Lake Tahoe

After Sequoia, we drove up 5 1/2 hours to Lake Tahoe where we met up with my friends from High School- Barb & Gareth, Mikall and Conner, and Paul & Marin Sutton.  We stayed at a cabin in Tahoe City.  It was a little crazy with 8 adults and 9 kids, and Bridgette was the oldest! 
The first day we let all the kids play with each other and explore the house, and then went for a short hike along the Truckee River.  Penny was in heaven throwing rocks!

 

The next day, we were more adventurous and drove over to Emerald Bay to spend the day.  What a beautiful place!!

For some reason, Penny was absolutely inconsolable and wouldn't stop screaming.  We aren't sure what set her off.  I had Tyler take this picture so we could always remember how our poor, sweet Penny melted that day.  Apparently it was quite a show, and there were lots of people laughing and giving me, "Poor mom, you can do it!" faces.  She continued to scream the entire hike down to the beach, only stopping at the little waterfalls along the way to throw rocks in.

Bridgette was a great little hiker and had lots of fun walking with Addy and Teven (Mikall's son).

 Once we got down to the beach, and ate our lunch, Penny was fine and had fun playing with the kids and feeding the ducks her sandwich.

 Penny, Bridgette, Harrison, Addy, Sawyer and Teven.  (Missing Paul's 2 kids!)

 My cute little ones playing in the sand.  Harrison was much too busy touching the sand to look up!

Addy let Bridgette try out her Princess fishing pole.

  Our family.

At the beach, there is an old huge mansion which the girls thought was cool because it looked like a real castle.

That afternoon, the moms left dads in charge and we got pedicures.  It was so much fun to relax, chat and get away from the madness!
But, while the girls are away, the boys will play...

 That night, we had a kids movie night and they watched Toy Story 2 and had popcorn while the adults hung out in the hot tub.  It was the best babysitter ever!  Look at all those cuties zoned in. 

 The next morning, surprise- Penny threw up. 3 times.  We had no idea where it picked it up from but it meant I stayed home with her and Harrison while Bridgette and Tyler went to another fun beach.
 This was on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.  It had huge boulders that kids (and dads) could climb on.  They found tadpoles and waded in the water.

 Such great dads!

 Each night after all the kids were asleep, we could play games and laugh.  It was so fun to have good friends to reminisce and laugh about things with.  Overall, the kids were well-behaved and happy, and it went much smoother than we all expected.  We can't wait to have another reunion trip soon!
  Thanks for planning it all Gareth and Barb!