In Tahoe for the 4th of July

I don't think the 4th of July could have been anymore perfect (except of course the 4th of July TEN years ago when we got engaged!!!). My parents live in the nicest community called Chinquapin in North Lake Tahoe. In the morning there was a parade for all the kids with a table set up with EVERYTHING you could think of to decorate a bike, scooter, or wagon. We even went a little crazy and decorated ourselves with tattoos and necklaces. After the parade it was onto the community carnival. To say the kids had a blast would be an understatement! There was a bean-bag-toss, fishing, carry the egg on the spoon, crafts, potato sack races, musical chairs! The kids went from station to station and back again winning all sorts of loot.  Then they had swimming races for all ages and then they threw $300 in coins in the pool for all the kids to dive for. Connor collected $2! Later in the evening there was a super delicious dinner (which I obviously didn't get to enjoy because I have 3 kids 5 and under). Following dinner there was a hula hoop contest for kids and adults and then a dance! The day was centered all around family, and every event they planned was perfect and fun for everyone! I want to go every year, and I want everyone to come with us! We loved it! Thanks m&d for the fun memories!

Love them!!!

I wish I had more pictures of the potato sack race! It was too cute!

My mom got all the girls little red, white, and blue dresses for the dinner and dance. The little spunky headband fit Sadie's crazy personality.

Dancing the night away (with blankie in tow of course). This girl was unstoppable.

Friday:

The boys went golfing the next morning...

...while the girls went shopping and to ice cream.

Cutest little girlies. Kaylee and Alyssa were so sweet to play with Sadie and all her crazy personalities :).

Saturday: Beach Day (Plus the boat, but that was pretty much every day. Actually so was the beach.)

Chinquapin has their own private pier, buoy for your boat and a few little beaches.

Sadie was really excited to go swimming...until she felt the cold water. So we sat on the shore and played with the sand instead.

You can't see it in this picture but the boys are laying on the dock trying to catch crawdads. My dad got some string and tied it to a big rock, wrapped bacon on it. The crawdads will climb onto the rock pinch the bacon with their pinchers and then you pull the rock up and tada, you've got yourself a crawdad. The guys and kids did this for HOURS! It was so addicting. No crawdads were injured or eaten, we collected them in a bucket and threw them back in the lake when they were done.

Connor LOVES the boat and LOVE, LOVES the tube even more. He and I took a 20 minute ride together. He smiled and giggled the whole time. He kept yelling, "This is too good to be true!!!!"

Sunday?:

Okay, I think I am getting my days all mixed up. I guess that will happen when you go non stop for 2 weeks. So I know we didn't float the Truckee river on Sunday. Anyways, one of the days we floated the Truckee river in tubes. Connor rode with Dallin in their very own tube...hooked to Josh's boat. It was a little crazy on the river that day. It was kind of like a booze cruise for a bunch of single and ready to mingle 20 yr olds. It made for a really, really interesting float. Especially when our boat joined up with group of them; I am glad we only had Sadie with us who didn't understand their conversations ;).

 

Ryan taught Connor how to play chess, something I still don't know how to play (mostly because I have no interest at all).

Sunday: Was Ryan's last day :(. In the morning we all hopped in the boat to ride over to Emerald Bay. The water in Lake Tahoe is crystal clear, and in some places it looks like the Caribbean! In Emerald Bay there are the most beautiful rocks under water that are a turquoise green (my mom swears they are painted!). My dad beached the boat and we hopped out and explored.

This was a beautiful mansion there that was built in the early 1900's. The architecture inside was AMAZING! We didn't take our camera or phone so I need to get the other pictures from Stacey.

I had forgotten to take a bottle for Benson and on our way back from Emerald Bay Benson was sooo done. He was mad at his life jacket, at me, and was so hungry.

Sadie only went on the boat 2 times while we were there, and both times she fell asleep. Which if you knew Sadie you'd know she is not like that. She is a party animal and would hate to miss anything. So for her to fall asleep in our arms on the boat was a huge milestone for her.

Ryan drove home Sunday afternoon and me and the kids stayed. I was really nervous to stay with 3 busy kids by myself. Life with 2 under 2yrs is NON stop, and I don't think I sat down once for more than 2 minutes for 2 weeks.