Expensive Pools and Late-Night Laughing - Road Trip Part 2

After waving goodbye to Tahoe, we traveled the windy road down to Roseville to visit Gary's brother Drew and his wife Stacey. The kids were pumped to see their cousins, and the visit did not disappoint. We first met them at Baskin Robbins because Scott was having a little end-of-season basketball party there, and even though the place was totally packed and us giving no introductions, Trevor and Andrew found each other and started having a fun fake punching fight. Birds of a feather!

Not only was it fun to visit Drew and Stacey, it was like returning home a little. Gary and I lived with them for a few months when Josh was a baby and Gary was an intern at Roseville City. I was going to say I wish I blogged then, but no, I don't. I wouldn't have had time. Josh screamed constantly unless I held him and I typed emails with one finger back then. ANYWAY, it's a great place and I remembered why we thought we should move there.

The  boys immediately dove into playing Beyblades - turns out Scott is also a fan, so once again, those birds of a feather. They could have played those things for the entire time we were there, which allowed adults to go for runs, but then it was pool time.

I was upstairs getting dressed when I kept hearing Andrew shout, "Cannonball!" outside, each time followed by a splash. The "expensive" pool was out! That's what Scott called it when he was younger and it stuck. Though not actually expensive, it was awesome!

Trevor looking on as Andrew does one of his "cannonballs."

Trevor's turn at the top, all the boys are in action.

Stacey and I were sitting at the kitchen table when we suddenly saw boys just piling into the pool.  It was hilarious - she got video, but I have these pictures of their race.

They did the race over and over, and would jump out to do it again as soon as they got in.

The side view shows it all - in and out of the pool, then do it again.

After the pool, the kids took a little break and played Wii. I thought this was pretty funny.

Some friends of Drew and Stacey were awesome enough to let us come swim in their back yard pool. It was cold, but really hot outside, so it felt  good. Stacey has noticed that we bring the heat to Roseville - the summer we stayed there was a scorcher, and the weekend we visited was record-breaking. Maybe it's best we didn't move there. :) Kids always love a pool, especially when Stacey started the "catch the ball while jumping into the pool" game.

I think Andrew's reaction is in regard to the initial cold, but you've gotta love Noah in goggles.

Scott and Noah

Baby girl!

Um, yeah, the only pic I could get, and she's eating a Saltine.

Josh worked intensely at the game, as he does with all games.

Trevor and Andrew

Andrew looks amazing in snorkel gear.

I swam him around and around.

Look how awesome pool-owner Carrie is!

Noah really went for it every time, I just love it.

I thought this picture was of Scott, so I had one for each boy. Um, that's Josh. See what happens when I'm trying to be photographer AND fun pool-mommy?

I don't love the pic, but everyone really wanted to capture the vision of me pulling the water-rickshaw.

Charlotte and Scott had a piano recital, and I stayed behind while Lissy napped. This is what happened to Trevor and Andrew after 24 hours of almost straight action.

On Sunday afternoon Josh and Charlotte played Battleship together for a long time. I was so happy to see there was an activity where they could bond, because Charlotte had been a little over-run by boys up to that point. 

Since this is what they spent most of their time doing, I had to get a shot of it in the end.

Lissy loved jumping on Scott, which he was amazingly patient about.

Sunday night ended off with some Dad-tag. That was the first ending, followed by more Beyblades, of course.

The kids got to sleep all together in the living room, and when we said we were leaving on Monday morning, there was sadness and outrage by many a child. My personal favorite part of the trip was that on Saturday and Sunday nights the adults ate homemade ice cream in the dining room and laughed ourselves silly while discussing the 80's and other such big items. Drew and Stacey probably had dark rings under their eyes after we left, but it was FUN to be there. Wish I could send them some sleep in the mail as a thank you. Hooray for our Roseville family!

Matching Nose Jobs

I have had sinus surgery 3 times before. Yes, this was my fourth time going under the knife to fix problems with breathing. The nurse who wheeled me to the car the other day said she hopes this is my last time. Thanks, I'm right there with you. This time the doctor really only needed to reduce my lower turbinates, which is less than Gary got done and less than I've had before, so it should be no big deal, right? Ugh. To be truthful, it's not nearly as painful as some of the other times. However, my dreams of restful times in my room while I fill in the holes for the last year of blogging will not be fulfilled. Because I feel crappy. Weird, right? Turns out not being able to breathe, just choke, has its downside.

I had a little rush of energy and desire to help Gary, so I started putting things away, which led me outside, which made  me get discovered by neighbors, in my full flared-goopy-nostril beauty. They were really sweet, and asking me who was helping me and how we were getting along. As I tried to explain, I realized I am kind of losing track of days and couldn't totally answer everything.

Gary is amazing. He has done an amazing job with the kids, with managing it all, and with helping me. He is perfect at showing empathy and love with the things I'm going through. Incredible man.

So . . . I think I wrote that on Saturday? I had the surgery on a Thursday, and the weekend was pretty yuck. (I originally published June 18, but now I am putting the date as the Saturday I began the post so that the blog works chronologically.)  I don't recall the packing ever making me so completely miserable. It felt like someone was constantly pressing on my sneeze reflex, and wouldn't stop - for over four days. I couldn't sleep, I had a constant headache  . . . on Sunday I started to count the minutes until the packing came out, and when the doctor came in to do it I felt like he was the anesthesiologist coming to give my epidural - he saved me! When I told him what a hard time I was having, he was not at all surprised. Turns out though there wasn't a lot he did, it's actually one of the bloodiest nose surgeries you can have, so the fact there was sooo much more blood than Gary was supposed to happen. Ok, awesome. And what a difference it made getting that stuff out, hooray!

I spent the week at a teaching conference all day, every day. A few people expressed that they couldn't believe I would do that right after having surgery. I wished I didn't have to, but it was actually awesome. Instead of dealing with little kids and my house, I sat in a room with adults drinking bottled water while discussing fascinating things. It was fascinating to me - it was a math training, and it was exactly what I've been wanting to learn more about for years. I was really into it, and pumped to think they are teaching all of the teachers so my kids can have a great education . . . and then I realized by the end that mostly everyone else hate, hated it. Boo. Dreams shattered. I want my kids in the class of one of those presenters, however, worrying about kind of stuff I need to take off my list, because it just doesn't help anything.

Now, tomorrow is my last (hopefully) ENT appointment, then Gary and I will both be breathing so well our lives will be magically wonderful. And no, neither one of us got any plastic surgery. If you notice anything different, it's not part of what we payed for.

Our Time in Tahoe - Road Trip Part 1

Our vacation started out with a mini-heart attack the day before when I jumped in the car at 4 p.m. and it was dead. Completely dead, not even a little half-hearted click. I had been sooo proud of myself for all of the packing and cleaning I had accomplished to that point, it was the inevitable monkey-wrench that wouldn't allow me to go to bed on time. Ah, well, good news - it turned out to just be the battery, which still had some warranty left, so it was fixable at night and not a trillion bucks. So, despite our late start, we did get out on the road, and it felt GREAT. I love to be out on vacation with my family. Just being with them is really the best. Poor Lissy had a really high fever, so we gave her medicine, and all was well - until it came back. She was bouncing around between happy and sad all day. As for the boys, I bought them $1 video games at Walmart the night before, and holy cow, that was the ticket. They were transfixed all day. Andrew actually got a mini-magna-doodle instead, and that was the ticket for him. The games were so boring for me it hurt to play them, but we had a very peaceful trip due to their presence.

First stop- lunch in Elko. It was cold, but we always love a good park, and watch how much fun we had.

Just everybody with their lunchables at the park. Trips are about the only time our kids get  lunchables, so it's a really fun treat.

Gotta get a peek at Baby Girl.

There was a giant hill, so on your marks, get set . . .

Go! Gary and I weren't "letting" the kids beat us on the way down the hill, it was seriously hard to not fall on our faces. Short legs ruled.

Of  course we had many different races. I took lots of pictures to try to capture the sheer joy on Noah's face. Don't think I quite got it, but here are some attempts.

Lissy wanted to attempt a little racing on her own - progress was slow, and at times she climbed backward down the hill, but she's determined.

The park was nice enough, but there was something very strange. At any given time there were 2-3 cars in the parking lot, but the people were just sitting in their cars. They would never get out, just sit for a while, and then drive away. While we were there probably 10 or more cars rotated through the parking lot in this fashion. I thought either the park is a popular thinking spot, or there is some "other" explanation. When I went to the bathroom, the "other" explanation was supported.

Yeah, no doors on the stalls . . . nice.

Lissy climbed up these stairs all by herself before I noticed. When I saw I hurried and snapped the picture, then ran over to make sure she didn't fall. Looks like treachery, child!

On the road again, the next stop was The Black Bear Diner in Reno. I just don't like the sound of the word Reno at all. But, the kids got ice cream so it's not all bad. In Reno Josh said, "That place is just called Chinese Restaurant, that's it. Weird." It's funny to see Josh getting big enough to find things amusing that I do.

 By the time we reached Lake Tahoe, the sun was beginning to set, and I had to gasp - it was gorgeous. So much bigger than I had anticipated, it just took my breath away. Gary said the same thing, and as we looked in awe, Noah said, "This is really creepy." We were kind of driving along the edge of a cliff, and he felt like we were just going to drive right into the vastness of the lake. I said, "It's beautiful." " . . . and creepy," Noah tacked on. "Well, no, with the snowy mountains in the background it's awe-inspiring," I said. " . . . and really creepy," Noah insisted. Once we were away from the cliff, Noah would relent a little that it was beautiful.

When we arrived at the hotel the kids were pumped out of their minds. Luckily, all of the bell hops were laughing and not annoyed when my boys ran around yelling, "Chips and  . . . sal-sa!" Gary told the boys a bedtime story that night to get them to calm down, and they were in heaven. Gary is the best at telling stories to those boys, we're all pretty lucky. The next morning the kids wanted to eat their yogurt on the balcony first thing, and Andrew declared, "It's a beautiful!"

First I just took a picture of the boys enjoying their breakfast . . .

 . . . then Lissy started yelling, "My cheese, my cheese!" So I got her in a pic, too. Note they thought the ash tray was a resting place for their yogurt.

We had them wait here while waiting for the car. It was a battle to get them to sit here, so taking a picture took up some time.

Hiking was our first activity of the day. There are so many hikes to choose from, but we decided to go for one that was only 1/2 mile to a little lake. Our kids were really excited to go hiking, but we thought we'd start out easy to see what kind of hikers they are. Turns out the place we chose was kind of far away, but I was glad because we got to see a lot more things on our way. As soon as the car stopped Noah said, "Everybody has to find a hiking stick!" So that was the first task. They found one for us, too. We saw a lady coming back down from a hike and Andrew said, "She's looking for a hiking stick."

Their faces are in the shadows, but they were all pretty proud of their hiking sticks.

Josh wanted to take a side route climbing some rocks, and Lissy thought she would be able to make it, too.

There he is, on the top of his big rock - I wanted to strike a balance between letting him explore and have fun, and getting the show on the road. I felt like we did, I hope Gary did, too.

Noah was proud of his rock climbing skills, too.

I don't remember who took it, but this picture cracks me up.

Noah was really excited to find the biggest pinecone any of us had ever seen. Turns out there were even more later on!

The attention Noah's pinecone got prompted Andrew to make this collection, so of course we took a picture of it, too.

Getting to the lake . . . we let them touch the water.

Stopping by the lake for a little granola bar and water break - Josh decided he'd be the photographer.

Josh and Noah found more rocks to climb, including this little cave.

A couple passed by us and offered to take our picture by the lake. Noah and Andrew declined to be a part of the family, but hey, we were in a beautiful place!

Photography by Noah

I decided I wanted to get another shot of how gorgeous this angle was, and Josh struck this pose for the picture - then my camera died. So this is it, the gorgeous view. :)

After the hike we were all exhausted - everyone but Gary and Josh fell asleep in the car. We stopped at a place called The Burger Lounge for a late lunch. I highly recommend it, delicious! Besides the part where Andrew wasn't ready to be woken up to eat so he screamed and screamed, that I don't recommend. However, all's well that ends with swimming, so the boys were more than happy for me drop them off at the hotel to swim while I got groceries with Lissy. It was fun to just be with Lissy - tons of people were smiling at her and commenting about how cute she is. Having a baby outside of Utah, fun times. We also had the fun of paying vacation town prices - $1.79 for 6 eggs. I'm serious, yikes! I was starting to think it wouldn't be cheaper to make our own food, but when I got to the checkout I was happy to see we'd be having tons of healthy dinner and breakfast for much cheaper than we could have gone out.

Lissy went down for a nap when we got back from shopping, and I went out on the balcony for a minute. I could hear my boys having a blast at swimming! They swam for a few hours, that Gary is amazing. The boys were especially enchanted with the plastic flaps that separated the indoor and outdoor pools, and told me all about how fun it is for Dad to throw them. We made and ate dinner, then headed for a walk on the beach nearby. I had thought that maybe we should rent a boat or something so the kids could have an experience on the water, but when we got to the beach I realized how unnecessary that would have been. They could have stayed and played at the beach for much longer. It was so gorgeous, and all of my kids were having so much fun, I couldn't help but take tons of pictures. Gary made fun of me for it, but it was too amazing!

It started with a little toe . . . but this boy got all the way in! He was freezing, but he did it a few times.

Noah got in a little, too.

Their favorite thing to do was just run on the beach. All three of the boys just ran and ran.

Gary played football with Josh for a while. It's fun for Josh to start being old enough to do  stuff Gary likes.

Noah started out digging this hole like a puppy dog, but then we worked together to make it deeper and deeper. He was really proud of it, and pretty ticked when Lissy would get more dirt inside it.

Noah found this feather by the water and asked me, "Why does it feel so fake?" I explained all about why birds need really light and hollow feathers so they can fly. Noah said, "Yeah, but why does it feel so fake?" I guess I don't know the answers.

After the beach Gary thought it would be fun to go out for ice cream. Unfortunately, the ice cream shop across the street had just closed for the night, so we thought of other options. I made the mistake of suggesting a popsicle from the gas station, and the kids jumped on that. They wanted to go there even when we offered McDonald's. Sorry about the ice cream shop dream, Gare, but the kids cited getting ice cream at the gas station as one of the highlights of their trip. Kids are hilarious.

Friday morning I set my alarm so I could go running by the lake. It took me a minute to find a trail near there, and the altitude was killer, but the run did not disappoint. So beautiful! I took pictures with my iPod, which I'm sure are highly unnecessary, but wow, what a run! We then had french toast together with each of my little cuties breaking 3 eggs a piece, then headed for our last swim at the resort. I took Lissy this time, and she loved it. We had to scramble to be ready on time after that, but we made it, only leaving behind a cupboard of snacks (sad). Gary and I had to listen to a time share presentation in exchange for our stay, but they had our kids go to their activity center for free, so it wasn't annoying. At one point Gary mentioned Dave Ramsey in our reasons why we couldn't buy, and they started criticizing him for taking really nice trips, and I almost said, "Well, he built that," but I didn't. I just smiled and Gary and I imagined some more trips we could take one day. After that, a delicious lunch at Baja Fresh put the finishing touch on our time at Tahoe - it went by quickly, but we loved it! On to Roseville!

I don't usually take pictures of my kids at restaurants, but I thought my boys sitting together at this high table was cute. I could go for some of their food right now.