Sorry I missed last week. I have a good reason. We were having so many adventures!

Mother and Daddy have a super fun tradition of taking each child and their family on a little trip each year to get more bonding time with the grandkids. Our trip this year was to Heber, last Friday and Saturday. We came home from that trip, frantically did laundry, went to church and a family party on Sunday, and then left for our family vacation to Lake Tahoe on Monday morning. We returned from Tahoe on Wednesday night about 9:30, just in time to get Fay to her first day of school on Thursday morning.

Anyway, here’s some photographic evidence as well as some explanation.

We started our journey to Heber by driving up to Cascade Springs. I remember loving going there as a kid, and hadn’t been back since my 20th birthday (thanks to Michael and Asael for making that happen for me), so I was stoked to take the kids there! It was fun and beautiful, and even though Carter had just woken up from a nap and was fabulously cranky, I think we all had a good time.

After Cascade Springs, we drove the rest of the way to Heber stopping by where my Great Grandpa had a house back in the day. Nowadays my, apparently quite rich, great uncle owns the large house on the property. We knocked on the door, but they weren’t home. Then we went to a delicious dinner and back to the hotel for swimming. The kids look forward to swimming at the hotel pool more than any other part of these trips with the grandparents; but apparently they are in good company with all their cousins. 🙂

Saturday’s first activity was to a park and then to a ride on the Heber Creeper (now known as “Heber Valley Historical Railroad” which is a super lame name)!

I was very excited to go on the train ride because I have a bit of history with it. Once, long ago, when I was somewhere between the ages of 4 and 9 (I don’t remember my age at all), my family went on the Heber Creeper. We went from Heber all the way down Provo Canyon to Vivian park where everyone got off the train for a bit to stretch our legs or whatever. Well, I must have assumed the stop was going to be longer than it was, because I was happily playing in the river when I heard the sound of the train pulling away!!!  I jumped up and ran screaming and crying down the track chasing the train as it went back up the canyon.  Some adult took pity on me and helped me to the control station or something, and after what was apparently a good half hour+, the train managed to back all the way back to the park and let me on to be with my family.

Lots of jokes were made about making sure not to leave anybody at Vivian Park during our stop this time, and I thought they were all funny! And we didn’t leave anybody! Though I did remark that the stop at the park was really quite short, so no wonder my small-child self expected to have more time to play!

When we got back to Heber, we ate at Dairy Keen. And I must say, I wasn’t disappointed even after all the build-up we had. I thought the burger and fries were delicious, and the fudge brownie shake was phenomenal! We also stopped at a cheese factory where I got some ultra delicious super-sharp cheddar cheese! I LOVE sharp cheese!

It was a delightful adventure with parents!

Then we left on Monday morning for Lake Tahoe! Neither Josh nor I had ever been to Lake Tahoe, but we had both heard lots of good things about it, so we were really excited to check it out!

We found an airbnb “cabin house” (as the kids called it) to rent while we were there. It was our first time staying in a house as opposed to a hotel room on our family vacation and we are totally converted! The house wasn’t big enough that we would want to move there; but it was great for our little vacation! It was hugely helpful to have a kitchen, table, multiple bedrooms, a washer and dryer, beach supplies, and even a little yard at our disposal! 

Now let’s talk about Lake Tahoe! Here are all the reasons I can think of right this second (aka: non exhaustive) why I think Lake Tahoe is really great!

• It is beautiful, blue as can be, and huge!
• It is in the beautiful mountains surrounded by pine-trees, wetlands, wild-life, etc.
• It isn’t 150 miles from any kind of civilization. It is surrounded by cities with hotels, houses, schools, restaurants, grocery stores, auto parts stores (that proved to be very important on this trip), and even quite a few thrift stores and wedding chapels. (?)
• There are really nice beaches! Big, sandy beaches that remind you why you didn’t drive that extra 5 hours to get to the ocean!
• You can rent water toys (paddle board type stuff) on basically anything that can be remotely considered a beach.
  
• There isn’t just the lake to play on. There are hiking trails, biking trails, equestrian trails, ATV trails, and even skiing in the winter!
• The water tastes good! I obviously didn’t just grab a cup and fill it up to drink; but when I did get some waves in the face, the water tasted like bottled water!

Like I said, non-exhaustive, but don’t you already want to just go to Lake Tahoe?! And we didn’t even do boating stuff. I bet if we had, I would have at least 6 more bullets to add. I am very much looking forward to the day our family is grown up enough to do boating stuff! We’ll be back at Tahoe for sure!

Anyway, here are some pictures.

We honestly just did beach and hiking mostly. But we did the beach 3 times in the 2ish days we were there.

The drive home was long, and the kids were so done. And even though it was a quick little trip, and even though our car battery died, and even though there was one point where the kids were so much that I felt like I wanted to run away from vacation, we all returned home with a very good taste in our mouth! It was an adventure worth having!

Anyway, here are some pictures that I just felt like posting. Because.

Josh and I celebrated 7 years of marriage yesterday by taking a bunch of selfies. That’s a good anniversary activity, right?!