We had such a fun Christmas year. Here's a quick picture of all the grandkids with my parents. **Not pictured, a brand new baby girl who came 4 days after Christmas. We never can seem to have all our family in a picture at once!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Christmas
We had such a fun Christmas year. Here's a quick picture of all the grandkids with my parents. **Not pictured, a brand new baby girl who came 4 days after Christmas. We never can seem to have all our family in a picture at once!
Snow in Sacramento?
So I didn't believe anybody one Sunday night a few weeks back when they said that it would be snowing early the next morning. In California....snow?? Even with my doubts though, I asked Brian if there was snow on the ground, to wake me up when he got up.
Well, the sun was slowly rising when I was shaken awake the next morning and looked out the window to powdered sugar like dust outside everywhere. It was so exciting! I threw on a jacket and some shoes and grabbed the camera. I wish now I would have made a tiny snowman as it melted a couple hours after it fell, but there was enough on Brian's car to write in. Glad I could see the phenomenon that happens every ten years here in Sacramento.
Well, the sun was slowly rising when I was shaken awake the next morning and looked out the window to powdered sugar like dust outside everywhere. It was so exciting! I threw on a jacket and some shoes and grabbed the camera. I wish now I would have made a tiny snowman as it melted a couple hours after it fell, but there was enough on Brian's car to write in. Glad I could see the phenomenon that happens every ten years here in Sacramento.
DISNEYLAND
I really don't have much else to say about this. The pictures really do capture what a fun time we had. It was our little nieces' first time to the magical kingdom and both sides of their family got to come except one couple. We played at Disneyland and California adventure for 3 days together and had a blast! A couple moments to highlight....
The first day we had to document the beginning of the adventures: THE TRAM RIDE IN! That's always the maiden voyage of the trip to the park. Sadly, after about 3 pictures on the tram, my camera battery died. LOVELY! Luckily there were about 12 other cameras there to capture the fun so we didn't miss out on the memories.
Another exciting thing at the park was Brian heard Ryan Gosling from the Notebook was riding Tower of Terror. While we were waiting in line to watch Aladdin Megan ran over and waited till he got off and snapped a quick picture. EXCITING! We also saw the blind guy from last season of American Idol like 2 hours later....Obviously not as cool since I couldn't even tell you his name.
I can't get enough of this last picture! We were at Disneyland the first day of their holiday season, so we saw the Christmas parade and then they had holiday fireworks so we camped out at like 6...(Brian's parents parked it a couple hours before that) right in front of the castle to watch the great show. Well, as it started to get later and later, people would barge through anywhere they could and end up getting stuck near our large group. So, Brian and his dad linked hands and formed a path for people to walk in so they would stop trampling over us and our stuff. All they needed were the reflector sticks and people would think they were employees! We pretended like we didn't know them, but secretly we were very thankful!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Halloween
So Halloween kinda loses it's sparkle when you're too old to trick-or-treat and don't have kids that enjoy the fun, so some of my family got together with little ones and we ate scones and drank apple cider and then walked it off while the kiddos got candy.
Landon's kids were fairies...so cute...and little Sam Sam was Indiana Jones complete with a whip. After seeing the loot they came away with, I was tempted to exploit little 3 month Cyrus to get some goodies. They had so much candy, their pumpkins were too heavy for them to carry, so Brian ran back and came to the rescue with grocery bags to lighten their loads.
When I was a kid, we went for quantity, not quality, and I remember crying one year when my older brothers totally ditched me a few houses down. Sad I know. BUT, our favorite part of the night was coming home, and piling our candy in a mound, and then sorting it out by variety; candy bars here, smarties there, and then there was the pile we were willing to trade! And the bartering began. We would spend the next hour deciding whether a Milky Way was worth 3 tootsie rolls or 4 and you practically had to PAY someone to take that orange and black wrapped peanut butter taffy off your hands. Definitely some fun memories.
It was fun living through the little ones and they were so excited when they found someone had given them their favorite candy! So cute!
The Crew.
They needed some help saying trick-or-treat. They were really good at ringing the doorbell and I think stunned when someone came to the door. It took a block of houses and then they were pros!
New best buddies. They totally did this on their own and waited for one another. It was pretty cute.
Here are the traditional Hodnett family "look how big my pile of free loot is" pictures!
Landon's kids were fairies...so cute...and little Sam Sam was Indiana Jones complete with a whip. After seeing the loot they came away with, I was tempted to exploit little 3 month Cyrus to get some goodies. They had so much candy, their pumpkins were too heavy for them to carry, so Brian ran back and came to the rescue with grocery bags to lighten their loads.
When I was a kid, we went for quantity, not quality, and I remember crying one year when my older brothers totally ditched me a few houses down. Sad I know. BUT, our favorite part of the night was coming home, and piling our candy in a mound, and then sorting it out by variety; candy bars here, smarties there, and then there was the pile we were willing to trade! And the bartering began. We would spend the next hour deciding whether a Milky Way was worth 3 tootsie rolls or 4 and you practically had to PAY someone to take that orange and black wrapped peanut butter taffy off your hands. Definitely some fun memories.
It was fun living through the little ones and they were so excited when they found someone had given them their favorite candy! So cute!
The Crew.
They needed some help saying trick-or-treat. They were really good at ringing the doorbell and I think stunned when someone came to the door. It took a block of houses and then they were pros!
New best buddies. They totally did this on their own and waited for one another. It was pretty cute.
Here are the traditional Hodnett family "look how big my pile of free loot is" pictures!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
boy trip!
Since Gordon and his family moved into town, they have had some fun exploring the area. He found that Northstar..(i think)...a Ski Resort in Tahoe has summertime mountain biking trails. So you ride the lift up and bike down the mountain. Brian went with them and had a good time. He came home with TONS of scratches and a couple of bruises but was very proud of his battle wounds.
Two of my brothers with Brian. Be gentle with him guys.
The crew getting ready. Don't worry, the little one wasn't headed down the mountain. His momma was taking the picture and they spent the day riding up and down the lift and walking around the beautiful place.
Two of my brothers with Brian. Be gentle with him guys.
The crew getting ready. Don't worry, the little one wasn't headed down the mountain. His momma was taking the picture and they spent the day riding up and down the lift and walking around the beautiful place.
Horsetail Falls
One lovely summer day we headed up a trail to a beautiful waterfall about an hour from home. It was a nice little hike and it was great to escape the heat for a day. It was so much fun, we went another day a couple weeks later but it wasn't as impressive. The falls were beginning to dry up. Next summer we'll hit it earlier in the season to see it as it's best.
This little man proved his wilderness savvy by climbing up and down the mountain all my himself!! After a few near spills jumping off rocks, he finally learned how to slide down the big rocks to safety.
The first time we went up, I wore Crocs. BAD IDEA! Yes, they were comfy and grippy, but the little holes let the dust into my toes....and toenails (maybe that's too much information), but it took a good week to get out. NASTY! And if you know me, I hardly ever wear shoes that cover my toes....so dark red nail polish came to the rescue.
There are cool little water falls into swimming holes all the way up to the top. The second time it was pretty warm and the boys braved the FREEZING water....Sammy and I had to run for cover as they threw huge rock grenades to splash us.
Austin...well, being Austin...."Hey guys, do you think I could climb this thing??" I have to admit, it was pretty impressive, and made for a cool picture.
This little man proved his wilderness savvy by climbing up and down the mountain all my himself!! After a few near spills jumping off rocks, he finally learned how to slide down the big rocks to safety.
The first time we went up, I wore Crocs. BAD IDEA! Yes, they were comfy and grippy, but the little holes let the dust into my toes....and toenails (maybe that's too much information), but it took a good week to get out. NASTY! And if you know me, I hardly ever wear shoes that cover my toes....so dark red nail polish came to the rescue.
There are cool little water falls into swimming holes all the way up to the top. The second time it was pretty warm and the boys braved the FREEZING water....Sammy and I had to run for cover as they threw huge rock grenades to splash us.
Austin...well, being Austin...."Hey guys, do you think I could climb this thing??" I have to admit, it was pretty impressive, and made for a cool picture.
Bucket List Weekend
So Brian and I had an exciting weekend back in September and productive too! I have two things I can cross off my bucket list! Granted, these things would NEVER have been on the bucket list to begin with...so they'll go on the "never have to do that again, once was enough" list.
It started out tons of fun. Brian got some Giants tickets from work so we went to SF with some friends and watched the game. It was fun and they were playing LA so it made for an exciting game. Everyone kept chanting.."BEAT LA..BEAT LA!" it was a blast. Well, they didn't "BEAT LA" but we had a great time anyway. P.S. My favorite part of the day was the carpool lane over the Bay Bridge. :) We not only got to skip out on the lovely lines of traffic that would have cost us another half hour, but we didn't even have to pay! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as we passed lines and lines...and lines of cars that were at a dead stop. Props to Brent for that sweet move!
Saturday started earlier than I would have liked. We were up at 4am after getting about 3 hours of sleep...We headed to a boat dock near San Jose. Brian's friend has an annual fishing trip he invited us on. Yep...we were going deep sea fishing. I was a little anxious because if you know me you know I've lost my lunch on just about everything; children's playground equipment, carnival rides, doctor's offices, airplanes and even a cruise ship. So I knew this was gonna be interesting. Brian kept telling me "we" didn't have to go, but he was looking so forward to it, and didn't want to go without me, so I googled "preventing motion sickness" and took all the precautions. Dramamine, ginger (thanks for nothing Mythbusters), and even called a favor in from my Uncle to prescribe me the patch you put behind your ear.
I was very brave when we first got on the boat. I kept telling myself that I would be alright but I really didn't know what to expect from the day. I mean the last time I went fishing, I was a young teenager tying raw chicken legs to string catching crawdads. (Which by the way, is my kind of fishing) The morning was cold and rainy so we went into the tiny cabin and on the table I saw a brochure for a Great White Shark tour. Perfect. Not only am I going to lose my lunch, I'll lose a limb too! Our boat was not that much bigger than the one on Jaws, I'm sure an angry shark could take us. Thankfully after reading through the pamphlet I saw the sharks weren't out in the region this time of year and luckily I brought my ipod so I could listen to soothing music to calm myself down.
Once we were off, I learned that we would drive out about 4 hours to our fishing spot. FOUR HOURS! I could stave off my nausea for a little while, but 4 hours out meant another four hours back! ahh!! Where's the emergency exit??
I decided my strategy would be to sleep the way out, so it was to my advantage that I didn't get any sleep the night before. That worked for a couple hours...then I started seeing others lose it. At first I was disgusted, then I realized that I didn't feel so bad yet and I was proud of myself for holding on longer than others could. VICTORY! ...for a little while. About the last hour out I was not doing so hot. The ocean was super choppy so the boat was really rocking. As we were leaving the bay it was beautiful so I thought the view would keep my mind occupied, but the last half of the trip out was just fog and water and rain. Lovely.
Inevitably I lost it right before we reached the fishing grounds. The green face ensued for the next...well, however long we were out there. But it wasn't as bad as I thought. AND, out of everyone who got sea sick, I was the last. I held out longer than some of these tough guys! SWEET!
I took a quick fishing lesson and with that my line was out and a few minutes later, I had a fish on my line! Wow...that was quick! Ahh, the silver lining in the clouds. There's a limit to the number of fish each person can catch and they told us we'd stay out till everyone hit their limit so I was hopeful it would be a quick trip. Well, after the 3rd fish, I couldn't get anything on my line for a little while. The boat was rocking like crazy and I couldn't take the smell of the air or the fact that I had fish at my feet with their eyeballs and tongues popping out at me, and I had squid ink under my fingernails from the bait...I lost it over the rail again and threw in the white flag. I had to surrender to the sea, it beat me up pretty bad and I spent the rest of the trip in the fetal position trying to sleep in the cabin. I left my line cast out so if Brian saw something on it, he could reel it in, and right after I went inside, the biggest fish of the day was caught. ON MY LINE!!! Sorry fellas, fish like my guts better than squid! Brian was stoked and became the one to beat, but no one could do it.
After a good 5 hours of fishing, we finally got to head back into the bay! HALLELUJAH! The trip back in was a bit quicker which was nice and it was warm enough I headed to the front of the boat and got some air. It was beautiful, though a little foggy still, and I have never been so happy to see land in my whole life!
We had tons of fish fillets from all Brian's fish and even brought home the trophy for biggest catch. It's quite the sight...and proudly sits with all the other junk in our garage we don't know what to do with. Definitely a trip to cross off the bucket list.
Brian's winning fish that got him the beauty of a trophy below.
My empty perch and Brian fishing away. I was in no mood to take pictures because I felt like I had puke all over me...and can you blame me?? The fish are at your feet!
You can really see how huge Brian's fish is compared to the other being filleted. Can you believe that monster!?!
We went under the Golden Gate Bridge which was pretty neat, and guess what?? It's only golden from the sides up, underneath it's GREEN!
Watch out...this trophy is coming to the next white elephant party!!
Lastly on our extended eventful weekend, we went to a Monday night football game. It happened to be a Raiders game. I know what you're thinking...and yes, you are correct. It was the scariest, foulest, filthiest sporting event I have ever been to in my life. The same fishing boat friend has season tickets to the Raiders and invited us along with Brian's brother and his wife. It was shocking to see the crazys out in the world...and apparently, they all like the Raiders.
Don't get my wrong, we have some fun memories. Namely the mondo nachos Josh ate. After which he wiped himself down with baby wipes. We were also sitting in the wrong seats the whole first quarter. The best part about it is some guy came up thinking they were his seats and we shooed him away. We saw him pacing back and forth about three sections of seats looking very confused. haha...the guys behind us finally told us where to go and we had a good laugh.
The football game itself was pretty good, and kind of exciting at a few points but that was overshadowed by the horrific cat calls that came every time a girl passed by, the cops coming to break up more than one fight, and at one point the crowd was actually chanting swear words at the referees. Hmmm, interesting. I think I heard more foul language in that 3 hour span than I have in my whole life combined. There wasn't a single minute that passed without something being said. Yikes! Sorry, no pictures there, I'm trying to block this one out of the memory bank.
So, there you have it. Deep sea fishing and live professional football games crossed off the bucket list they never made it onto in the first place!
It started out tons of fun. Brian got some Giants tickets from work so we went to SF with some friends and watched the game. It was fun and they were playing LA so it made for an exciting game. Everyone kept chanting.."BEAT LA..BEAT LA!" it was a blast. Well, they didn't "BEAT LA" but we had a great time anyway. P.S. My favorite part of the day was the carpool lane over the Bay Bridge. :) We not only got to skip out on the lovely lines of traffic that would have cost us another half hour, but we didn't even have to pay! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as we passed lines and lines...and lines of cars that were at a dead stop. Props to Brent for that sweet move!
Saturday started earlier than I would have liked. We were up at 4am after getting about 3 hours of sleep...We headed to a boat dock near San Jose. Brian's friend has an annual fishing trip he invited us on. Yep...we were going deep sea fishing. I was a little anxious because if you know me you know I've lost my lunch on just about everything; children's playground equipment, carnival rides, doctor's offices, airplanes and even a cruise ship. So I knew this was gonna be interesting. Brian kept telling me "we" didn't have to go, but he was looking so forward to it, and didn't want to go without me, so I googled "preventing motion sickness" and took all the precautions. Dramamine, ginger (thanks for nothing Mythbusters), and even called a favor in from my Uncle to prescribe me the patch you put behind your ear.
I was very brave when we first got on the boat. I kept telling myself that I would be alright but I really didn't know what to expect from the day. I mean the last time I went fishing, I was a young teenager tying raw chicken legs to string catching crawdads. (Which by the way, is my kind of fishing) The morning was cold and rainy so we went into the tiny cabin and on the table I saw a brochure for a Great White Shark tour. Perfect. Not only am I going to lose my lunch, I'll lose a limb too! Our boat was not that much bigger than the one on Jaws, I'm sure an angry shark could take us. Thankfully after reading through the pamphlet I saw the sharks weren't out in the region this time of year and luckily I brought my ipod so I could listen to soothing music to calm myself down.
Once we were off, I learned that we would drive out about 4 hours to our fishing spot. FOUR HOURS! I could stave off my nausea for a little while, but 4 hours out meant another four hours back! ahh!! Where's the emergency exit??
I decided my strategy would be to sleep the way out, so it was to my advantage that I didn't get any sleep the night before. That worked for a couple hours...then I started seeing others lose it. At first I was disgusted, then I realized that I didn't feel so bad yet and I was proud of myself for holding on longer than others could. VICTORY! ...for a little while. About the last hour out I was not doing so hot. The ocean was super choppy so the boat was really rocking. As we were leaving the bay it was beautiful so I thought the view would keep my mind occupied, but the last half of the trip out was just fog and water and rain. Lovely.
Inevitably I lost it right before we reached the fishing grounds. The green face ensued for the next...well, however long we were out there. But it wasn't as bad as I thought. AND, out of everyone who got sea sick, I was the last. I held out longer than some of these tough guys! SWEET!
I took a quick fishing lesson and with that my line was out and a few minutes later, I had a fish on my line! Wow...that was quick! Ahh, the silver lining in the clouds. There's a limit to the number of fish each person can catch and they told us we'd stay out till everyone hit their limit so I was hopeful it would be a quick trip. Well, after the 3rd fish, I couldn't get anything on my line for a little while. The boat was rocking like crazy and I couldn't take the smell of the air or the fact that I had fish at my feet with their eyeballs and tongues popping out at me, and I had squid ink under my fingernails from the bait...I lost it over the rail again and threw in the white flag. I had to surrender to the sea, it beat me up pretty bad and I spent the rest of the trip in the fetal position trying to sleep in the cabin. I left my line cast out so if Brian saw something on it, he could reel it in, and right after I went inside, the biggest fish of the day was caught. ON MY LINE!!! Sorry fellas, fish like my guts better than squid! Brian was stoked and became the one to beat, but no one could do it.
After a good 5 hours of fishing, we finally got to head back into the bay! HALLELUJAH! The trip back in was a bit quicker which was nice and it was warm enough I headed to the front of the boat and got some air. It was beautiful, though a little foggy still, and I have never been so happy to see land in my whole life!
We had tons of fish fillets from all Brian's fish and even brought home the trophy for biggest catch. It's quite the sight...and proudly sits with all the other junk in our garage we don't know what to do with. Definitely a trip to cross off the bucket list.
Brian's winning fish that got him the beauty of a trophy below.
My empty perch and Brian fishing away. I was in no mood to take pictures because I felt like I had puke all over me...and can you blame me?? The fish are at your feet!
You can really see how huge Brian's fish is compared to the other being filleted. Can you believe that monster!?!
We went under the Golden Gate Bridge which was pretty neat, and guess what?? It's only golden from the sides up, underneath it's GREEN!
Watch out...this trophy is coming to the next white elephant party!!
Lastly on our extended eventful weekend, we went to a Monday night football game. It happened to be a Raiders game. I know what you're thinking...and yes, you are correct. It was the scariest, foulest, filthiest sporting event I have ever been to in my life. The same fishing boat friend has season tickets to the Raiders and invited us along with Brian's brother and his wife. It was shocking to see the crazys out in the world...and apparently, they all like the Raiders.
Don't get my wrong, we have some fun memories. Namely the mondo nachos Josh ate. After which he wiped himself down with baby wipes. We were also sitting in the wrong seats the whole first quarter. The best part about it is some guy came up thinking they were his seats and we shooed him away. We saw him pacing back and forth about three sections of seats looking very confused. haha...the guys behind us finally told us where to go and we had a good laugh.
The football game itself was pretty good, and kind of exciting at a few points but that was overshadowed by the horrific cat calls that came every time a girl passed by, the cops coming to break up more than one fight, and at one point the crowd was actually chanting swear words at the referees. Hmmm, interesting. I think I heard more foul language in that 3 hour span than I have in my whole life combined. There wasn't a single minute that passed without something being said. Yikes! Sorry, no pictures there, I'm trying to block this one out of the memory bank.
So, there you have it. Deep sea fishing and live professional football games crossed off the bucket list they never made it onto in the first place!
The last Elder Hodnett
Well, we've had quite an exciting summer, but the most exciting is having our whole family complete again! Elder Hodnett served a mission in Kentucky for 2 years and probably would have stayed there the rest of his life if he could have. But we've got him back now and it's been tons of fun.
We actually had our whole family at the airport waiting and each of us had a balloon we were going to give him as we gave him a hug so he would end up with all of them. Anyway, we sat there patiently at the bottom of the escalator and then we spotted a pair of black shoes and pants. We all held our breath....
nope, not him...security.
I think he sat on the plane until they kicked him off...(that happens in my family at movie theaters too. They sure get their 9 bucks worth as they watch all the credits roll. hmmm..)
I've decided there are a lot of black shoe & pant wearing people at the Sacramento airport, but then finally, I saw some familiar hands tapping nervously on the escalator and knew exactly who it was! He was brave to meet our big balloon holding brood. (and brave to expose both hands to the germs on those escalator rails...)
There were a lot of us and it was horribly awkward at first but I've warmed up to the idea and I think we'll keep him.
The Circus McGurkus
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus came to town this summer and I found a great deal on tickets. So, we got tickets for the little boy cousins and headed to the event. We even made them little matching elephant shirts so they could get super excited.
I don't remember ever going to a real circus in my life, so this was definitely an experience. There was a ridiculous amount of stuff to see and it was kinda sensory overload, but the boys seemed to enjoy it. I couldn't get the theme music out of my head for a week!
"ZING, ZANG, ZOOM! THERE'S MAGIC IN THE ROO-OOM!"
AHH! Even typing that sticks it back in my head.
It makes me wonder how people get a job with the circus. I'd be interested to know what their hiring process is like. I think it must stay mostly within the families. I mean, how many of you (well, the 4 of you that read this) have ever woken up in the morning and wanted to be a lion tamer, or an elephant trainer? Or better yet...the stunt clown? Yeah, I want to be the stunt clown.
Anyway, the boys had a blast and they still talk about seeing elephants and a cannon and clowns at the circus.
I don't remember ever going to a real circus in my life, so this was definitely an experience. There was a ridiculous amount of stuff to see and it was kinda sensory overload, but the boys seemed to enjoy it. I couldn't get the theme music out of my head for a week!
"ZING, ZANG, ZOOM! THERE'S MAGIC IN THE ROO-OOM!"
AHH! Even typing that sticks it back in my head.
It makes me wonder how people get a job with the circus. I'd be interested to know what their hiring process is like. I think it must stay mostly within the families. I mean, how many of you (well, the 4 of you that read this) have ever woken up in the morning and wanted to be a lion tamer, or an elephant trainer? Or better yet...the stunt clown? Yeah, I want to be the stunt clown.
Anyway, the boys had a blast and they still talk about seeing elephants and a cannon and clowns at the circus.
Take me out to the ball game....
Every now and then Brian gets some perks from the attorney firms and investigation companies he uses and this summer, we sure had our fair share of River Cats games. They are a AAA or AA team here in Sacramento that is way fun to watch. I kinda get a sense of community going to these things. It's a small stadium and in between innings they do fun things like whipped cream pies in the face and play "who let the dogs out" while launching hot dogs from a cannon off a golf cart. You know, quality entertainment.
The best part is that these companies bought the little suites and stocked them full of food and goodies to enjoy during the game. The luxury of air conditioning at a scorching hot baseball game is priceless.
I couldn't tell you who any of the players are, or if they ever won or lost, but they were so much fun! We even had a couple foul balls caught in our booth. Well, one wasn't really caught as much as hit two girls and landed on the ground. Note to self: next time bring a mit and a hard hat.
Fourth of July
So the fourth of July is always a big deal at our house. For one thing, I like to think of myself as a Patriotic American, and secondly, I'm a bit of a pyro at heart. I mean, really, who doesn't love a good firework show? The past few years it had become a Hodnett family tradition to go to Lake Tahoe and watch the spectacular show they do on the beach. This year, in our current situation, we were going to skip the vacation, but Brian and I got engaged in Tahoe watching fireworks 5 years ago, so we decided a couple days before we were going to make a day of it.
We convinced my parents to come along and EARLY on the 4th we headed up the mountain. We got there at 7am, and it wasn't too soon!! There were already people with their shade tents and rope and lawn chairs, with their spots staked out all along the beach. (this is new to us, we usually casually headed to a private beach the hotel we stayed at had in the early afternoon and still got front row seats.)
Well, we found a great spot and set up shop for the day. The fireworks didn't start until 9:45pm so we had a couple of hours to kill in between. We brought games and snacks and stuff to keep us busy, but can I tell you the most entertaining thing to do was people watch! Especially as it got closer and closer to the fireworks, people would try and squeeze their way toward the shoreline in front of others who had been there 15 hours before them!! At one point I had a guy LITERALLY leaning against my chair. We just had to laugh about it because at that point we were so exhausted it would have made us too grumpy to enjoy the fireworks...which by the way, were great.
They choreograph them to music that broadcasts on a radio station, but sadly, being a couple miles away from the barge this year, we kinda lost the effect of the sound of the blast in your gut and light that fills the whole sky. Next year, we'll book the hotel.
Our sweet set up. You can tell we were staking our claim because our stuff exploded everywhere! Next time...rope, so people can't walk over everything! Some were even so rude they walked right through our shade tent. Hello people!!
Beautiful Lake Tahoe
I spy with my little eye...I spy a grandpa with a kayak...in the picture above...do you see him!? (pardon the nakedness strewn along the beach)
We thought the kayak would be fun for the day...but sadly, it was super choppy. Pops even flipped once and didn't realize he lost a hydrodrive (a set of foot pedals.) After a couple days of sweeping the lake, lots of prayers and a little miracle later, some guy at the boat rental happened to pick them up wondering what it was and was working the same day Pops stopped in to ask about it. HF even cares about kayak pedals.
The scene on the beach at about 2pm. By 7 the hill in the previous pictures was covered with blankets and people and by 8:30 you could hardly see the sand.
We convinced my parents to come along and EARLY on the 4th we headed up the mountain. We got there at 7am, and it wasn't too soon!! There were already people with their shade tents and rope and lawn chairs, with their spots staked out all along the beach. (this is new to us, we usually casually headed to a private beach the hotel we stayed at had in the early afternoon and still got front row seats.)
Well, we found a great spot and set up shop for the day. The fireworks didn't start until 9:45pm so we had a couple of hours to kill in between. We brought games and snacks and stuff to keep us busy, but can I tell you the most entertaining thing to do was people watch! Especially as it got closer and closer to the fireworks, people would try and squeeze their way toward the shoreline in front of others who had been there 15 hours before them!! At one point I had a guy LITERALLY leaning against my chair. We just had to laugh about it because at that point we were so exhausted it would have made us too grumpy to enjoy the fireworks...which by the way, were great.
They choreograph them to music that broadcasts on a radio station, but sadly, being a couple miles away from the barge this year, we kinda lost the effect of the sound of the blast in your gut and light that fills the whole sky. Next year, we'll book the hotel.
Our sweet set up. You can tell we were staking our claim because our stuff exploded everywhere! Next time...rope, so people can't walk over everything! Some were even so rude they walked right through our shade tent. Hello people!!
Beautiful Lake Tahoe
I spy with my little eye...I spy a grandpa with a kayak...in the picture above...do you see him!? (pardon the nakedness strewn along the beach)
We thought the kayak would be fun for the day...but sadly, it was super choppy. Pops even flipped once and didn't realize he lost a hydrodrive (a set of foot pedals.) After a couple days of sweeping the lake, lots of prayers and a little miracle later, some guy at the boat rental happened to pick them up wondering what it was and was working the same day Pops stopped in to ask about it. HF even cares about kayak pedals.
The scene on the beach at about 2pm. By 7 the hill in the previous pictures was covered with blankets and people and by 8:30 you could hardly see the sand.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
