5 hours by car to get there and 5 hours by car to get back. For a week long vacation that makes plenty of sense. For a short weekend getaway it’s a little crazy, but it was well worth it.

We headed out on Friday and after a looooooong couple hours we got out of a traffic jam for an impromptu tour of the Jelly Belly factory. Sadly there were no pictures allowed on the tour(and I forgot my camera in the car), so I have nothing to show for that awesome part of our weekend. But suffice it to say that I’m pretty sure that every trip to Tahoe will now include a side trip.

We arrived at the lake late Friday night and hurried to get the kids into bed so we could enjoy a nice long soak in the hot tub. Karma followed us to Tahoe and the counter to that short moment was that Little L was up half the night and in our bed the rest of the night.

Despite being exhausted come Saturday morning we pulled it together so we could make the best of our short time in the mountains. M headed out to play a short round of golf with his dad and the girls and I went to a playground with M’s mother.

C showed everyone how much of a monkey she has become.
And she spent some time upside down.

It was hard not to.
This was the view from the playground.

And this.

Little L focused hard on climbing stairs.

So she could go down the slide.

Then they worked on a joint masterpiece.

Beautiful. No?

Not quite as pretty as this…
But they’re still young.

On Sunday we took a trip up the mountain in some gondolas repurposed during the summer months for hard core mountain bikers. We sidestepped the fully kitted out bikers and their muddy bikes and rode up to enjoy the view.

And we took advantage of the backdrop
to get a few family shots.

Little L was not a fan of the gondola.
She quietly informed us repeatedly that “she no like it.”

C wasn’t too sure either.

But she relaxed enough to goof off with dad.

Back on the ground and with some pizza in her belly
Little L was much happier.

We finally packed up and headed home. It was a whirlwind of a trip, but successful in every way (except for the sleep thing which was no better the second night.)

Who fell asleep shortly after I shot these two pictures.

And completely missed the last view of the lake.

******
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