We headed up to the lake for Tom's birthday weekend, and brought Sunny along.
Aren't they cute?
It was one of those typical bumper season weekends, not too crowded, with cold and clear weather.
We went to town to stroll and shop. I made my kids take a picture in front of the big Christmas tree in town.
Sunday was Tom's birthday, so we went out to dinner at a pizza place we like. He got this mug of beer and we all toasted him.
Monday was the first day of the Thanksgiving break for the kids so no school and no rush to get back to real life. We went down to Donner Lake for exploring and pictures.
Cuties that I forced to be outdoors but ended up liking the adventure until we all got too cold.
We took a quick trip up to Donner Lake to get the cabin ready for the winter. That mostly just entails getting all our patio furniture into the shed, which left us plenty of time to soak up the sunshine on Saturday.
I'm glad we got out and enjoyed the weather because it rained all day Sunday while we packed up and made our way home.
The lake house is great, but it's always a better time with friends. This past weekend, we got to bring Sunny along and it was very fun.
Here are the girls hanging out on the swim platform.
Out on the paddle board, splashing each other and probably being very snarky.
Leo brought his acoustic guitar with him and we got treated to live music on the beach.
More splashing.
I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but I did make the girls pose for me after I took them shopping in town on Sunday.
At our favorite little store in town, Sunny bought matching sun and moon necklaces for her and her sister, who is headed to college next month. I had to blink back tears in the store.
Oh and they held my phone for me while I used the bathroom and In-n-Out on our drive home.
So of course there were goofy selfies when I got it back.
The night after we left, there was a fuzzy traveler through our side yard. Glad he wasn't there while we were there!
We headed up to the lake house on Tuesday night. The weather was chillier than usual for this time of year, but we still tried to make the best of it. Tom and I took a nice walk on Wednesday to enjoy the summer solstice.
In the afternoon it was nice enough to head down to the beach. It was very empty during the week.
Between Leo's broken arm and the crazy weather, we haven't been able to go up to the cabin much. It's been a historic winter throughout California and the Tahoe area has received an immense amount of snow. Our neighbor sent us some photos of our little cabin buried in snow, but this weekend was our first chance to see it for ourselves. Even though we knew it was fine (our rental management company has been out there several times to check on it) there was a particular sense of relief to see it still standing. We arrived late on Friday night, so it was dark but we could still tell there was a massive snow pack.
Saturday morning, Tom and Serafina headed out to ski. A few hours later I took Mousse out for a walk and fully assessed just how much snow was all around our house and neighborhood.
In most places the snow was triple or more overhead.
When Tom and Serafina got home from skiing, she called me from the driveway. I thought she needed help carrying stuff inside, but instead she wanted me to find her. It took me a second, but there she was, on our second story roof.
We went up to the cabin twice this month. The first weekend in February the house was almost buried in snow. On Saturday, we had beautiful weather and everyone had a good time skiing. Mousse and I took a very long walk that day.
On Sunday, it was snowing and only Tom went out to ski. The kids and I worked on packing up the house so we could head home once Tom was home. Well, the weather and the Highway Patrol had a different idea. After it took Tom over an hour of harrowing driving to get home from the ski spot (our house is only 10 minutes away under good conditions), they ended up closing the highway. Oh boy. I was pretty stressed about the situation, but Mousse was not.
We ordered a pizza and hoped that by the time we were done eating the road would open back up since it stopped snowing. And that's exactly what happened. Of course, the driving was extremely slow and a bit slippery, so we got home very late.
We headed back up to the cabin for Presidents Day weekend. There had been lots of travel warnings because it was expected that a lot of people would be traveling to the area because of the record snow fall. We waited until pretty late Friday night and got there with no issues. Saturday and Sunday the skiers couldn't ski without extra costs because of the type of season pass they have, so we did other mountain things like take Mousse for walks and stroll around the adorable town of Truckee.
Here's Mousse loving every minute of being in the snow, including on the beach at Donner Lake.
Tom and Mousse taking in the view of Donner Creek running into the lake.
Here's a video of Serafina skiing on Monday.
Unfortunately, Leo fell that afternoon and they ended their ski day a little early. I picked them up, and Leo seemed fine. He was hurting on Tuesday so he didn't ski, but Tom and Serafina did. They wrapped up early again and we got on the road right as the snow was starting to fall. We got home with no issues and I'm very glad we got out of the area when we did because they have had some extreme weather these last couple days with more to come!
We headed up to the mountains on Tuesday the 27th. It was pretty easy to get there and we were happy to have some time at the cabin since we had to miss a visit earlier in December because of weather. On Wednesday, the weather was clear but cold. The skiers headed out to ski.
Here's Leo's selfie.
Here's Serafina's...
I took Mousse for a snowy walk, which he loved, of course.
It snowed over night so we woke up to fresh snow on Thursday. They didn't end up going skiing because of the temperamental weather, so Tom joined us on our walk, which was combined with a game of fetch.
We drove home on Friday in a storm. It wasn't all that great and it took us a while to get home. It's good that our dry state of California is getting so much precipitation, but I have a feeling it will impact our trips this season.
Tom's birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so of course we spent it at the lake house - one of his favorite places. It was a really nice weekend enjoying the beautiful location and eating yummy food.
On Saturday, it was really chilly but Tom wanted to get out for a walk. We went to the Donner Memorial State Park on the other side of the lake. It's been a long time since we've been there.
Did I mention it was cold? Oh and Leo has outgrown his snow boots so he did this snowy walk in sneakers. We all survived, even after some slips on the ice (me and Leo) and plenty of complaining. The dog had the most fun as always.
We went to dinner at a pizza place and they had these comically large mugs. Cheers to the birthday boy!
Sunday was warmer but the kids couldn't be convinced to come down to the lake with us. It was gorgeous and Mousse did a lot of running around.
We drove home Monday evening since the kids have the entire Thanksgiving week off. I think Tom had a good birthday weekend.
We were supposed to go to the lake house in mid-September and bring Sunny along with us. Unfortunately, there was a bad wildfire at the base of the mountain that made the air quality hazardous in the Tahoe area so we had to skip the trip. Luckily, Sunny was free our scheduled weekend in October and got to go with us. Yay! Even better, all the kids had the Friday off so we got an extra day to hang out in the mountains.
Friday Tom had to do some work so he stayed at the house while Mousse, the kids and I explored the lake during the quiet off-season.
We pretty much had the whole private beach to ourselves. (Dogs aren't allowed...shhhh)
Gorgeous girls in a gorgeous setting.
Forcing them to take a picture all together.
The girls did some photo shoots.
Sunny fixed Serafina's hair.
Silly Mousse splashing himself.
In the afternoon, we went to Downtown Truckee for some strolling and shopping.
The weather was absolutely stunning on Friday. So fortunate to have a clear, sunny day in mid-October. That nice weather wouldn't last.
Saturday, Tom took the three kids to Tahoe Treetop - the obstacle/zipline course we've done a few times before.
Sunny is super athletic so I thought she would be just fine, but apparently she was a bit nervous. Leo was there too but didn't appear in any pictures or video.
Here's the most ridiculous video of the girls on the course with Tom.
It started snowing while they were there. I was home with the dog and looked out the window to see the fattest snowflakes imaginable. They still had fun despite their fears and the chilly weather.
After they were home and warmed up, we did some Halloween cookie decorating.
Look at Serafina's face. So much attitude just because I wanted a picture!
Okay, that's better.
Sunday morning was very chilly as well. I had told the kids they didn't have to do anything in the morning except pack and strip the beds. Well Tom decided they all needed to get out and see the lake one last time. They were cold and miserable. They walked the two blocks, posed for the picture and went straight home.
We had a long, slow drive home but we survived. It was a super fun trip and Sunny was an absolute delight to have with us.
