Truckee Weekend

We have mastered the art of vacationing this summer. I think everyone at our church thinks we have quit entirely; we have been gone so much this summer. I think I was here a total of 4 Sundays this whole summer. We just know how to play. We went straight from our Monterey week to a weekend in Truckee with 3 other families. 

The night that John and I were in charge of dessert, we made s'mores with the Rossi's traveling fire pit (Don't you think the Pioneers would be jealous?)

 Another family shot. See? I wasn't kidding about making a real effort here. I need options when someone asks for a family shot, dang it.

 The kids all loved roasting their own marshmallows.

 And only some of them caught on fire. Strike that. Quite a few did. But because I'm a total square, I made the kids eat their burnt marshmallows. Dude, we only brought one bag for 24 of us. Sheesh. Besides, kids hardly have any taste buds anyway.

 But the dream of it all was that we brought multiple kinds of candy to put on the s'mores. Sure, we had the Hershey's chocolate, but we also brought Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (my fav), and Junior Mints (John and E's favs). Dream come true. Although, I do have to say that with the thickness of the Reeses Cup, it really works better if you let the cup melt a little before consuming. It takes a whole lot of willpower, but if I can manage for a few minutes, ANYone can!

 The house we stayed at was my former boss's boss, the head honcho at my old work and it was supremely nice! I think they just finished building it this year. In fact, they just finished the plumbing in the bathroom downstairs the morning of the day that we got there. We were so lucky to be there!

 We rotated breakfast, dinner, and dessert, and I think it ended up working out just fabulously! Sure the fridge was crowded, but I think it would have been worse had we all been preparing our food separately!

 Lincoln decided he was not a fan of his high chair anymore this trip. Maybe all 15 of those other kids running around got him thinking, "why am I the idiot strapped in this chair?" and he certainly revolted.

 Overall, the kids got along fairly well. I think with that many kids and that kind of chaos all day long, the kids are certainly going to get overwhelmed. But they stayed cute for most of the weekend.

 We had two trips to the beach over the long weekend, and the second beach, Sand Harbor ended up being our favorite.

 Just look at this view! And those rocks across the way provided some excellent entertainment for people from our group to swim over and jump off.

 We spent most of the time just digging in the sand and swimming in the chilly water.

 My boys are smiling anytime they are dirty.

 Another trip we took was a little hike down into Emerald Bay. Yes, it is a little hike as in duration (only 1 mile), but as far as difficulty, and difficulty for a 6-month prego lady, it was quite the treacherous terrain. That hill was wicked steep. Up at the top of the hill (To clarify -- you start at the top, hike down, then hike back up), they had some fantastic rocks that Ethan loved to climb to his hearts content and jump off.

 I love that his eyes are completely clamped shut in this picture.

 Lincoln even got his climb on. Good thing we brought the Keens. Those shoes stick to everything.

 We waited up at the top for the rest of the folks to get ready to hike down, so we spent some time taking pictures.

 We did eventually reach the bottom though and got to enjoy some fabulous views along the way.

We even stopped to each some lunch and listen to the beginning of the tour guides' schpiel. 

Then we went on a little side hike until we realized that we couldn't climb up the steps with our stroller. So we had another little photo shoot while we waited.

 And thank goodness we got a family shot too!

 Then we hiked our way back to the stop taking FREQUENT breaks! It was so steep we made Ethan get out and help push too. Character building is our top priority around here, people!

 A view on the way up. If you look very closely you can see the little stone castle built out on the rock for tea parties.

 Looks like we might have made Lincoln stay in the stroller a little too much today. Just look how happy he is to be running around.

 Back at the cabin we enjoyed some relaxing time in the hammock. What, Ethan, are you not relaxed? 

 And of course, took some group shots in front of the cabin.

 Including some girl shots. (Ahem, I may or may not have just pinched April's behind in this photo, yep, April, IT WAS ME!)

 But before we had to leave, Ethan spent some time jumping out some energy.

Definitely a weekend well spent with friends. Thank you Jacobs, Rossis and Dolls! and Thank you Hogans for letting us use the castle!