Lake Tahoe

We went to go visit Grandpa Rick for Labor Day Weekend. It was done in typical Grandpa Rick fashion where we played enough for two weeks in two days. After our trip I went through all of the things that we did and then asked my boy what his favorite part of the trip was. “Was is going to Applebee’s, or was it your movie party with Grandpa that night. Was it hanging out at his house in the morning and getting to play piano and do Soduko with Grandpa? Was is the picnic and going to the American River to swim? Was is going to Old Sacramento for Gold Rush days? Was is going out to Chevy’s for fajitas? Was is going to Baskin Robbins afterwards and getting to eat ice cream on the rocks? Was it driving around Penryn and seeing where I grew up or the cemetery where my mom and brother were buried? Was it going to stay at a hotel in Lake Tahoe and seeing Rachel wake-up excitedly saying, ‘It’s a forest!’ Was is going out to a breakfast with eggs, bacon, toast, potatoes, and orange juice? Was it going to the store getting Lake Tahoe magnets and having Grandpa Rick buy you and Rachel your own sand toys? Was it making your own crawdad fishing pole and filling your bucket with bacon-loving crawdads? Was it swimming in the lake? Was it building a sand castle on the beach?”

He thought about it all and then said, “Wow! The stuff that we did at the beginning feels like it was a month ago.” Then he continued, “Definitely Lake Tahoe!”

Lake Tahoe has become something that Little Miss R has talked about everyday since we returned. When she gets sad she cries and asks for what she knows will bring her comfort, “I wana go to Lake Tahooooe.” She says that she will let me use here shovel and bucket. She tells me where she will sit in the car, that I will sit by her, that Grandpa and Daddy will be in the front, and that her big brother will be in the back. She tells me that we will swim and play in the sand and catch crawdads and see the forest. Then she demands that we go now. It is so cute that sometimes I have to ask her if she is going to take me to Tahooooooe so that I can hear her talk about it. It is almost like she gets offended that I would question that promise that she has already made to me because she adamantly says, “I AM!” Sometimes she excitedly bursts out, “I have an idea! Let’s go to Lake Tahooooe and we’ll be so happy!”

I honestly cannot think of a better vacation spot for our family. The forest and mountains provide amazing hiking and backpacking, but it is also the perfect place to simply relax. There can’t be a more ideal setting to watch children have fun. The scenery of the blue water surrounded by green trees is so beautiful. Hearing the cool water lap against the warm shores of the softest sand in the world is so relaxing. The water in this part of Tahoe has such a shallow beach that the water is warm enough to be refreshing not so cold that you can’t enjoy it. The kids love to make sand castles. What is it with that sand anyway? Does it have glue in it? That stuff makes awesome sand castles.