Loving This Ride

On July 26th Matt and I celebrated 9 wonderful years of marriage.

We have a few more appendages now than we did back then.

And I have a bit more entertainment when getting dolled up for a night on the town.

But all in all I think we're faring pretty well.

I love you Matt. I love this life. I love these kids. And I love being your bride.

Tahoe - Week 2

Week number 2 and we're fully enjoying

 the altered state of reality that is life in Tahoe.

Loving the sand!

Our entertainment during dinner prep.

They are so entertaining ...

... Adam couldn't even handle it.

Getting ready for a hike at Spooner Lake.

Grumpy dude. But give him 5 minutes and he'll be
the happiest kid on the hike.

Adam has an eagle eye for bugs and "treasures."

He looks ready for a 4th to me.

Skinny jeans and pink leather sandals. Appropriate
hiking attire when you're the only little girl.

Successful fishing with the boys.

And we ate it for dinner.

My husband the grill master.

Man life is tough in Tahoe.

It's 5:00 somewhere. Okay. Maybe it's just 2:30. But we're on vacation!

Burger, Fries, and Mr. Gubler

We went to lunch today at Izzy's Burger Spa. At least one trip to Izzy's is required each year on the Barron vacation to Tahoe. This year's trip proved more exciting than usual.

A nice young man kept Claire entertained while we were waiting in line to order. He played peek-a-boo and chatted with her. I recognized him from somewhere and almost asked, "Did you go to Cal Poly? You look so familiar to me." I'm glad I didn't. Turns out he looked familiar to more than just me. Aunt Nikki recognized him in an instant. Does he look familiar to anyone else?

Yup. Matthew Grey Gubler. Or as I searched for him on my iPhone while sitting at Izzy's, "the nerdy actor on Criminal Minds." No. He wasn't wearing this particular attire while in line at Izzy's. He was a tad more scrubby and aside from our table of 5 star struck women, 3 clueless children and 2 annoyed men no one else seemed to notice him. I think we played it really cool. I mean it's not like we asked for his autograph. And we didn't ask to take a picture with him. We just took a very stealth one of him grubbing on his burger.

And another of him sitting in his little black Mazda in the parking lot. 

And we were very discreet when we spied on him through the holes in the wooden fence as he was sitting in his car chatting on his cell phone.

Aside from all that we played it cool. Very, very cool.

 (This is one peek-a-boo session that will surely be recorded in Claire's baby book)

Tahoe - Week 1

The Barron's have a tradition. A 25 year old tradition in fact. Every year during the first week (and recently 2) of July they bring their brood to Tahoe. I love, LOVE the fact that I married into this tradition. We missed 8 years of the good times when we were living in Milwaukee but now that we're back in California we have embraced the annual trip with vigor.

This is the 3rd year we've been able to bring our bunch of Barron's on the trip. The food, family, fun, cards, laughter, friends, day trips, walks, and the beach are exactly what we need. We're loving every minute.

Corn in our teeth.

Sand in our toes.

Aunties by our side.

Walks to the beach at sunset.

Cards, cards and more cards.

Cooking.

Scavenger Hunt. One of MANY!

More cooking.

Virginia City, Nevada

Panning for gold.

They actually got some flakes!

Cave tour. Scared the crud out of me.

Love this face!

Fun, fun and more fun! We are missing Tyson a bit though. Fortunately we found the best dog trainers in the world and they paid him a visit at the kennel yesterday. They said he's doing great and doesn't seem to be missing us too much. They even sent us some pictures of him. How thoughtful is that?!