This year's visit to Tahoe was split into two four-day visits in July. On the way up, we stopped in Placerville for Weinerschnitzel and some play time at a great little park and playground, complete with wild blackberries, ducks and geese. Then back in the car and up to Tahoe where we ordered pizza and watched TV after inflating the pool in the back yard.
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| That seems like the appropriate amount of luggage for four days (2 of which will be spent heavily in transit), right? |
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| Caroline is getting ready for a road trip |
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| Daniel dressed himself - and everything is on backwards - including his underpants! |
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| Adventures in static electricity! |
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| On a trek to find the ducks and geese |
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| Look at this totally cool little pool! |
The first night there, all three kids gave the upstairs bedroom (and the "big kid beds") a try. Uncle stayed in the front bedroom and kept an eye on them - or more accurately an open ear - at one point there was a thud and he ran in to find that Daniel was on the floor, pointing up at the bed and muttering, "I'm supposed to be up there."
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| Caroline |
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| Daniel |
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| Max |
This was a one-night triumph, though. While Caroline stayed in the bedroom the remainder of her nights at the cabin (or Boppy's Tree House, as the kids call it), the boys opted to snuggle with me in the "big bed" downstairs for the duration.
The next day, the kids got up early and wanted to play in the pool out back, but it was in the shade and the water was chilly, so that didn't last long. We let Uncle sleep in, but eventually everyone was up, fed, bathed, and dressed for the beach. And off we went, arriving just in time to see everyone streaming out as the storm clouds rolled in.
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| Early morning splashing |
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| Daniel and Caroline head out into the chilly lake water with Uncle |
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| Max stayed on the beach with me and the storm clouds |
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| Caroline in the foregrand, Uncle by the marker in the background |
And then it started to hail.
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| See the hail on the sand there? |
And so we left the beach in a flurry. We peeled the kids out of their clothes and wrapped them in towels to ride home in their birthday suits, which they found THRILLING.
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| The hail collected back at the cabin |
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| A bath back at the cabin to warm up |
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| And then outside to see the bunny who'd hopped into the yard. |
The next day it was supposed to hail again, so we decided not to return to the beach and instead go fishing at the Trout Farm, which is where Uncle and I got our first (and my only, really) taste of fishing. It's a stocked pool of trout where you can fish for free with poles, bait, etc. provided to you. You just pay for what you catch and you can choose to bring it home or donate it to a hungry bears program. That's right - you can donate your fish to feed the bears.
There was a big wait, but we saw a family with three poles who were heading out. Uncle intercepted them, took the poles and their net, got a bucket of bait, complete with a pipe to whack the fish on the head with and a hook remover, and we were ready to fish.
Caroline was the first to feel a nibble and sure enough, she'd hooked a fish! She and I pulled it out and Uncle swooped in with the net to catch it (and then dispatched it).
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| Caroline's catch! |
Max really wanted to catch a fish too, so we moved around to the other side of the pool where it looked like they were biting a bit better. Within moments of getting there, it started to sprinkle. Then rain a little harder. Then we got a bite and Max had a fish! Daniel now was the only one fishless and he really wanted to catch one, but as the rain got harder and then turned to hail, he was ready to abandon his goal and get outta there.
We left Uncle with our poles to return and our fish to pay for and we made a run for the van, which was parked a ways up the street. By the time we got there, we were completely soaked. We piled into the car and then backtracked to collect Uncle (who had inherited a couple of extra fish as everyone abandoned the farm) and then rushed home to get inside and peel off our clothes and put on warm and dry ones.
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| Here are the fish we caught (and acquired) |
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| And here they are after Mommy's inexpert job of cleaning and fileting them. |
Caroline and Uncle went out shopping to get lemons and rice to prepare the fish, which were super yummy but went completely untasted by the children. Oh well.
The first trip to the cabin ended with the annual measuring of the Teenies. There is a side for the boys, measuring them against Uncle's childhood progress, and a girls' side where Caroline and I share. As you can see in the pictures, the boys are a bit ahead of Uncle in the age/height comparison, while Caroline trails me by just a bit.
And then we headed back down the mountain on Thursday. Max does not like the freeway, so it was a struggle, but we made it.
A week and a half later, we left again to repeat the tour. We stopped in Placerville again, which was hotter than it had been and this time, rather than exploring static, we explored heat.
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| Max, after playing for ten minutes |
We were able to go to the beach without hail this time (complete with sunburns, of course) and though rain clouds threatened, they petered out after a bit. The kids were more adventurous in the water, too, though Caroline spent the most time in the water (big surprise). They enjoyed it so much that we went back the next day and the beach is essentially all we did for this trip. And it was wonderful.
As we were packing up to leave on Thursday, Caroline found an ancient Barbie stick-on paper doll game I had from my childhood and begged to bring it home with us.
And then we deflated the pool out back for the year and headed home - having to go around the Nevada side of the Lake and down Highway 80 because of a forest fire burning off of Highway 50, which added a good 90 minute trudge to the journey.
