Our Tahoe Trip!!
Tuesday, August 25th, 2015Our Tahoe Trip!!
Our family had the most wonderful week in Tahoe! Ann and John rented a house, and Tina and Colen joined us as well. This was a family tradition for them when Eric and Tina were growing up, and it’s easy to see why. Everyone loved it!
Tina rented a car big enough to hold all our kids and very kindly chauffeured us to and from the Reno airport. Eric and I went out on a date one day and realized it was the first time in days we had to drive. That is truly a luxury for us! The not driving and the date both =)
The first full day we went to visit The Numbers. This is a short, fun hike through the woods where there are numbered exercises, like walking on balance beams, doing jumping jacks, and pull ups. This was super fun, but I think even John was surprised by just how much the kids loved it. They begged to go back so we ended up doing the numbers twice more! There was also an excellent park there, which was another draw. Maia just liked climbing around and digging in the dirt, but Serenity and Donovan both tried to do most of the exercises. Serenity even made it to championship par on all of the exercises! The last day we just went to their favorites, and she wanted to be sure to do the balance beam, which she did forwards and backwards with arms down, the most challenging way possible. She also loved the activity where you hang from a bar and kind of swivel your body around in circle, and the body curls. Eric used to be really good at the body curls, and he was kind of dismayed to discover his neck was too tight to go as high as he’d like. Donovan, just like his Daddy, would carry around sticks and rocks all through the woods. =)
The next day we visited the beach for the first time. The house they rented included access to a private beach, and it was so beautiful! The water was a little low, but that didn’t bother the kids. They got plenty of swimming time in the pool. =) Serenity and Donovan waded a bit but Maia plopped herself down in the sand and hardly moved for an hour! She would just dig and dig! Far-far was making a nice hole and a big mountain for her and she was just so happy. I haven’t seen her that still in a long time! After a while she did explore more. The second beach visit she discovered a huge rock that made just the perfect slide. She and Serenity both enjoyed that one! I played at making sand castles, although Maia flattened the top of the castle so it looked more like a birthday cake. =)
Gameapalooza
We played so many fun games this trip! Donovan especially was in heaven. Aunt Tina had brought Flashpoint, a game about firefighters! Everyone played that with Donovan at some point, and he adored it. We also played a lot of Forbidden Island =) I bought Frozen Uno for this trip since we had already packed our original set of UNO cards. Serenity played this a ton! It’s just like normal UNO except for the special Olaf summertime card, which lets you discard up to three either pink or yellow cards as well as choose the color. Our friends Sasha and Keith had introduced us to a really fun Lord of the Rings deck building game that’s a lot like Dominion. We sent it to John before the trip and we played it late into the night. We also played a game called Elfenland that’s pretty fun for kids and adults.
Rosie’s Cafe
My birthday was the day after we left Tahoe, so everyone took me out to breakfast at Rosie’s Cafe for my birthday. I love breakfast food! I also got lemon cake and a another pretty card from Tina that I’ll have to frame it’s so beautiful =)
Camp Nature
Our backyard in Tahoe was gorgeous all by itself. The first day we went out there Serenity and I made Camp Nature. We collected blue jay feathers, pinecones, fir branches, and arranged them on a stump. Donovan joined us later and started a cool rock collection. Later, the kids found a secluded corner that was an even better secret location for Camp Nature. Serenity made up a theme song and dance for the camp, and Donovan was in charge of camp games. I love how involved they got in their camp planning! Serenity even gave a whole sales pitch about it to her grandparents, and said you too can join camp nature if you pay one dollar or collect items for it. Well, as soon as she said a dollar, John pulled a dollar out of his wallet and gave it to her. The look on her face was just awesome. Like she never expected real money and it was astonishing and thrilling all at once =) So fun! She eventually talked a dollar out of Vanaema too so Donovan could have one also!
The house also had a membership to the neighborhood club, where we got to play shuffleboard, bocce, ping-pong, tetherball, and swim!
It was an amazing vacation and we all just loved it!