South Lake Tahoe, CA

In what many would consider a poor parenting decision, we traveled to South Lake Tahoe, CA last week on "vacation".  I put vacation in quotations, because 13 hours of traveling with a 3 1/2 yo and a 6 month old is anything but a vacation.  But we went to visit with friends and go skiing, and the thought of leaving the kids behind didn't really cross our minds.

Until our second night there without sleep.  It was then that we thought "what were we thinking?!?!?'.  The kids for their part were fantastic travelers.  The early wake up, plane ride and car ride and time zone change really didn't phase them.  But all 4 of us in the same room was not a good sleeping arrangement for us.  And not for lack of space.  The room and accommodations were plenty big.  The kids just managed to stagger their waking up such that Mike and I never got to sleep.

But it was a great time!  Our good friends the Houses have a vacation home there and we gathered there with some of their friends and it was great.  There were 10 adults and 5 kids, but the house never really seemed over-crowded.  Each couple was assigned to making a dinner and a clean up and there was lots of good conversation and amazing food and drinks.  And thankfully with most of us there being parents, all of us were ready for bed at a reasonable hour.  Mike and I were sort of afraid that we were going to seem lame for wanting to go to bed rather early.  In days past, the Drzewieckis and the Houses had dinner parties that went waaaaaay late and with waaaaaaay lots of drinking.  My, my how times have changed.

The weather was great and the natural beauty second to none.  It is always just so refreshing to get out and see nature and unplug.  I almost had a heart attack coming over the Sierra Nevadas and again skiing down some of them ridges off the mountain.  I have a recurring dream/nightmare of skiing really fast and coming over a ledge and then falling out of control.  Very easily could have played out at any moment on this mountain.  Ellie went to ski school/day care for a day and Zack chilled out in the day care as well, flirting and making more girlfriends.  Mike and I got to ski together for a day and then a half day by ourselves.  My dinner went over really well too which is always a plus.  I take making a menu very seriously!

Keeton and Ellie.  Apparently whatever was on Ellie's iPad was more interesting

Declan Hercules and Zack.  DH was fairly obsessed with Zack but just wanted to play with him and touch him.  He kept bringing his toys back to him, it was really cute.

Joyce reading a story to Ellie and DH.

We took a walk down to the beach on the lake.  Absolutely gorgeous, although not quite as big as I thought it would be.  Not sure if that is just because you can have an aerial view of it or not.

Family photo on the beach. 

It also happened to be Jonah and Kurt's birthday during the trip, the day after Mike's.  Annaleah, Jonah's mother made these super cute cupcakes per Jonah's request.

Ellie and her new friends hanging out watching a movie before bed. 

Zack in his lil' dude duds.  He was pretty much a stud the whole trip. 

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Ellie D.  I'm sad this is a little out of focus because its actually a great picture of her.

Zack heading out for a spin with his daycare class. 

It's hard to see, but one of the trail names was Ellie's swing. This was a link trail to the main trail Ellie's.  We went on it in her honor. 

Hitting the slopes for some spring skiing!

By the end of the weekend, Keeton was pretty sweet on Ellie, but apparently he has a lot of girl friends. 

 

Video footage of the lake coming down one of the chair lifts.  The face of the mountain that led down to the lodge that we left the kids at was incredibly steep and primarily double diamonds with moguls.  Most people take the lift down.  I had no interest in breaking any bones.

Bitching from not sleeping aside, we had a fantastic trip and were super glad we did it.  So good to see the Houses again and meet new people.  And now we know the kids can tolerate a long flight--  Europe is pretty much the same distance!