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.

Quick Getaway

 This weekend Jeremy and I played hooky from our responsibilities and took a quick, 30ish hour getaway without the kids. We left Friday morning and drove to Bend for the Jimmy Eat World concert. Like I said, it was a quick getaway. We left Friday morning, the concert was Friday night, and we came home after lunch on Saturday. Other than the concert, we didn't have a lot of time to do too much else. We did do a fair bit of walking around both downtown Redmond and Bend and tried a few restaurants, but not much else to report.

The concert itself was fun. Although it's tough to see a band that you grew up with that is only a few years older than you and now they are old men. It did make me feel old, but they can still rock so I will remind myself that age is just a number.

Anyway, it's back to real life now. C.C has girls camp tomorrow and Elsie has a day camp all week. Much to do to get ready so, but those carefree hours were good while they lasted.

Girl Cousin Time

This week was youth conference for our stake. All youth turning 14 this year and up were invited to attend. The first day was local, followed by 2 days on the Warm Springs reservation at Kah-Nee-Ta Resort.

From our family, only Merrick was old enough to go, but Jeremy also needed to go to the part out at Kah-Nee-Ta to be an adult leader. That meant the girls and I were home alone for two days. Much to their extreme pleasure, Ben, Becca, and Lincoln were all attending youth conference as well. That meant that Isabel would be home by herself for three days and it was the perfect excuse for an extended cousin hang out and sleepover.

Since the first day was local and her parents were home that night, the girls didn't get a sleepover the first night but did take advantage of some girl time during the day. Ben was actually home the first day so they decided to spend that time at the Brown's. I am not sure what all they did, but I did hear tales of Mac and Cheese on the trampoline.

The next day, Isabel came over early. CC had planned for them to sleep in the playroom that night and had gotten everything ready for a super deluxe sleepover. When Isabel got here, they spent hours playing, Barbies mostly. After lunch they asked me to take them to the river. They spent the afternoon swimming at the river and having a blast.

When we got home and cleaned up, the girls made personal pizzas and we watched a movie. Emily came by for a little bit and got in on some good girl time. She also helped with the photo shoot. The girls wanted to do some scrapbooking so they used C.C.'s Instax camera to take and print photos for the project. The girls then scrapbooked their hearts out until I finally made them get ready for bed.

The next morning, they were up early to finish scrapbooking before we had to go to fill our assignment to clean the church. The work was short lived though and soon we headed to the West Linn Old Time Parade and then to get Slurpees. The girls mostly spent the rest of the day playing, but C.C. did have a birthday party she went to for a while. We wrapped things up with dinner at Panda Express and just a bit of tv before Becca came to get Isabel.

The girls were pushing hard for another sleepover at the Browns house, but the moms quickly squashed those dreams. We all needed a good night's sleep in our own bed. I am so glad the girls get along so well though and that they have each other. Cousins are the best.