Leo really wanted to do an archery camp this summer. Archery is often offered as an activity at day camps or sleep-away camps, but he didn't want to do those. He wanted an archery only focused camp. I did some digging around and I found a fencing/archery/equestrian club that offered a half-day archery camp. Perfect. He went all this week and had a good time.
The family we've shared a ski house with since the beginning of our ski house sharing life bought a house in Tahoe in May.
They invited us to stay at the new house this past weekend so we drove up on Friday. We got there with plenty of time to explore the path across the street from the house. These giant dandelions were fun.
After dinner we hit the path again. The boys were all on bikes. Here are the kids at a scenic spot in Squaw Valley; from left to right: Nico, Serafina, Carlo and Leo.
Saturday morning we set out to Squaw Village. A big yoga festival was taking place, but all the boys and Kim headed up on the tram to take a hike at the top of the mountain. Serafina and I stayed in the village to meet up with our Sunnyvale friends. My friend Aida has her twin nieces visiting from Puerto Rico. Here are the twins, Bea and Gaby (not sure which is which to be honest), Serafina, Ana, Lane and Emma.
There were a lot of booths set up with freebies and samples. Emma and Serafina scored some sunglasses.
There were also hammocks to test out.
After some time with the girls, Serafina and I took the tram to the top to meet up with all the boys after their hike.
We stopped by the house for a quick bite and then drove to Tahoe City for our next adventure.
And helmets (mine kept going crooked no matter what I did).
Here's a little sample of Tom crossing one of the easy obstacles. Even the easy ones were shaky and challenging.
The courses were rated with different levels of difficulty. Serafina struggles with heights and she got upset a few times, but she kept going. She picked a course that was a little too tough and struggled through the whole thing.
This one was high off the ground with challenging obstacles. Here she is making her way through a vertical rope ladder.
I was right behind her but only one person is allowed on an obstacle at a time; two people were allowed on the platform between them. I tried to keep her calm and encourage her when I joined her on a platform, but she was hysterical and panicking a lot.
Here's a little video of her freaking out and the staff member on the ground trying to talk her through it.
After so many tears and lots of drama, she got through the course. I was a bit traumatized by the whole thing and thought she might be over this activity forever.
But she wasn't. AT ALL! She jumped on the next course and didn't stop until our time was up. She stuck to the courses that were more her speed and found a favorite one that she did over and over.
Here she is completely loving a long zipline.
Leo dove right into this experience with no hesitation. Apparently he had completely faith in his harness and worried very little about his own well being.
Leo got on some of the toughest courses and it wasn't always graceful. Here's a long video of him trying to cross a very tricky obstacle.
Here he is on a zipline.
We were sweaty and dirty and tired after our adventure but we went to dinner at a nice spot next to the Truckee river.
Sunday we wanted to get on the road before the traffic got too terrible, but we also wanted some time at the lake. We went to Donner Lake hoping to avoid some of the crowds but it was still crowded. We did find a spot to access the lake but it required a stroll through some woods.
Since Serafina and I had to run back to the car and didn't know the way, Leo left us this helpful clue of where to go on the path.
Serafina, Leo, Nico and Kim all got into the lake. Carlo was at a bike race with his dad.
Leo never got in past his waist but Serafina swam around and around like a fish.
Goofy kids.
Gotta have a picture with the cool tree teepee on the beach.
Serafina and I went to get our hair cut. She went first and was waiting for me to finish. The stylist put some loose curls in my hair with the curling iron and Serafina, who had been looking bored and tired, perked up and said "I want curls too!" The hairstylist was nice enough to give her lots of pretty curls.
Since Serafina was at volleyball camp this week, I told Leo we could go on a lunch date. He didn't hesitate to tell me he wanted to have soup in a bread bowl. So that's what we got.
Serafina attended volleyball camp with her friend Sunny and Sunny's big sister Sidney. Sidney plays on one of the competitive teams at the indoor volleyball place and we've gone to see her play a few times.
I dropped them off on Monday and they were super annoyed that I took pictures. Ha!
Kristi and I shared carpooling duties. I did pick up on Tuesday and got to see the girls play a little bit.
They were there from 9am - 1:30 so they played a lot of volleyball and Serafina was tired when she got home.
On Wednesday, we had to stop at 7/11 because it was 7/11 day and we needed to get free Slurpees. Three of these kids worked hard at camp and earned their Slurpees. One kid is the king of "right place, right time".
Final camp day was Thursday and Serafina was looking like quite a volleyball player.
They had a tournament on the last day and apparently Serafina's team name was "Food". I got this off the City Beach Instagram feed.
It was really hot today so we took a quick trip to the beach. Well, it's not exactly quick because it is a bit of a drive but it is so worth it because we all love the beach so much. Tom was "working from home" so he got to come along too.
Ooops. Tom was swimming where there was a rip current so the lifeguard came to scold him.
We've been doing quite a bit of hosting at our pool. Sometimes it's just a kid or two; sometimes is a larger group with food and drinks and the whole deal. I was feeling a little hostess fatigue but when the Fourth was approaching and there was nothing planned, I couldn't resist the urge to invite people over. Heck, it's really fun when you have a pool. It was just two other families so it wasn't going to be too crazy.
Serafina prepped by making some signs.
Leo and Sophia on a floatie.
Serafina, Millie and Sunny playing a game in the deep end.
Leo and Sidney on a floatie.
After some swimming, there was an epic dance battle. Then more swimming, then dinner, and then the dads got in and it was chaos in the pool.
Then the kids went out front to throw pop-its. When they came back in, it was dessert time. Each mom made a dessert. I did the red, white and blue cupcakes in the middle.
There were rumblings of walking to Kristi's house to see the fireworks from her lawn. They can see the Santa Clara fireworks pretty well, except for an unfortunately placed tree across the street. But then someone put the New York fireworks on the TV and the kids sat down to watch that and no one ended up seeing real fireworks. The guest left at 10:30 making it an EIGHT HOUR PARTY! It was fun but exhausting. These are some of my favorite people in the world, but it's still a long time to have people over.
