Tahoe in Two Days

Last week we escaped the valley heat for a couple of days and cooled off in Tahoe.  It was past our usual dinner time by the time we got there, so we stopped at a restaurant to fill some hungry tummies.  As soon as the kids menu was placed in front of him Noah decidedly pointed to a picture and matter of factly said, "I want THAT."  We double checked more than once.  You really want mac and cheese with a salad? Yes, he did.

Noah is by no means a picky eater, but salad just hasn't been his thing.  Nate and I just shook our head, not surprised really by his choice, and more proud of him that he's so willing to try new things when it comes to food.  And really, what's not to like about Caesar salad?

A whole lot of our two days was spent in the water.  We tried out our first Nevada beach and loved it.  While it was a bit of a drive, Sand Harbor beach was beautiful.  It felt like the epitome of summer: lots of beach goers, life guards roaming, ice cream and milk shakes close by and warm, warm weather.

We were smiles all the way around.

 Noah is very into 'striking a pose' these days.

 These boys went from the water to sand and back again at least a hundred times.  I loved that there was no current or looming large wave to watch out for.  Tahoe beaches are the best!

When they did decide to take a break from the sandcastle building and splashing, Noah and Luke found Grandpa who had them giggling uncontrollably by playing 'this little piggy'.

 As if the lake wasn't enough, these silly boys wanted some time in the hot tub after we got home.

Our dinner that night was no surprise.  There's hardly a time that we're up there that we aren't making a visit to Tahoe Pizza Company.  This might be my favorite picture we've taken in that silly car so far.

 

We stayed close to the cabin on our second day riding bikes, playing and finding some more water to play in.  It's hard to believe that in May we were kayaking in the backyard and the water was barely up to the boys' ankles on this trip.

 

After exploring the river (or is it a stream now?) and finding some big sticks along the way, it was time for s'mores.  Grandma knows how to win these guys over.  All it takes is some roasted marshmallows. 

Camping, Party of 3

Friday afternoon Nate and the boys waved goodbye and headed up to the Sierras.  Ideal camping for Nate is remote, cool climate and beautiful.  Loon Lake fits all of those requirements, and each of them couldn't wait to get there.  All I asked for was a safe return and lots of pictures.  Nate came through with both.

I can only share all of the fun second hand, but by all reports it was a fantastic time.  Once they arrived back home the amount of excitement and information shared by three people all at once (including Nate) filled me with happiness and smiles. 

There was lots of time for exploring.  Nate loved seeing how sure-footed these little boys were, especially Luke, who really is just a little guy.  

 If anything makes the Dad in this family, it's developing a love for the outdoors with his boys. 

Dinner was 'authentic' camping food.  Noah and Luke are easy to please in the food department and they thought it was pretty cool to add water to Dad's Mountain House meals to make chicken and rice.  Camping magic. All week long the boys had talked about roasting marshmallows.  It was a definite priority for this trip. 

And they were all smiles when it came time to start the roasting.

I love Noah's silly face.  He is so much fun.

After cleaning up the marshmallow mess and noticing that the sun was low in the sky everyone headed up the ridge to watch the sun set.

It was just pure happiness out there at Loon Lake.

Nate reports that the boys slept great (I like to say they were well trained by their mother. :-) and really were the happiest of campers.

The boys filled up on breakfast and then headed over to the lake for a little wading.

Nate's first time camping with both boys was a raving success.  I loved hearing him say it was just fun.  There were no problems, the boys were great listeners and helpers.  There was just nothing but good times.  All of them can't wait to pack up the car and head back up to the mountains!

Wrapping It All Up

Tuesday was a big one for Noah.  It started with finishing off this year of Joy School with the moms and kids.  Oh, I will forever be grateful for this group.  These moms have become some of my dearest friends.  All of the kids, Everett, Patten, Ellie, Liam, Noah and Gwen are bundles of fun, laughter and sweetness. 

They may, however, be the least cooperative group of three and four year olds ever when it comes to photographing.  :-)  We tried.

I'm SO glad I chose Joy School.  I loved teaching Noah.  I loved that when I wasn't teaching I knew he was going to such loving homes and moms.  It couldn't have been any better.

So we partied a little.  The kids sang and got their certificates. 

 

Only one of these kids will be continuing in Joy School with Noah next year.  I'm equally excited for a new year of kids and learning.  And we'll figure out how that's all going to work out with a baby eventually.

Once evening rolled around on Tuesday it was time for Noah's end of the season baseball party.  Noah's arms flapped with excitment when his name was called to receive a trophy.  Coach Michael chose a unique award for each player.  Noah's certificate was for 'best energy.'  It was perfect for him.

T-ball was a such a great experience for our whole family, but especially Noah.  He learned a lot about failing and trying again.  He began to understand that it takes practice to get better at something and that practice really makes a difference in how you perform on game day.  I'm so proud of the growth he made, especially as one of the youngest players.  We're all crossing our fingers that we'll be able to join up with this team and its fantastic families again next season.

Memorial Day

I was still feeling lousy, but when a free opportunity for family fun comes around you just make it work.  After a few months of first trimester survival, this family was definitely due for some fun.  The Capital Family Regional Business Center hosted us and its other members at the River Cats game.  What a great experience.  We arrived early.  The boys had unlimited use of the bounce houses and slides.  Between that and unlimited food they were in heaven.  Members of the Savage family told the story of how the switch came last year for the River Cats to be the Giant's AAA team.  It was really interesting...for the adults.  Then we were off to take a tour of the stadium. 

The boys thought it was pretty neat to sit in the dugout where the 'real' players sit and store their equipment.  

Then it was off to the field where, again, the 'real' players play the game. 

 Pretty fun for all of us I have to say.

Lunch was up in a group box where we could watch the game and eat unlimited amounts of baseball park food.  The kids ventured over to the bounce houses again and we tracked down Dinger, the mascot, for high fives.  It doesn't get much better than that, especially for an all-American Memorial Day.

This Time Around

Never in my life have I been so sick.

The last eleven weeks can best be described as unforgettably wicked.  The nausea came on fast and was, well, disabling.  I was on hormone overload (literally...until I had an ultrasound, the doctor thought I might be having twins because my levels were trending high) and every pregnancy symptom possible came on immediately and extreme.  For two weeks Nate left for work with a wife crying on the couch, both of us amazed that this pregnancy was so different. 

It was bad.

And it totally caught me off guard.  My other first trimesters have been hard and full of regular, horrible nausea, but this was something of a different sort.  Functioning on a schedule and thriving on a to-do list quickly disappeared.  I just marked a successful day by hugging my boys a lot and making sure I read to them.  Oh, and they were fed.  That was it.  Teeth got brushed -- mostly, we tried to get dressed by lunchtime (sometimes), and PBS shows got us through the day.  It was a pathetic form of functioning in my book, maybe because it's so far from our norm.  But it was the best I could do.

Thankfully, I got some medicine on board.  While it didn't change things dramatically, it did get me off the couch -- most of the time.  That was progress enough. Too bad a major side effect of that medicine is drowsiness!

Just feeling lousy was hard enough.  But I saw how the whole energy of our family took a hit.  Parenting from the couch isn't very successful.  Oh, sure, we were fine and it was temporary, but it just wasn't us.  Nate took on as much as he could.  I don't know if I've ever loved him more or been more grateful for him.  Talk about 'saving the day,' over and over again.

The good news is that in the last week, especially, things have started to take a turn for the better.  I'm anxious to get off of the medication, because just dealing with normal pregnancy drowsiness is enough.  But, it's also still a necessity for a little longer.  For the first time in months I took the boys to the park, instead of just sending them with someone else.  My pace is slow and my muscles have kind of turned to mush, but just doing some 'normal' things feels good.  And hopefully, in the coming weeks I can phase some of those other normal things back in.

This little girl.  She may very well have been an only child had she come first.  I declared early on that whether this pregnancy worked out or not, I was done.  We were going to be a family of two kids or three.  To put ALL of us through it again was not an option.  Thankfully, this didn't result in miscarriage #4 (yet...I'll always be hesitant and worry.  That's just part of pregnancy for me.) and our family gets to experience the magic and fun of a little girl.

And speaking of that girl.  Well, the girl part of it sure caught me by surprise.  I just envisioned a little family of three boys: three white church shirts with ties, three Eagle Scouts, three boys to prepare for missions.  So when the genetic counselor told me we were having a girl, I just had to take a minute on that one.  The funny thing is that a few weeks prior my personal prayers just kind of changed.  I went from asking for 'it' to be healthy to 'her' and 'she'.  It just felt natural and right.  I should have known.

After the news sunk in a little, I couldn't help but smile about the reality of a girl coming to our family  To start, I know for sure that the right baby for our family is on her way.  As a friend reminded me, she is the one who will always call home.  :-)  She will give her big brothers lots of opportunities to practice being gentlemen.  And this little wonder will round out and bless our family in ways that we can't even imagine yet.  It's going to be amazing.

For weeks I had been asking Noah if he thought it would be fun to have another baby in the family.  Every time he responded with something like, "No mom.  We have enough babies.  We have Luke.  We don't need any more babies.  No more babies Mom." 

So naturally the boys' reaction to a sister was mixed.  Noah initially screamed, "Noooooooo!" when we told them about another baby.  I asked them if they wanted a girl baby or boy.  Both boys responded with "A girl!" And when we told them they were right, huge cheers erupted.  Something about a sister turned that biggest brother's heart in the right direction, and he's been excited ever since. 

Maybe it helped that after sharing hugs and answering lots of baby questions (No, Noah, she's not going to sleep in your room.  It was so sweet of you to offer though!) we hurried off to In 'N Out for pink, strawberry milkshakes.  What better way to celebrate!  Noah immediately walked up to the counter and answered the question, "What can I get you?" with "We're having a baby in our family, and it's a girl baby!"

Between praying for weeks that these little boys would welcome the idea of a sibling into the family and milkshakes I think we're in a pretty good place...for now.

Let's do this ONE more time.

My sweet Luke. 

Ever the happy helper and never minds that his main source of clothing is from what his brother has outgrown.

Right around Thanksgiving (and both boys birthdays!), we'll be feeling extra thankful when a little GIRL joins the family!

Tahoe

With busy season behind us once again we headed up to the cabin for a week.  The Armstrongs came from San Jose to join us, and we had a fanstastic time together.  The boys loved playing with Adalyn and I could have snuggled that sweet baby Lucy all day.

I forgot my camera, which I think ended up being a good thing.  We just focused on relaxing, napping, and laying around a whole lot instead of taking pictures.  But Marissa and I did manage to snap a few of the kids as we went out for some fun.

 We took the Arctic Cat out and the kids especially had a fun time.  All of them like to go fast.

The beavers are back so the river is running high again in the backyard.  That means enough water to kayak, which the kids also loved.

 

 Nate and Andy cooked dinner every night, which Marissa and I couldn't have been happier about.  But they did take a night off for pizza.

 

 Oh it was just nice to get away!  I wouldn't mind if this becomes an annual post busy season tradition!