Separate Kinds of Fun

Most of the adults and bigger kids headed out one morning to the ropes course at Granlibakken.  With a minimum age requirement of five, Noah bounced out the door with Nate while Luke (and Leah) stayed with me. 

Nate had just done the ropes course in June for a work retreat so he stuck with Noah on the kids course and was able to capture so many fun, brave moments.

 

 Noah LOVED it.  

 Some of the staff there couldn't believe that our five year old was cruising so fast, so steadily and so confidently on some of the sections of the course.  

Having Olivia, Sammie, and Abby right there too made everything even more fun.

 

 After a couple of hours on the course and a stop for lunch, our very non napper, who will never admit he's tired needed a little snooze on the drive back to the cabin.

 

  I wanted Luke to have his own special kind of fun so we planned to go ride the gondola up the mountain to Heavenly.  But upon arriving at Heavenly Village we found out that it was closed that day (of course!) due to a fire the day before.  I wondered how Luke would take it, but he was fine.  So riding the tram turned into a stop at the toy store at Heavenly Village.  I had no idea a Pez dispenser could make this kid feel so complete and satisfied. 

 We had fun walking around together, peeking in the stores that he wanted to, and just being together.

 It was a far cry from the great adventure his big brother was having, but I love that Luke didn't care.  He was more excited about a 'mom date,' a Pez dispenser and a smoothie than I could have imagined.

Time Together

I captioned this picture on Instagram saying: Only the very best grandparents would insist that their kids all go out to dinner while they stay home and wrangle nine little people.

 

Oh my goodness, it was nice to be out together without the interruptions of those nine darling, sometimes very needy angels.  Nate and I hadn't been back to Riva Grill since our engagement almost ten years ago, and it was just the best being there with some of our most favorites!

This girl.  She was definitely my 'accessory' for the entire trip.  But I (mostly) loved it.  She is the last of our little ones so I'm glad that we're getting a lot of time together.  She sure did a good job convincing me that I've had my fill of babies on this trip!

It was Charlie and Leah's first time in the car at Lake Tahoe Pizza Company.

That car is filling up with cousins!

 We also snapped a sibling picture.  Regardless of time and distance apart these five are tight and can always pick up right where they left off the last time they were together.

We hiked up to Big Meadow again to show all of the family how beautiful it is.

Pictures like this one bring on instant feelings of gratitude.  I really am 'living the dream' with these three sweethearts and their devoted dad. 

Noah and Luke were happy to have cousins to play games with.

 And they love that Grandma is always quick to jump in and play with them too.

Our evenings in the backyard are my favorite.  Every time we're out there it just seems to be exactly what summer should be: campfire, loads of family, good food, and nothing, I mean nothing, feeling rushed or busy.  

 

A Day (or Two) at the Beach

 Baldwin Beach is becoming our favorite South Lake Tahoe beach spot. 

From the moment his feet hit the sand, Noah was a kid with a self-assigned project: dig and dig a LOT.  He had all of the other cousins working for him and declared that Luke was the brick mason.  I love how his mind works!

He really was all business, but had so much fun at his work.

I'm sure all of the other beach goers were thrilled with the screaming baby we brought with us, but after a nap her mood sure improved. 

This girl LOVES the water, even the super cold, freshly melted snow kind.

There were smiles all around and fun being had by all of us.

 

 

On a different day we also hiked up to Angora Lakes. I'm sounding a bit broken record-like, but this girl was a screamer.  She loved the water and hated everything else. 

 I just kept reminding myself that it's our last summer vacationing with a baby.  Hurray for that!  And regardless of the angry baby on that beach, the best part was that we were together, and her brothers were having loads of fun.

It looks like pictures from that day are few, but it should be remembered that Noah showed his bravery by jumping off of the big rock twice into that frigid water.  He was proud of his bravery and also not interested in attempting it a third time.  :-)

A Family That Vacations Together...

We had another great week in Tahoe!  This time it included all of the Boyces, which meant more fun, more adventure, and infinitely more laughs.  It also included Leah screaming and not sleeping a good portion of the time, but lets stick to the positives for now!

On our last night there we took a family picture.

And then we took a picture of the kids with Grandma and Grandpa.  One of my most favorite grandparent quotes is by Alex Haley: Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.

 I just love that, and it is so true in this family!

I wanted to line up the grandkids in order of age.

 And then we let them do a silly picture as well.
There's so much personality in both of those pictures.  I just love it!

We also took a family picture.

By that time Leah's patience had run thin: she was wiggly, angry and just over the whole thing.  The boys kind of were two, minus the angry part.  But we pulled off ONE picture that doesn't make that precious girl look entirely like the disaster she was displaying, so we'll call it a success!

Eight Months

Leah is EIGHT months old!

You sure are enjoying the incremental independence that comes with being one month older.

Life is SO much better now that you can sit all by yourself.

 You love it!  

Standing is still your very favorite, but sitting is giving you a much happier perspective of life.

While the month was filled with cuteness, it was also a rough one.  You hated sleeping in Tahoe.  I've lost count how many times you woke up in the night.  It was brutal for both of us.  You also found a new scream that is ear piercing.  

Sometimes you use it when you're mad, other times it seems like you're just experimenting.  How about experimenting with a nice little library voice next month?  Seriously, though, it's pretty horrible, and you seem to unleash it after about five minutes of sitting in your high chair at every meal.

But you wouldn't know that from this picture, right? 

You want so badly to be independent and do things on your own.  You've mastered a sippy cup, don't really care much about bottles unless it's bedtime, and do NOT want to be fed baby food. 

 I'm learning you're a 'do it myself' kind of girl, which isn't all that bad of a personality trait to have down the road.

You're also just 'talking' a lot right now.  We hear 'ba ba ba,' a lot.  Noah and Luke are sure you're saying 'brother.'  On our last night at the cabin we sat down by the campfire and you said, 'mama.'  Intentional or not, it was just what your exhausted Mama needed after such a fun, but challenging, week.

 
 You're getting more hair every day, which means we get some cute bed head laughs when you wake up from naps or in the morning.

You want so badly to get moving, and oh my goodness, you're close!  We joke that you've been paying attention to my exercise dvds because you can hold a high plank just like the pros. 

Your first trip to the beach was a success...after your stopped screaming from just being worn out.  You loved splashing in the water and rubbing your squishy feet in the sand. 

 You've got one more tooth on the bottom for a total of three.

And look how cute you are in your mom's shirt!  It's fun pulling out a few things from 1979 that Nana kept and sharing them with you.