Fallen Leaf Lake Camping with 3 year olds

Zach and I had a wonderful time bring our two 3 year olds out to the wilderness. We drove up to the Lake Tahoe Area after an overnight stop for Sophia and I at the Hogan's house in Sacramento. We opted for a Yurt so we would not have to deal with tents along with the extra challenges of dueling 3 year olds.

 

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 Here is a pic of the yurt : home sweet home!
 

The lake was totally beautiful with lots of interesting rock formations and peaks in the area. And the TREES!!
 

We saw some giant sequoia as well! This was unexpected and while Sophia did check it out, I am not sure
 she was quite as struck by the scale as I was.

 

 We had some rain and Zach took one for the team and cooked during the rain. Everything and everyone else was dry in  the yurt.

 

 Of course the stars of the show were Donovan and Sophia. They got along just great when they were not undergoing a small powerstruggle on who could close the yurt door. It was an important role -- yurt door closer.  They finally decided to take turns which was a novel concept and very successful.  Good suggestion dads! Come fire pit time -- all was well.
 

 The headlamps were also a hit.
 

 The yurt was plush and we slept well. Sophia and I were up on the top bunk in our sleeping bags.

 

 Zach took a few pictures as well.

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Fallen Leaf Lake Camping with 3 year olds

Zach and I had a wonderful time bring our two 3 year olds out to the wilderness. We drove up to the Lake Tahoe Area after an overnight stop for Sophia and I at the Hogan's house in Sacramento. We opted for a Yurt so we would not have to deal with tents along with the extra challenges of dueling 3 year olds.

 

View Larger Map

 Here is a pic of the yurt : home sweet home!
 

The lake was totally beautiful with lots of interesting rock formations and peaks in the area. And the TREES!!
 

We saw some giant sequoia as well! This was unexpected and while Sophia did check it out, I am not sure
 she was quite as struck by the scale as I was.

 

 We had some rain and Zach took one for the team and cooked during the rain. Everything and everyone else was dry in  the yurt.

 

 Of course the stars of the show were Donovan and Sophia. They got along just great when they were not undergoing a small powerstruggle on who could close the yurt door. It was an important role -- yurt door closer.  They finally decided to take turns which was a novel concept and very successful.  Good suggestion dads! Come fire pit time -- all was well.
 

 The headlamps were also a hit.
 

 The yurt was plush and we slept well. Sophia and I were up on the top bunk in our sleeping bags.

 

 Zach took a few pictures as well.

Read more...

Tahoe

Turns out that now that I have kids summer is my favorite season to be in Tahoe.  I have talked about renting a house for years with some of our friends, but it always seemed that we could never pull a trip together with all our families in the summer- until this July.  We rented a house in July in North Shore, near King's Beach with 2 other families.  In case you are keeping track that is 6 adults and 6 kids!

It was quite the adventure- beach trips, taking turns cooking, cards, adult beverages & lots of playing with the kids!  The memories are firmly planted.





Driving the Fire Truck:



The Girls' Bunk Room:

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Tahoe

Turns out that now that I have kids summer is my favorite season to be in Tahoe.  I have talked about renting a house for years with some of our friends, but it always seemed that we could never pull a trip together with all our families in the summer- until this July.  We rented a house in July in North Shore, near King's Beach with 2 other families.  In case you are keeping track that is 6 adults and 6 kids!

It was quite the adventure- beach trips, taking turns cooking, cards, adult beverages & lots of playing with the kids!  The memories are firmly planted.





Driving the Fire Truck:



The Girls' Bunk Room:

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The 4th of July on the 4th of September

Many weeks late, but worth sharing this photo.....

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The 4th of July on the 4th of September

Many weeks late, but worth sharing this photo.....

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Sophia's 1st Disneyland Trip!

We totally rocked Disneyland. Sophia had a blast for her first trip. That is the short of it.  The longer version is we arrived around 10 am, sans Isabella who stayed with Corina (thank god!), and met up with various other parts of our 8 person group.

We had Sophia ,3, 2 10 year olds, 1 newlywed, Cyrus, me & my mom- we spanned a lot of ages and interests.  I managed to get everyone to write down their top 2 rides & miraculously we managed to cover all the lists with smiles and no tears!  It was like an aria- everyone picked up their instruments at the proper time & played them perfectly!

A huge thank you to my mom, husband and my brother (the newlywed) for managing to get fast passes & standing in too many lines for the kids.

What we rode: 
Carousel
Peter Pan
Casey Jr. Train
Tea Cups
Tom Sawyer island
Winnie the Pooh
Indiana Jones
The Jungle Cruise
Splash Mountain
Astroblasters
It’s a Small World
Autopia
Symphony Swings
Ariel's Grotto
Ferris Wheel
Toystory Mania
California Screaming
California Screaming (yeah, we went twice in a row with the extra fastpasses we had)

      

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Sophia's 1st Disneyland Trip!

We totally rocked Disneyland. Sophia had a blast for her first trip. That is the short of it.  The longer version is we arrived around 10 am, sans Isabella who stayed with Corina (thank god!), and met up with various other parts of our 8 person group.

We had Sophia ,3, 2 10 year olds, 1 newlywed, Cyrus, me & my mom- we spanned a lot of ages and interests.  I managed to get everyone to write down their top 2 rides & miraculously we managed to cover all the lists with smiles and no tears!  It was like an aria- everyone picked up their instruments at the proper time & played them perfectly!

A huge thank you to my mom, husband and my brother (the newlywed) for managing to get fast passes & standing in too many lines for the kids.

What we rode: 
Carousel
Peter Pan
Casey Jr. Train
Tea Cups
Tom Sawyer island
Winnie the Pooh
Indiana Jones
The Jungle Cruise
Splash Mountain
Astroblasters
It’s a Small World
Autopia
Symphony Swings
Ariel's Grotto
Ferris Wheel
Toystory Mania
California Screaming
California Screaming (yeah, we went twice in a row with the extra fastpasses we had)

      

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar turns 3!

Sophia turned 3 this summer and to celebrate she wanted a party themed after her favorite book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  I was happy  to oblige.  We had all the food from the book (actually we were missing the plums because I forgot to buy them), but it was still a huge success.  We had craft stations to create caterpillars, color in all the foods from the book & of course a water slide into our kiddie pool.  Sophia and Isabella even had matching tunics from Eric Carle fabric (thank you Meemaw!).  It was great fun for everyone.

      

The girls in their matching Caterpillar tunics on a caterpillar quilt that Aunt Marilyn made!  

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