Cold and Lovely

This woman was hanging on the wall across from my bed.  I love cabin decorations.  I wonder what the story behind this one is?  Don't you love the feathers?!

I love Tahoe.  Tahoe with good friends is even better.  Tahoe in between seasons is the best!  It felt like our own private lake.  I have never seen it so empty.  It snowed 10 inches just before we arrived.  The roads were already clear of snow when we drove in but the ground and the trees were still dusted in white.  If you have never been to Lake Tahoe...add it to your list of must see places.

We had no schedule.  We slept in a little.  We talked a lot.  And we went on a very long and strenuous hike.  And we posed for pictures along the way.

Only Yamile can pull off a fanny pack and still look good.  I think it's because she has an accent.  People with accents can get away with more.

We walked along the Truckee River frozen with a thin layer of ice.

Then we couldn't resist the urge to hurl rocks at the ice to break it.

It was so fun but the river did not look as peaceful and perfect when we left.

 Oops.  Sorry.

On our way towards the lake we found a cabin and used it for a little photo shoot.

These last two pictures look much better on my computer.  I still have so much to learn.

Thank you to Keith for letting me go. 

The kids had so much fun bonding with Daddy.

Elise cried on Monday morning when he had to leave her to go to work.

I Made It!

I know I was very dramatic in my last post...but I am seriously afraid of flying.  I am so happy I made it there and back and had a wonderful few days with friends.  I hope to post pics from the weekend tomorrow.  I am just glad to be back on the ground. :-)

Tahoe

I am so lucky. 

I get to go out of town for a few days with a couple of girlfriends. 

Becca

And Yamile

Hopefully my sister will come along too.

If not, I will at least see her Thursday night. 

Along with my Gramma Moon.

And my Mom.

My Brother

My Nieces

(Ayla is pictured above with Kerry)

And my brother in law.

(Here is he with Kerry at their wedding 5 years ago.)

I am really excited for this getaway weekend. 

But like most Moms, I suffer terribly from Mommy guilt.  I dream, fantasize, and hope for weekends like this.  Then when the opportunity presents itself, I stress, worry and panic about leaving my family. 
I fill my head with irrational thoughts. 
I am not a fan of flying. 
I worry about Keith becoming a single parent.  He's a great dad but he is not mom and kids need their mom's.  I think of how awful it would be for something to happen to me during a selfish weekend away.  Then I start worrying about Keith and the kids...what if something happened to them while I was on my selfish weekend away? 

Odds are nothing will happen, right?  I will go away, hike through the amazing Sierra's with some beautiful girlfriends.  Enjoy dinners out without cooking or doing dishes.  Celebrate not going grocery shopping or doing laundry.  And have a lovely dinner with my family up North.

I am jealous of my friends who seem to be able to go away for weekends like this and appear to not have a  worry or doubt about it.  My best weekend away was when I drove a mile down the road and stayed at a lovely resort with my girlfriend Danielle.  I was so close...but so far.  It was perfect.

I know I am being overly dramatic here about a 1 hour flight.  But that's just how I roll.

I hope to be back on Sunday, refreshed and posting pictures from my fabulous getaway weekend in Tahoe.

But I will miss these three with all my heart.

Busy Not Working

Wow.  I feel busier now that I am not "working."  I guess with work I had time to be on the computer.  Now...not so much.   I need a laptop.  I could post while sitting outside watching the kids play.  Hmmm...or maybe I wouldn't be watching the kids.  Maybe this desktop is best.  Anyway, we went to the tide pools last weekend. 

But there were not any tide pools to be found.  The low tide was not so low this day.

But there were surfers.  Lots of them.  And big waves.

This surfer knew what he was doing. Someone was filming him.

 Let's pretend this is a famous surfer...just for fun. 

So we watched the surfers and enjoyed the waves.

(Elise styled her own hair)

We tried to catch the sunset but we only saw it for a moment. 

It snuck out from the fog and immediately hid below the horizon. (Or would it be beneath the horizon?)  Oh, man...where did my braincells go? And why did blogger get rid of spellcheck?!

Then we headed home.  I hope we always get to call San Diego home.

When we got home we saw this.  I think that is snot hanging from his nose. 

Nothing cuter than a possum with H1N1.

A Happy Halloween

We had fun last night, Trick-or-Treating.

Our friend Ella, along with her parents, came to join us.

Sam is a very sensitive guy most of the year, but come Halloween, he wants to be the creepiest, scariest thing he can find.  Luckily, the really nasty zombie costumes don't come in his size.  This was the scariest costume we could agree on.  I wish my little 5 year old would be happy dressing up as a fireman or a scarecrow or something innocent like that...but at least this costume doesn't have blood and guts hanging from it, and, you have to pick your battles.  I think I secretly like that he has this side to him so I let it slide.  Hard to believe this is the same kid that is afraid of the Small World ride at Disneyland.

 Here is Ella's Daddy, Doug, along with Keith.  Those teef really make them look hot.

Happy Halloween!