earlier this year we decided to go to Lake Tahoe for the the week of Thanksgiving, along with my sister's family. My parents opted not to come... We stayed at the resort we had stayed at last year, close to Heavenly Ski Resort. We knew it was going to be great!!!
on the way up to tahoe, we stopped at apple hill again to buy pies for our thanksgiving meal. it was a friday afternoon so very few people were there. it was cold and rainy- the perfect weather for cider and a donut- a great break from the car for the kids!
The sign in our room was perfect-
we would take advantage of ALL that the resort had to offer! lots of free stuff to do- plus a shuttle downtown too! tate and macy went to kids club every day and loved it. the resort offered 2 different movies each day. the movie at noon was kid friendly and the movie at 5pm was family friendly. again- all free! i personally saw 3 movies this week and i bet we had 1 family member at each showing that week!
the little kids (mine), big kids (ambra's) and us adults all enjoyed some ping pong-
we went up to the roof top jacuzzi one day and saw this amazing rainbow-
on monday morning we wok up to snow-
the snowy view from our room-
we managed to sneak in just enough downtime-
but decided to get in the car once all week... to take the gondola ride up to Heavenly! 9,000 ft here we come!
there was an observation deck at 7,000 ft that we stopped at. it was cold and incredibly windy!!!
ambra's family had never taken a gondola up so high!!!
the view was worth it though-
poor macy thought that she was going to freeze out there!
time to go to the top! we got off the gondola and found lots and lots of snow to play in!
but first, we hit the lodge for lunch...
and then more playing in the snow!
we did NOT build this snow man. nor did we give him a stick penis. however, i just HAD to take a picture with the kids next to him! luckily, they didnt have a clue!
here is tate threatening to throw a snowball at me when my leg got stuck in a hole, hip deep!
everyone was throwing snowballs!
ambra and frankie found the perfect spot to relax-
meanwhile, tate is still at it!
macy found a little hill and realized that you dont need a sled to go sliding!
she just wouldn't stop! we didn't go to the snow last year, so this is the first time she has really been able to play in the snow. and she loved it-
tate realized that it was fun too-
but then, a little spiked cocoa and time to relax-
on the way down the mountain, macy and titi both realized that they had on black turtle necks and could become ninja spy's!
the view going down-
the best part of having ambra with us this week was all the babysitters!!! we got to go out one night while the big kids babysat. we started at happy hour at the resort, then took the shuttle downtown to dinner- at Friday's Steakhouse on the top floor of Harrah's. The we hit the casino and much to my surprise I know how to play roulette! it wasn't the power ball winnings, but it made for a fun night!
one morning tate took a tennis lesson-
ambra, kyra and i went to a craft class and made the cutest holiday glasses-
ambra and i went to a "do-it-yourself facial" class too-
plus, brian and i escaped to the spa for massages one day too! (again, thank you teenagers!)
and of course- i had some "forced family fun" planned for us all too!
first- a 750 piece puzzle that NO ONE wanted to do...
however, everyone helped out and some even enjoyed it (frankie jr & frankie sr especially!) and we completed it! well, kind of. turns out we misplaced 1 piece during the week...
he asks you questions (similar to mad-libs), records your answers and then tells you a story using your answers and turns your voice into an elf voice! even the teenagers liked playing with "alfie!"
another "forced family fun" project was making the trendy/popular infinity scarves- from tshirts!
one day we put the kids down for a nap and invited ambra and frankie over for lunch-
it felt like we were back in germany- bread, cheeses, salami, prosciutto, olives, almonds- and wine!!!
*** we realized that this type of traveling was perfect for us- we each had our separate 2 bedroom "apartments" if you will, in the same building and on the same floor even! it was great that i could open my door and send the kids down to her place. we usually just walked from our place to theirs wearing our slippers! this was much better than actually sharing a house... we shared dinner duty- we cooked at our place for everyone 2 nights and then they cooked at their place for us all 2 nights too. ***
one day we went swimming- while the snow was actually falling!!!! the resort had a heated indoor-outdoor pool and we couldn't resist! here are tate and brian-
i really liked the hot tub better! wish you could have seen the snow flakes falling- it was perfect!
here are ambra and i- with a giant snowball on the rooftop of our building!
we decided to have our thanksgiving on wednesday night, since ambra would leave on thursday. they were there thurs-thurs, we were there fri-fri.
again, we divided up the food and ended up with an amazing spread!!!
we said good-bye to ambra's family on thursday morning and decided gave the kids a choice- go to have fun at kids club (such an awesome resort that they still had kids club on thanksgiving even!) or stay home, in their pajama's and watch the macy's day parade with us...
we were so excited that they chose to stay home with us!
i have NEVER watched the whole parade from start to finish- but i did this year and i loved every minute of it!
brian said he was only going to have "one beer" on thanksgiving... do you see how big this bottle is?
i made a fort for the kids in the livingroom and they loved it-
all in all, it was the perfect thanksgiving day! we watched the parade, lots of football, had turkey sandwiches for lunch and leftovers for dinner- in our pajamas the whole day!
we have decided to keep up this tradition of having our Thanksgiving on Wednesday when ever we possibly can. We probably wont have a pajama day each time on the actual Thanksgiving day, but perhaps it will be a day when we are able to go out to serve others, at a homeless shelter or VA home maybe...
well, what a week! it went by too fast, but I sure am glad for the new memories with my awesome sister. she saved for months and months, had a 5 hour drive, with teenagers who don't always want to put family time first and had to even leave one kid at home! thanks for making us a priority in your life ambra!
and here are those teenagers... still having toddlers, we don't quite get them! but we know that staying involved in their lives is so important- so we just keep trying!
they won. he couldnt join us. luckily my mom and dad stayed in fresno, so he was with them all week and ambra's family made it home Thanksgiving night for dessert with him!
and guess what? last friday night they won again! so it was worth all that practicing! tomorrow night they play in the valley championship game- GO JAKE!
we were sad to leave lake tahoe, but enjoyed a nice lunch on the way home. we stopped in the sweet little town of placerville. every other car had a christmas tree on the roof and the town was alive prepping for their Christmas tree lighting that night.
this was my lunch-
haha!
speaking of wine though... we rushed home to pick up the babysitter and head out to a local winery, The Blue Victorian, where we are members. it was their quarterly "pick-up" party, where they burn the barrels in the vineyard! it was quite the event-
I just wish I had taken pictures to capture it all! we went with our friends, emily and dan devoe and brian's boss and wife, bob and kelly buente. we all rode together and had a bunch of fun. plus, we ran into a lot of other military folks there too.
here is a funny story that i don't want to forget-
the day before we go to tahoe, i mention that we are going up to tahoe for thanksgiving week to another military spouse, anne. anne then tells me "the Connolly's are going up to Tahoe too." (Kevin Connolly is another commander on base and their youngest daughter played on Tate's soccer team) I think nothing of it, since Tahoe is a BIG place, right?
Well, saturday morning we are walking through the clubhouse and who do we see, but The Connolly's! It's a crazy small world that they were actually staying at the same resort as us! We saw them everywhere- the movie theater, kids club- I felt like we were stalking them!
Then who do we run into back home Friday night at the Blue Victorian Winery event? The Connolly's- they are members too!
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