, and went on a hike. Our destination was a crag that felt to be deep in the heart of the forest, even though we had walked less than a mile. There, we enjoyed climbing in the cool air, and just as it started warming up we were able to pack up and go out to breakfast at a local diner. From there, I went on a run down by the river along a trail that has become, to me, like an extension of home. That evening we watched the sunset as a family over a backyard barbeque. 

That is a pretty normal day for us. Nothing super spectacular, but I just found myself at various moments throughout the day thinking how lucky I was to be alive in that moment at that spot, and thinking through all the things that led me there over the years. It's good.

*****

The end of the school-year is always a busy time for us, as kids have various award ceremonies and concerts and presentations and stress from finals week. It's mostly a good time, but can sometimes seem like a lot. Here are some photos with more details in the captions:

These two have been the busiest of all- a lot with band things. All week, they've been going around to all the elementary and middle schools and doing demos for the high school band program. On Saturday, Addy went with the concert band to Silverwood after playing in a competition and getting first place. And on Thursday, they both went to an award ceremony potluck thing, where I got to see Ev on the kit more than I think any other time this year. These girls work super hard at school as well, and even though finals aren't over yet it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that they'll finish the year somewhere above 4.0 gpa. They have both already double-lettered in band and academics, and are excited for the much-needed rest that will start in less than a week when school gets out.

It's not hard to spot Lindsey with the red hair in front.

This isn't school-related but it's still pretty cool. Riverdance was on tour in Spokane this week, and Lindsey's Irish dance group was able to go and perform in the lobby before the show started. They stayed for the show and Lindsey said it was one of the best nights of her life. Tomorrow she will have her final choir concert for the year, and will soon be officially a middle-schooler. She has mixed feelings about this last part. She loves her school and teachers and friends, and everything about her current situation, and change can be hard, but knowing her, she's gonna thrive.

Maren had her final choir concert last night at the middle school. She is also doing a solo thing for voice later in the month that is not school related.

Rach and I got out for our first Arbor Crest concert of the year. We love these. The group on stage was a 70's style Soul band and it was fun to get up and dance to the classic vibes.

With summer time comes lake days!

Have a good week!