Happy 42nd Birthday to Me!

We drove to Tahoe for the first part of our last summer vacation on Thursday, August 8th. We stayed two nights in Squaw Valley before heading to Folsom to celebrate Grandma Mary's 70th birthday. Having visited SV lots of times in the past we had never actually stayed there, so I was excited to stay near the village and celebrate my birthday there.  The night we arrived we ate outside at the pizza place in the village and had a great dinner! We followed it up with an evening soak in the hot tub while the kids swam.

My birthday started with an early morning solo walk to Starbucks while the kids continued to sleep in our condo (apparently the drive the day before wore them out!). Even walking leisurely and hanging out in the village for awhile, I still returned to a condo that contained 3 sleeping children! It was lovely. Once everyone finally got up we headed out to breakfast to a place I read about on Yelp. It was a beautiful drive to Tahoe City and we had a delicious breakfast on the patio. Next we headed to Commons Beach and I rented a paddle board for an hour. Jake and Tanner had a go on it, but mostly I just paddled around and enjoyed the scenery and the peace and quiet on the lake. 

The kids were dying to play miniature golf at the outdoor course in SV so we headed back there for the afternoon. The kids played 18 holes while Brian and I shopped in the nearby stores. "OK, Guys... play holes 8 and 9 then sit on THAT bench right there and wait for us!".  It worked out great! We had told the kids before we arrived that they could do one activity each during our trip to Squaw so the boys picked the trampoline/jumpy thing. Faith decided she'd rather use her 12.00 to buy a new "guy" so after the 5 minutes of bouncing and backflips we headed to the toy store where she picked out a bunny puppet that was her favorite thing for about 5 minutes and then was discarded in the pile of blankets and pillow pets in our condo. 

After another pool visit we headed to River Ranch where we dined on hotdogs, nachos, and Rum Punch (OK... that was only me). We continued our drive through Tahoe City and ended up in Kings Beach where there was live music on the beach that evening. The kids played in the sand while Brian and I enjoyed the music and view. 

After typing all of that it seems like it must have been a really busy day... but it felt leisurely and relaxed! I seriously couldn't have had a better birthday. If the first day of this trip around the sun is any indication of things to come, then I certainly can't complain.