Day at Tahoe

We had a lovely day at Tahoe over the weekend.  This past week, Eric and I discussed how the summer was flying by and how we had not spent a day at the lake yet.  It was the boys' first time playing in the sand and water there.  Eric's family joined us as well and it was a great outing.  The weather was perfect with the temperature being about 80 degrees (which is about 15-20 degrees cooler than the valley where we live) and the wind very mild.

We are loving this age and how interactive the boys are.  It is a wonderful as a parent to see your children experiencing new things and to be so excited about everything around them.  Hopefully this trip will not the last before the summer is over.  Enjoy the pics.

Cascade Lake

We had a busy weekend with a graduation and birthday party.  The boys had so much fun yesterday afternoon that they completely skipped their afternoon nap.  Fortunately there were no melt downs but I am not thinking I want to over extend them like that too frequently.

Today was much less frenetic and we got to enjoy the great outdoors.  It was windy yesterday but today was nice and warm.  After church we headed up to Cascade Lake which is right near Lake Tahoe.  Our friends' landlords have a small cabin on the lake and we were invited to spend the afternoon there. Eric's parents' also came and we had a nice family day.  Since there is only access to the lake through the landowners, it was quiet and peaceful.  It was absolutely beautiful and serene.  I am amazed at how we can drive such short distances and feel so far from the rest of civilization and in the middle of raw nature.  The boys LOVE being outside and were all about playing in the dirt.  Abraham and Winston are becoming such big boys learning to walk and exploring everything around them.  Our little guys actually turned fifteen months old today so I will be doing their monthly post this week. 

For now enjoy some pictures of the fun.  I will also post some cell phone pics later this week.

The adorable little cabin.  Eric is on the balcony with Abraham.

A sweet little rock pier in front of the cabin.

Winston was having a high old time digging around in the dirt.

 

Mr. Abraham was such a wiggle worm that it was hard to get a decent pic of him.

I thought this was funny because it looked like a cigar.  It was a little pine stick.  Eh, it's good for his immune system, right?

Walking around and digging in the decomposed granite. 

Wood Cutting....

The last two weekends Eric and I have ventured into the mountains to go wood cutting with his family. Yep, as in falling trees, splitting them and stockpiling wood for the winter. People still do that here in NV in things called wood stoves rather than using natural gas and spending a fortune on utility bills. So my brother upon finding out that I was involved in this was highly amused because growing up in Southern CA, wood cutting is not a normal activity for us. I joked around that I am officially trading in my flatlander status and perhaps I am real mountain girl now.

When the alarm initially goes off on Saturday morning at what is normally a weekday wake up time, the body wants to just continue to sleep. Eric and I both need a little time to get going in the morning (one of us more than the other =-) but once we are driving up the 88 and into Hope Valley, the tiredness is long forgotten and it is so enjoyable just taking in the beauty of the fall colors and the mountains. It's great just to be outside. It is a very gratifying experience to work with your hands and bring home the fruits of your labor and to know that it will benefit your home. There is a big sense of accomplishment in it. And despite the sore muscles that follow in a couple of days, it is a lot of fun. As a family we just had a good time together.

So the first weekend we got a skinnier tree that fell really, really easily right a long the road and then went back to finish loading up a tree that Eric's family had already fell the previous week. The next week we got a thicker spruce that was a lot more work for Brent and Eric to get down-it took 12 wedges! To top it off it got hung up in the adjoining trees but within 10 minutes its own mass made it come crashing down. So both of our families are set for winter!