Lake Tahoe

We left for a much needed trip to Lake Tahoe, CA/NV on July 29th. We had the best time ever! Soon after we left, I realized that it was our first and last vacation as a family of three. Nathan was great...overall! :) The flight from St. Louis to LA consisted of Joe and me trying to keep Nathan from kicking the poor guy in front of us-a 4 hour plane ride! Then, from LA to Sacramento we got the bulkhead (sp?), so we had plenty of room and Nathan got his own seat! (we tried strapping him in, but he kept getting out!) On the way home, the flight was booked the entire way home. From Sacramento to LA Nathan wouldn't sit still and was ALL OVER THE PLACE!! I knew it was only a matter of time before he fell asleep (it was 2 hours past his nap time) so Joe and I took turned wrestling him into a seated position and finally I started rocking him and he fell asleep-as we were descending of course! Luckily he slept through the entire landing process. Joe moved up to get us seats in the bulkhead and Nathan and I followed (still sleeping!). He slept for a total of 2 hours! It was great! I thought I'd include that part of the trip, because seriously that was the toughest part-and it wasn't really that bad!

We got to our room in Lake Tahoe at around 5:30 on Thursday and settled in, put groceries away, and let Nathan explore the room. Then, we went to eat at one of our favorite restaurants while we lived in California-Baja Fresh. It seriously puts Q'doba and Chipotle to shame! It is SO GOOD!!! We ate there every other day and loved every single time! Starting Friday, every day we...woke up between 5:15 and 6:00 (except for 1 day) because Nathan had jet-lag, took a morning walk to the Lake, made breakfast-either eggs and biscuits or cereal, got hot chocolate, went to the Heavenly Ski Resort area and walked around, took Nathan to the Gondola or "ondola" as he calls it, took Nathan to pet the Alpaca or "Alpapa" at the shopping center, went swimming, took pictures, laughed, played, and ate-LOTS, and went to bed before 10...ALL AS A FAMILY OF THREE!! It was amazing to not have to worry about Bar studying or papers to write or grade, homework to work on, projects to finish, deadlines to meet, errands to run, or people to meet. It was great! Every single second. Plus, while St. Louis was melting with heat indexes into the 110's, we enjoyed a morning temp in the 4o's every morning (one morning the car said it was 33!) and the warmest it ever got was 90, WITHOUT HUMIDITY!!! It was amazing.

The first night-Nathan had to have "bears" (grapes) in bed!

On our first of many morning walks
Visiting the Alpaca or "Alpapa"
Checking out the "ondola"
Joe and Nathan in the hot tub (Nathan's favorite place to warm up after swimming in the pretty cool pool)
The pool-where we spent every afternoon!

Some highlights of our trip were...

Taking the Gondola at Heavenly (ski resort) up to the observation deck and to the summit. If Nathan were older we probably could have done some hiking, but instead we walked around and let Nathan explore a little. It was priceless because Nathan LOVED the gondola. In fact, we sent Joe's parents and my parents a postcard of the gondola and whenever Nathan sees the postcard in my parents' kitchen he yells "ondola, ondola" and laughs. It's so cute!

On the gondola-the way up the mountain
Observation deck
View from the observation desk-if only pictures could do the lake justice!
At the top (as far as the gondola goes up) we didn't think taking chair lifts up to the very top would be smart with a wiggly toddler!
On the way down

Bleu Wave Lake Cruise...it was amazing. Nathan wasn't so crazy about it and Joe and I took turns chasing him, but I was very impressed that he refused to go anywhere near the areas of the boat that only had wire "fencing" around the edges without Joe or me. He liked looking at the boats, birds, and people. He waved and said hi to about 10 boaters-ha!

On the top deck of the Bleu Wave
Nathan's first picture

Family picture in Emerald Bay
On the boat

Driving around the lake. We drove all the way around the lake on Sunday and it was wonderful! We left early so that we could make it to Jake's on the Lake (a restaurant we tried while at the lake once before) for lunch, but once we got there, we looked at the menu and realized they had NOTHING for kids, so we left. I did get to go shopping at a few store there that I love though! We came back home and ate at the restaurant next to our hotel instead and Nathan enjoyed part of my hamburger since mac n' cheese (kraft, mind you) was $8! Seriously?! Joe and I couldn't believe it, but then again, it IS California!

Hello California!
Hello Nevada!! (We have the same pictures of Joe and me!)
We stopped at a craft fair that happened to be in the same park as this playground. Can you imagine taking your kid to the park every day with that view in the background?!
Lunch at Riva Grill

Driving to Vacaville and Fairfield. Before we made the trip, we decided that it was a must that we go back to the towns we used to live in and see how everything has changed. I also had lunch plans with a former student that I have stayed in close contact with. My friend Karen was supposed to meet us in Vacaville so that our kids could play as well. We decided to make a full day of it, so we left around 7:30 and got into Vacaville at 9. We had to fax some stuff to St. Louis, so we took care of that and then headed to the outlet mall. I was very excited to see that they had a Striderite outlet store...the ONLY place that I can find shoes that will truly fit Nathan without leaving lines on his feet! Plus, Striderites are SO expensive at department stores, so we ended up buying Nathan 2 pairs of double wide shoes. Now he is covered through the winter! Then we went to the Jelly Belly outlet and bought some jelly bellys before heading to lunch at Mimi's Cafe for lunch with Stephanie. We had a great lunch, but Joe had to take Nathan out after about 30 minutes because he was getting very tired and started throwing food, sippy cups, crayons, etc. He drove Nathan around for an hour so Steph and I could talk! We had a great time catching up and I LOVE Mimi's, so the whole trip was wonderful. After lunch, I called Karen and she said since her husband was out of town on a trip (he is a pilot for Southwest), she was going to make the trip to Tahoe to see us! I was so excited. Since she would be leaving for a little while, Joe and I decided to take a drive to Travis AFB (he was stationed there for 4 years) and to our old homes. We also stopped by the private school I worked at out there. Everything has changed so much since we lived there! Monday night we got back to Tahoe, took Nathan swimming and the Karen arrived. She brought her three boys over until 10:00 p.m. and all 4 boys played so well together! Luckily Nathan took a late nap that day, so he wasn't cranky at all.

Lunch with Steph-love this girl!

We stopped at a park near the school I used to teach at to give Nathan a chance to run around before our 2 1/2 hour trip back to Tahoe...actually it was to wear him out so he'd take another nap! :) just kidding.
Karen and Nathan the night she arrived

The beach. On Tuesday we got up, made breakfast, and waited for Karen and the boys to make it to our hotel. The kids area at our resort had a Fruit Loop necklace making event at 9:00 a.m., so we all went to do that and then headed to the beach. It was a lot of fun. We packed lunches and ate at the beach. The boys played and played, even though the water was between 60 and 70 degrees. Eventually I noticed Nathan's limp coming back, so Joe and I took him on a walk in the stroller to get him off of his feet. It was such a wonderful day!

Making cereal necklaces (aka the moms trying to make the necklaces before the boys can eat all of the cereal!)

Karen and me with the boys
The boys (the two older boys on the left are Karen's older boys, Sean and Sammy, that I used to play with while we lived in California. I LOVED going to Karen's house to play with those two!
Family picture (again, we have this same picture of Joe and me from 3 1/2 year ago)

Wednesday was our last day, so we spent it taking walks, paddle boating (so much harder than I ever through possible!), shopping, and I even got a pedicure! (My gift from Joe for helping him study for the Bar) It was a wonderful last day.

Nathan before paddle boating

In the boat. We only rented it for 30 minutes because it was SO hard to paddle-especially with Nathan on my lap!
On the last day we took one last drive up to Emerald Bay to look at the view. We didn't stop there on our trip around the lake because Nathan and I were sleeping. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Camp Richardson to have ice cream at the best ice cream place around! It was so yummy and we got a ton of ice cream for a small price! :)

On the way home, we had the best flight attendants. They helped keep Nathan occupied by letting him try out their seats, play with everything up in the little service area, and talk to the flight attendant in the back on the phone. They didn't let him into the cockpit when he tried to open the door though-haha!

Talking to Rod (the flight attendant) in the back of the plane
Thrilled to be strapped down and have his picture taken!

Even though it was really hard to leave, I know Joe and I have memories that we will NEVER forget. Nathan received so much attention from both of us all week, which was my goal. I can't wait to go back again, even if it will be a few years!