Tahoe 2009..the beginning

Since we are still in Tahoe I cannot really comment on the entire trip. So far the kids (and myself) have been worn out. We have done a lot of poolside swimming and have not yet (GASP) made it to the lake. But I am alone in this as Mike is moving us all to our new house while we vacation. We rode the gondola to the top of Heavenly and hiked to the bottom of Emerald Bay to see Vikingsholm. These are things that I have not done before in the 23 years that we have been coming up here. Since I have been horrible taking photos this year, I am relying on everyone else to share. And by everyone else I mean my brother and sister in law (who always takes the cutest pictures of my kids), my aunt and uncle, three cousins, their wives and families and my dad and his wife. As tradition goes, each couple makes a dinner, lunch or breakfast for the rest of the group. It gives us all a chance to see each other, visit and let the kids get to know one another. Normally we all stay in the same house but this year we changed things up and are all staying at the same resort but in different suites. It is new and different. The meals are a lot of fun and can be loud, but in a good way. Last night my kids were busting a move to some good old hip hop that they would NEVER hear from their stuffy old mom. They loved it.

August 1, 2009

We packed up and left our house on July 31st to head up to my dad's wedding. The plan was to drive up to his wedding and then down to Tahoe for a family vacation and then to our new house. It was an emotional goodbye to the old house but the distraction of the wedding and family trip was a good one.

The weather was beautiful for the wedding and the kids really did a great job through pictures and dinner. It was a very nice day. All of them helped clean up the chairs. M just knocked them down and let someone else do the hard work. We had a great time visiting with old and new family and friends. The kids did some dancing with their aunties and ate more cake than I would care to know.

The next morning we all packed up and caravaned down to Tahoe to join the rest of the family for year 23 of our annual trip.

Silver Lake

It was absolutely a must that we take the kids camping at least once this summer. Despite our crazy schedule and the move we want them to know that this is something we do every summer. We were lucky enough to get a trip together with our good friends and pack up the kids to a dusty and slightly dangerous (okay, just the roots and small rocks that made my baby fall all the time) campsite. The kids had a great time swimming, eating s'mores and bouldering. They made boats that they raced down the river, we all kayaked and we went through many, many bandages.

And I cannot stress the disgust I had with the dirt. As you can see from the scary picture of M the dirt was everywhere all the time. She got blisters from her shoes and ended up wearing her flip flops for the weekend. It was disgusting. And the pictures just don't do it justice.

The POD

The POD was a seriously cool concept that we took advantage of to its full capacity. We loved the first one so much that we ordered a second. The kids (okay, and myself) thought the delivery and switching out of the pods was really amazing. We watched the entire process. Now this did happen about three weeks ago and our first pod has been delivered to our new home- it is being unloaded as I write. Tomorrow pod number two is being delivered and unloaded. Hopefully it will eliminate most of the hassles of moving. Although I am not sure that that is possible.