Lake Tahoe - Part 1

Every summer for the past few years,we get together with A's family for a week. We love it and have so much fun together. It is something that we look forward to since we don't get to see the California crews too often. The past two years we have meet in St. George, so this year we decided to try something different. We ended up renting a cabin in Lake Tahoe for all of us to stay in. We had a blast. It gets a little crazy with 28 people altogether under one roof, but that's also what makes it so much fun. We did a lot of hiking, mountain biking, hanging out at the park, and games. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins. It is fun to watch them interact with each other. The younger ones had a ball at the cabin. They made up so many games and pretending to be pirates most of the time. The cabin had a big deck that wrapped around it and at one end it had a ladder that went down from the deck. I can't even count the number of times these kids went up and down and back and forth pretending to be pirates. The older kids got a lot of mountain biking in, which they loved. I'm glad that I don't go with them to see what they do. I see pictures when they come back, and that is enough for me. The hikes we went on were amazing. It is so pretty there. There was still quite a bit of snow, so the water was freezing, but that didn't stop most of the kids from testing it out. Here are some pictures from part of the trip. More will come later.


D was a great hiker, see even snuck in a few naps.

Here is all the kids except the three youngest. They are a fun group of kids.

This is S and his cousins that are all the same age. They have a ball together. They are a crazy bunch of boys.

Hanging out in the boat at the end of one of our hikes. We hiked up to this lake. It was beautiful, and the water was freezing.

The second hike of the day.

We came up with the idea for each family to come up with a game or an activity. It turned out great. It kept the kids entertained, and was fun to watch and play. This is A's sister. I had to throw in this picture. She made everyone put on the hat and tell 3 things that happened to them this past year. The kids thought it was great.

Another night we did minute to win it games. They were a blast. Everyone got to participate and we only had two people get injured. My sister-in-law (who is pregnant) was playing this balloon game and went over the edge on the side of the road. Luckily she was okay.

Here is a sweet picture of D. Love this girl.

This is another game we played. In this game, you place an alka-seltzer tablet on your tongue. The person who keeps it on the longest wins, and these guys went a long time. This is where the second injury occurred. One of the 9 year old boys ended up throwing up after he put the tablet in his mouth.

In this game, you had to suck up an M & M and move it from one plate to another on the other side of the room. This was a hit too. C used her hands just a little bit.

In this game you put Vaseline on your nose and moved cotton balls from one end of the room to the other. T was good at it.

This game is called "Face the Cookie". It is where you try and get an Oreo from your forehead into your mouth without dropping it, and without touching it with your hands. This was a fun one to watch.

Here is S trying it.

And T trying it too.

This was only the first two days of our trip, much more to come.