Summer is in full swing. In the last eight days we, as a family, have gone on an overnight kayaking trip, gone rock climbing twice, taken a trip to Seattle, gone mountain biking, attended three concerts, ran a 5k, gone rv camping overnight, made an Irish dance video, played in a band, taken a trip to visit grandparents, and started a week with friends in Washington DC.

Let's take these things one at a time. 

First, the kayaking trip. We actually wrote about that last week. It was super fun and refreshing for Rachel and I and got us ready for the upcoming madness. School got out on Tuesday and it has been non-stop ever since.

Rock climbing: Rach and I joined a group a while back. We climb at least once a week and we've made a few new friends along the way. It's pretty much all just sport climbing, and we keep things pretty chill difficulty-wise. We sometimes go out for refreshments after it gets too dark to climb anymore.

Seattle: The day after school let out, Maren and Rachel went on a road trip- just them. They did Seattle things. They bonded. I hear it was great. Here are some photos that Rachel and Maren captioned:

The gum wall holds a disgusting allure that I will never understand. Somehow it is a 'must see' when we go to Seattle.

Maren and I went on a Seattle Underground tour that has been running for the past 60 years. Did you know that the 33 blocks of Seattle downtown businesses are actually entered on the original second floor? That's right! Due to rising tide issues, the street level was brought up a whole story to preserve this area. Maren is walking on the historic sidewalk that is now underground.

Many of the original levels are no longer used. This floor used to be the ground floor and has since fallen into disrepair. 

We had so much fun! I sure love this girl.

Maren created our Seattle schedule and Chinatown was a must! As we walked around, we scouted out a good restaurant. We ended up going to the first one we saw! The mini teacups made it an easy choice. Maren loves tea, and the tea we were served on arrival did not disappoint. We also made it a goal to try new things throughout the trip. Fried bean curd was a first, and it was pretty tasty.

We could have sworn those were pterodactyls hanging in the background

I would take a trip with this girl anywhere. We had a great drive listening to psychology podcasts and chatting.

Mountain Biking: There was a big demo day where we were able to try out a lot of different bikes and take a free shuttle to the top of the mountain. This was at a bike park with lots of named runs, well maintained trails, and a rating system similar to skiing to make sure we didn't die. The kids and I stuck mostly to blues (the one black we did was kinda scary), and Rach did a lot of greens sprinkled with blues. This was all pretty new for us but it's definitely something I could get used to.

Jack on a BMX course. Rach and Jack enjoyed the BMX bike course.

These ones were my favorite.

Concerts: Evelyn's boyfriend has been playing a lot of gigs with his band, Solace. There are usually other bands there as well. Ev has become a pretty regular part of their crew, while at the same time trying to re-start her own band, Retrospect.

5K Color Run: This was a run I did with my work team, but some of us invited kids as well. Addy and Jack both did it with me and we stayed together pretty much the whole time. The weather was a little temperamental, and for a while we were getting pelted with large hailstones. Personally, I think it just added to the unique flavor of an already unique sort of run.

Most of my work team- looking nice and fresh at the beginning of the race

Ready to go at the starting line

Maybe it was the cool weather. Maybe it was the gripping story I told while we were running. Maybe she's just getting older and better. This was Addy's fastest 5k that she's done.

Every so often there were people throwing color bombs at us, which was kind of the point of the whole thing.

Camping: Sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing where we just wanted to get out for a while and this was and easy way to do that. We went to a local campground and explored the trail system before settling in for dinner and games around the campfire.

Exploring the trails

Explanation: Jack and Lindsey wanted to go explore on their own. I posed them like this and told them to hold it so I could take a picture. We then walked away without telling them, just to see how long they would hold the pose. It lasted for like a minute before they turned around!

Why use a hot-dog stick when you can use a sword instead?

Good morning!

Dance video: We also wrote about this in the last post. Lindsey's Irish Dance group finished filming this week and editing is currently underway. Lindsey was especially enthusiastic about the fog machine they got to play with. It will be interesting to see the final product.

Band: Ev and I played together in church again. I was on lead guitar this time, making it so that I have officially played rhythm, bass, and lead with her now. Our summer weekend schedule is starting to fill up pretty quick so it might be a while before we get a chance to do it again.

Big trips: Addy was dropped off at the airport at 3:30am Sunday morning. She will spend the next week with friends in Washington DC and New York City. She updates us regularly and will share some photos and stories next week.

Jackson was dropped off yesterday to spend a week with my parents. I think they are planning on camping at least one night. Outside of that, I don't really know. He'll also have some things to write about next week though.

And that was our week. Whew! We love summer!

Have a good week!

It was already late in the day when we put in, our paddle strokes blending seamlessly with the lapping of the water against the shoreline, adding ever so slightly to the evening song of birds and insects. We only had about five miles to cover and we moved steadily. Conversation was easy and, because of our position in the water, it seemed like we were the only people left in a world still dominated by natural surroundings. I find myself once again in awe at the sheer brilliance of the landscape, and am reminded why we moved here more than a decade ago.

Eventually we reached our destination- a small secluded island in the middle of a hidden lake in the remote North Idaho wilderness. No cell phone service, no people, and no distractions. Just us. It was exquisite.

Rachel and I had planned this trip just a few days earlier. As mentioned in the last post, school is ending soon (today actually), and this quick overnighter was a much needed calm before the storm of summer activities that will soon follow.

A few other happenings this week:

Lindsey is finishing off the year of Irish dance and her weekends have been devoted to filming for the annual end-of-year video. She really puts a lot into this and has fun doing it.

Rachel has been interpreting for a lot of public, mostly Pride-centered events lately. She did the CDA mainstage at a big festival last weekend. This week she was in Spokane for parades, shows, karaoke, and comedy. She even made a cameo in the local newspaper on Sunday. This is all fun for me because, since it is public and there is no specific client, I am allowed to watch her and post photos. These seem like super fun gigs for her, full of interesting people and chances for creative language.

Also, she found out this week that she was accepted into a program to further develop this creative side of her career, later this summer, at a workshop in Nashville. Yay Rach!

The picture above is of her and her team at the parade announcement booth in Spokane.

Her at one of the main stages

This was on Facebook in response to her interpreting "drunk Shakespeare" for Stage Left- a theater in Spokane that we frequent on a year-round basis.

A few of us went downtown for a couple hours to check things out while Rach was working

Addy got recognized in front of her school as the Tutor of the Year. She had near perfect attendance at the tutoring center and has done a lot to help students get through their classes. At the end of the day today she will officially be a high school student...A big fish in a little pond is moving to slightly more open waters. It seems like she's gonna thrive.

(After publishing this post, Adalie informed me that I spelled thrive wrong. It is actually spelled d-i-e.)

We are right in the middle of the last week of school. With finals, and final performances, and tryouts for next year's things, and preparation for summer things, it's all been quite the push. We're almost there though. Here are some photos:

Final performance in concert band for Ev. This year she was the section leader for percussion, and probably will be next year as well. She also auditioned to be in a different band next year that travels a little more and she got in. She is considering jazz band as well, I think. But so far she does concert band, wind ensemble, drumline, and Retrospect (garage band), as well as private drum lessons. It's a lot, and she does it well. Also, the guy in the back looks like a creeper, but he is apparently a very nice kid.

Lindsey had signed up for a trial run of elementary school choir. They meet early in the morning before school starts and it requires a bit of commitment. I hadn't heard them sing until last week, and I was honestly very impressed. Those who know me know that I don't say that unless I mean it. But seriously, they sounded really good!

Lindsey also signed up to be in the school talent show. She chose some music and choreographed an Irish dance for herself. It was really fun to watch! Sometimes, our kids do things and it's like, yeah they are in this thing or that thing or whatever, but then when I see the results I am actually quite floored. I guess that consistent practice and hard work really do pay off.

These last two are from a night out we had as a family to see the play "Legally Blonde." We had an outdoor dinner beforehand at a beautiful restaurant in Sandpoint, and then had a blast watching the show. The kids already knew all the songs, and though it was a late night, energy levels were high until the very end.

Also, I have to mention that even though we got home around 11:30, Jackson woke up at 5:00 the next morning because he had committed to help a friend work on the nearby golf course. I was really proud of him for doing that.

Just a random picture from a church potluck- known to our kids as "all-you-can-eat-dessert." Make note of the huge plate of sweets, and the single bite out of the hamburger on his plate. I'd let you guess which plate was clean at the end, but I think his smile already gives away the answer.

Wow- there is a lot of Lindsey in this post. This is from a Shakespeare performance she did with her Challenge team (it's like a gifted and talented thing). They had worked up little skits based on scenes from Hamlet. L was actually in two of them since she was also filling in for someone else.

Maren has been rocking the choir thing. Lately she has been in private voice lessons, which she begged us for and looks forward to every week. For the end-of-school-concert she auditioned for a solo part and got it, and then auditioned for the select choir next year and got in to that too! She's does well, and I have watched her confidence level rise through the roof with all of this. Later in the month she'll be part of a concert-in-the-park thing where she'll sing a few solos from musical theater.

Here's Addy at her end-of-year concert. This is what happens when you text a kid to put their head up and smile so you can get a picture. I don't know how I feel about her responding to text messages in the middle of a concert, but I guess it worked. Saxophone has been a big thing for Addy. She already has some small scholarships from it and she is excited to be in some of the high school bands next year.