Family Trip - Lake Tahoe

What an amazing weekend we had! It turns out this was our first getaway weekend as a family - no friends, family or others accompanying us on our journey. Who knew we had to wait nearly 2 1/2 years to make that happen.

We headed out to the beautiful mountain town of South Lake Tahoe. Destination - Snow & Sledding. Get ready for a plethora of photos and a video or two - and I'm going to fit everything into one blog.

We left on Saturday morning and arrived in Tahoe at our motel shortly after 1:30 or so. We were lucky enough to check in early get settled, and then find our motel manager's sledding recommendation. He advised us to go over the Nevada border (we stayed about a mile from State Line) and about 12 miles toward Hwy 28 (I think it was).

You see, we initially went on this trip thinking we'd pay $5 a piece for two hours at the sledding/snow area at Sierra at Tahoe - a ski resort. Our motel manager - guided us to the perfect place. A great big hill, and it was FREE!!

Day 1: Drew wasn't so sure about sledding. The image to the right was just as we arrived, and Drew was climbing the hill to meed Daddy.

Dave went down with him on his first run and it ended with a few splashes of snow right in Drew's face. Needless to say he had zero interest in going back down on the slide. So we found other means of entertainment.

Like "Let's pull Drew around on the sled"

Drew happily gave the thumbs up. He forgave us for sending him to a wall of snow


Drew LOVED throwing those snowballs too. He nailed me a few times

My first attempt at working the timer feature on my camera - not bad!


Just before leaving, we were pulling him around in the sled, and found a little "bunny run" near our car. He loved it! I think this is what got him comfortable again with the idea of sliding. We went back and forth down a maybe 3 foot drop for about 20 minutes.

After hanging out on the hill for maybe an hour or so, we decided to pack it up and head back. There were a few crazy adults going down on tubes and they kept trying to beeline for Drew. So back to the hotel we went in hopes Drew would nap - no such luck. Instead he found himself in a precarious position..


He managed to escape. But he was being so good - especially for being nap deprived.

Day 2: we woke up, had breakfast, then went back to our sledding hill. Lucky for us we were the first ones there! So we had some quality runs in before it got crazy.

As you can see - Drew bought into going down the big hill this time - and LOVED it!

And then we came up with the brilliant idea of sledding tandem!


Sorry for the quality of the video... I took it with my point-and-shoot camera, and I don't have much control of the focus.



Mommy and Drew got a few runs in too.


After sledding, we found some powder and created our second child. While Dave and I were trying to build it, Drew found it entertaining to try and tear it down.


After this we had a snow picnic of PB&J, chips and juice. And then played in the snow a bit more before calling it quits. Again we were trying to get Drew a nap at the hotel room. Unfortunately the 20 minute catnap in the car would have to do.


After the failed nap attempt in the room, we ventured around Heavenly Village - a Tahoe Ski Resort area, and did some window shopping and photo snapping.


Drew's favorite part - other than the fountain.... the Dr. Seuss Art exhibit. Of course we were watched like hawks, so no cameras. What - they think a 2 year old is going to put his grubby hands all over everything or knock down a priceless stature? I mean come on....

Anyway it was a fantastic trip, and the "storm of the year" didn't make it until after we left. So that was great. Overnight they were expecting a foot or so - we were lucky if we saw 2". The drive home was beautiful, and thankfully chainless.

For the first part of the ride Drew kept asking us to let him out of the car so he could play in the snow. So we decided that we are for sure making this an annual trip! We all had a blast!

Only downside - Drew woke up the final night with "ickies". He got sick all over the room in our attempt to "throw" him into the bathroom. And then he got carsick on the ride home too - that time all over Daddy (FINALLY) and the gas station floor. We got home and realized he had a slight fever... we're hoping a little sleep and R&R will kick this bug quickly.