Reno/Lake Tahoe Trip

Derek and I drove with London down to St. George on Wednesday to recover our kids from Babi and Papou and trade them for our dog London.  Thursday morning Mom took me to the pilates class at their community center.  Then, we had breakfast with them at their place, packed up, and started the long drive to Reno.  From St. George we decided to drive to Las Vegas and that way to Reno.  Carter (of course) was the first one to take a nap. 

Each kid took a turn at some point.  This was a tough drive for them, but they did pretty good and Derek and I enjoyed the different route than we were used to Reno taking across the salt flats.  We accidentally missed a turn adding in an extra 45 minute loop.  That made the trip about 9 hours that day.  The longest car trip the kids have done to date.  Usually when we have that far to go we break it up into two days.  It was nice to know it is possible to do it in one now. 

Friday, we convinced Dad to pull out the inflatable kayak and come up to Lake Tahoe with us.  I told him when I was coming out that was the main thing I wanted to do.  He never seemed excited about it.  He would complain about how it would be hard to find the kayak and how the lake is so cold and crowded.  But, morning of he found the kayak and packed the car and we headed to Lakeside Beach (which I had actually never been to).  Despite dragging his feet, I think he actually really enjoyed the day at the lake.  We set up a nice little shade to sit under.  It was a perfect 75-80 degree day.  The lake was as clean and clear and beautiful as I remembered. 

And while the lake was cold, I felt like it was perfectly refreshing.  The kids loved paddling around on the kayak and “falling in.”  I spent the majority of the time pulling kids back into the kayak after they jumped out (or fell in as they would claim). 

The kids built a nice big sand castle with moat around.  

Liv acted way too much like a teenager for my liking preferring to spend most of the day lounging in the sun with Lynn and once dry she had no desire to get back in the lake. 

The kids came home and all had a blast going in Poppi’s hot tub.  

That night Derek and I got to play Pinochle with Mitch as is traditional in my family.

Saturday we bought the kids little kiddie fishing poles and headed up to Spooner Lake.  I had just suggested we hike around the lake, but Dad added the idea of fishing.  The kids loved the fishing, despite the fact that two of the cheap new fishing poles broke.  We were just about to give up after catching no fish, when Liv caught a fish!  

She had casted the line and reeled in the fish all by herself.  It was just a little fish, so we let it go.  But, it was so exciting that everyone had renewed vigor to fish a little longer, but we had no more luck.  We hiked around the entire lake which is about 2 miles, and it was gorgeous up there. 

That night Dad BBQed me lobster and shrimp as a little birthday meal.  So delicious. 

We had strawberry short cake for dessert and Kylie insisted that we sing and have candles, so I insisted that everyone got a candle and everyone had to blow it out at the end of the song.  The kids thought that was awesome.

Dad has 6 dogs.  Seriously 6.  It seemed nutso, but you sort of get used to a dog lying in every corner of the house.  And they all love him and follow him around for pets. 

 The kids were in heaven.  I totally caught Liv watching a movie and petting two dogs, one on each side at the same time.

Dad and Lynn had a bunch of fun toys around, so they kids were quite happy to play at their house.  Camden took to this sword and kept it stuffed down the side of his shorts all evening.

Sunday we went to my old ward that I grew up in for sacrament meeting.  It was so weird to attend that ward that I hadn’t been to for years and to see all the people that were still there and all the new faces that had moved in.  I ran into Joani Haws and the Rushes and Anita Ovard.  Then, we went back to Dad’s packed up and headed up to Reno for the night.  Kylie needed to visit the Children’s Museum for an article that she was writing, so we tagged along.  It was a really neat museum, like one I thought was interesting.  I wanted to play around with all the stuff, and it closed too soon for my liking.  They had this really neat cloud like climbing structure that went from the first floor to the ceiling of the second floor.  

All really enjoyed that except Camden who doesn't love heights and ended up getting midway up and paralyzed with fear, so Liv had to go rescue him.  Carter’s favorite part was loading rocks onto this conveyor belt which you operated by handing cracking a wheel.  That brought the foam rocks high to the sky, filled a bucket and that then opened to drop them into a wheel barrel below.  Camden’s favorite thing was this rocket ship.  

And Liv loved tagging along with Aunt Kylie and drawing flowers on a large chalk board. 

From there we drove out to Nick and Christi Graham’s house in Sparks.  We had a fantastic visit with them.  Their girls were darling and so kind to our kids.  Then, it was back to Aunt Kylie’s condo to spend the night.  All 3 kids slept pretty squished on one futon which resulted in a fight in the middle of the night with kicking and crying and complaining about not enough room.  But, Derek found a way to get them to all sleep comfortably through the rest of the night.

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Then, Monday morning we drove home.  I gave all the kids a bunch of pipe cleaners when they declared boredom  and told them to make people and animals out of them.  That kept them entertained for a good half hour.

It was a whole week of traveling for our kids and me, but also just a fantastic visit out to my home town and spending time with my family.

Babi and Papou reported a good time with London while we were gone.  They took great care of her.

They kept sending us pictures of her from their walks and such.  I think they kind of liked having a dog around for a couple weeks.