Summer with my Favorite People

Summer is dwindling. I went back to work shortly after we returned from Tahoe and the kids have just over a week until they go back to school. Jeremy also started his new job this last week. Time is flying by and it feels like summer is just slipping through our fingers. With that said, I think today might be a bit of a hodge podge of some of some of the last bits of family fun squeezed into this summer.

Merrick has spent a good chunk of his summer fishing. If he is not working or with his girlfriend, you will usually find him at the river fishing. Last week, Elsie wanted to go to the park and practice softball. Since the field is right next to the river, Merrick decided he would come along and fish. Pretty soon, CC decided fishing sounded like fun and she would come along too. Eventually, Elsie got tired of practicing and the whole fam ended up down at the river to fish. As Merrick put it, if we are ever in a position to have to fish for food for survival, we are in trouble. Not only did we not catch anything, but we ended up losing several of Merrick's lures and I owed him some money before we called it a day.

Another recent highlight was this week's youth trip to the coast. They went out on Friday afternoon to play, have dinner, watch the sunset and have a devotional. While they were gone, Elsie and I had some special time. She wanted to go to the arcade. We had a bit of a slow start after arriving, but hit our stride playing Fruit Ninja and the fishing game. Elsie was thrilled while playing the fishing game that she caught the shark twice (worth 25 tickets each) and even caught the elusive jellyfish (worth 150 tickets). After the arcade we went to dinner together to cap off our special night.

Yesterday, I helped put on a church activity for all children ages 8-12 in our congregation and the neighboring congregations. We had an Olympics theme. We started by making Olympic torches and having opening ceremonies, then had stations for the groups to visit before having closing ceremonies and presenting cookie medals. Elsie is the right age to participate and C.C. came too to be a helper. It was a fun day and even more fun to have my girls there.

I have to say that the highlight of my summer has definitely been the time spent with my family. Having little kids is hard, but as my kids have grown and become more and more self-sufficient, it is less work and more enjoyment doing things together as a family. They are really just my favorite people. Even with that, sometimes they still have there moments, especially at the end of a summer spent with a lot of togetherness.

Lake Tahoe

Well, it's been a minute since I have been on here. The last two Sundays we have been spent traveling and while the two days of traveling were not the greatest, the week in between was one to be remembered. We spent the week at Lake Tahoe having a complete blast.

Monday, was our first real day at the lake. We got up early, as we would every day it turns out, had breakfast and headed down to the beach closest to our Airbnb. We were staying in Carnelian Bay, which is on the Northwest corner of the lake. It has a truly beautiful pebble beach and made a great homebase beach. Our plan was to paddleboard and play until we got to hungry, go home for lunch and then go to another beach after. In reality, we left in time for a late lunch, but after lunch, the beach we intended to go to was full and instead we ended up going back to our place to swim in the pool and chill in the hot tub (and apparently play on the attached playground).

Tuesday, we rented a boat and spent the day at the lake again. We decided to rent a boat with a captain so we could just enjoy our time. Merrick tried water skiing for the first time and we all went tubing. We also took the boat all the way to the south side of the lake and saw Emerald Bay, which is home to the only island in Lake Tahoe. I'm glad we took the time to go all the way to the south shore because I don't think it would have happened otherwise. Also, having a captain was great because he had tons of lake knowledge to share with us and gave us some ideas of things to do over the rest of the week. Again, we ended the day at the pool and hot tub.

Wednesday, was Jeremy's and my 21st anniversary. We spent the day at Palisades Tahoe, home of the 1960 Winter Olympics. The adventure started with an areal tram ride from Base Camp up to High Camp. Elsie was terrified of the tram ride, but we convinced her and she was very brave. At high camp we ate lunch overlooking the entire Tahoe area. We then spent time at the Olympic museum and went roller skating at the rink where they held all the ice events for the Olympics. The rink looks down over the valley and it was crazy thinking that we were skating were Olympians had previously completed. We ended our time at High Camp with a hike before taking the tram back to Base Camp. Once back down on earth we got a snack and played some mini golf.

We were wiped at that point, but Jeremy and I wanted to got out for at least a quick dinner to celebrate our anniversary. We weren't up for anything fancy so we left our nice clothes in the closet and just went to the Bistro around the corner. After dinner, we promised that the kids could stay up late and we would go down to the lake, watch the sunset and go star gazing. We got to the Lake about twilight and enjoyed putting our feet in the water and skipping rocks. The girls and I had never been able to skip rocks before, but turns out the boys are good teachers and all three of us girls skipped our first rocks that night. Unfortunately, we had to shift our star gazing plans when bats came out around the lake. Instead we went back home and did our star gazing right outside.

Thursday, the girls and I headed out early to a farmer's market. We then planned to go to Sand Harbor state park, but despite getting there nice and early, we discovered that reservations are required and there were no reservations available any of the days we had left in Tahoe. Since our plan had gone sideways, we decided to continue on down the Nevada shore until we found a beach. Thanks to some help from ChatGPT, we ended up at Chimney Beach. We knew it was a "steep hike" down to the beach from the parking lot, but I don't think we were quite prepared for what that meant with as we headed down with our wagon, chairs, life jackets, paddleboards, snacks, etc. We did make it down and were rewarded with an awesome beach. There were big granite boulders to swim out to and around and a spot for cliff jumping. We stayed until the afternoon and only left when we did because we were running out of water and knew we had the steep mile long hike out with all our gear. Once we finally made it out, we rewarded ourselves with 7-11 (truth be told we did that a lot during the week) and wrapped up the day with the pool and hot tub as usual.

Friday, we were looking for something a little different so we drove a half hour to Donner Lake. We were hoping it would be significantly warmer and be better for a swimming day. While it was warmer, not enough to make much of a difference. It was fun to see some different scenery and compare just how different Donner Lake is to Lake Tahoe even though it's just a half hour away. After a morning at the lake, we went into town (Truckee) to have lunch and do some shopping. Unfortunately, we heard while we were shopping that Merrick's girlfriend, Katie's mom had passed away. I know Merrick felt conflicted. We were having a wonderful time, but I know he also wanted to be home to support her.

Once we got back to Tahoe, we went down to the beach to put our toes in because we couldn't let a day go by without getting in that beautiful water. You will be shocked to know that we then ended the day at the pool and hot tub.

Saturday was our last day. We ventured south hoping to go to DL Bliss state park. Unfortunately, the lower parking lot was full and we would have had to do a 2 mile steep hike down. We had learned our lesson from Chimney Beach and instead headed a little further north to Meek's Bay. Once again we were struck by the turquoise water. Meek's Bay in particular is known for it turquoise waters that turn emerald blue as the lake floor drops off suddenly. In general, the beauty of the lake was something that I never got used to. That, and how clear that water is, is just something you have to see to believe. Once again, after the lake, we went to the pool and hot tub. That was not the end of our day this time though. Instead, after dinner, we headed out on a evening hike at eagle rock. It was a short hike, only about 15 minutes, but provided spectacular views of the entire lake. It was the perfect way to cap off the week.

Sunday we headed out early for our trek home, but the time spent at the Lake was well worth the drive. I am so grateful for the time we had and the memories we made. I love this family of mine!

Camp Week

 This past week was camp week for the girls. CC had girls camp and Elsie had arts and nature camp here in town. That meant that most of the week it was just Merrick and I and since Merrick is NEVER home, I found myself on my own significantly more than usual this week.

I was a driver home from girls camp on Thursday so I got to hear all about the adventures. Their days were filled with fun, crafts, and activities. CC was delighted to discover that she is a really good shot. The stories the girls were the most excited to tell though were about the thunderstorm they had the last full day at camp. It stormed off and on from about 10am. At one point, the thunder was so loud and ear-piercing that they thought their cabin was going to fall down. CC was definitely dirty and exhausted when she got home, but she had a great time.

As for Elsie, she didn't have to brave the thunder and lightening at camp since hers was a day camp and the storm didn't hit here until after she was home. She did have some hot days to battle but those were combatted with a splash pad and water balloons. Otherwise, they did crafts, played games, and Friday they went paddleboarding. She had a blast and the icing on the cake was that she attended with her BFF, Shay.

Like I said, Merrick didn't go to camp, but he filled his days with work and hanging out with friends. Since his girlfriend, Katie, was at girls camp with CC, he spent more time fishing and they had a great outing where he and his two friends caught 13 fish. 

Jeremy also had a busy week. I have not mentioned it here, but he is switching jobs in a couple of weeks. Because of this, he is in this kind of weird spot where he is pulled between two jobs. He is trying to wrap things up at his current firm, and is interviewing people for his paralegal position at his new firm. I think he will be happy once he is settled at the new place and isn't divided any longer.

As for me, I got a book from the library to read, but really didn't have a chance. I spent one whole day at the Goodwill bins with a friend. I spent $47 but came home with 29lbs of amazing treasures. I can't get my family onboard with going to the bins, but they do like the things I come home with. Otherwise, my days were gobbled up with errands and catching up on some work.

Just like that the week was gone. It is nice to have everyone home, but it will be short lived. Merrick is headed to FSY tomorrow. Summer is flying by, but we are making the most of it.

My only pictures of the week came from girls camp. We got a couple before the girls took off and Katie's mom was nice enough to send me one from camp.