We just returned from our annual Labor Day Tahoe family reunion. We really love that place and this was our 8th year. Our friend's the Belliston's joined us from Provo and as always, we had a great time. The weather was perfect (after the first day of rain). We decided last year (since we are no longer students and bound by school vacations) to attend the week after Labor Day to try and avoid crowds. Success!!! We had most of the beaches all to ourselves and after 8 years, we have a nice little routine that keeps us away from others.
Here is Roxy's interpretation of what Tahoe is going to be like now that she can run around and own the place:
We stay at a ... quaint little motel just off the beach. It is by no means very luxurious or nice, but it has good continental breakfasts and a private beach that has nice sand, a playground, and is only accessible with a pass so during this week, it was basically empty.
We decided that this was the year to try a couple of different things so we rented a paddleboard and took advantage of the morning's calm water and the empty beach. After paving the way for everyone by showing the proper way to abandon ship, Amber, Lori, Joe, and even Grace popped right up and stayed dry. Roxy was too impacted by her dad's beginning failures to try but she enjoyed laughing from the shore.
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| Amber and our little boy navigating Lake Tahoe |
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| Grace showing Amber the right way to go |
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| JP and the kiddos digging for treasure and rocks |
We were lucky enough to have dinner for the 8th year in a row with Aunt Karen and Uncle Mike as well. They have been such awesome friends to us over the years and it was so nice to keep our tradition in tact of spending time with them. Oh, and if you ever need fresh Gazpacho, please look them up as it is Heavenly (pun intended).
We woke up early on Friday to make our trip to our favorite beach, Sand Harbor. To get there, we have to scale down some treacherous terrain but it is worth the risk as it is so beautiful, secluded, and our own little get away that is seldom shared with others.
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| I love this view. It usually takes me about 5 minutes to just get over this view. |
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| This is our favorite place in Tahoe. It is about 300 yards down to the beach and there is seldom anybody there but us. | | | | | | |
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Our little ladies enjoy watching us jump up and down off of the rocks.
The water is so clear in Tahoe that you can never really judge how deep the water really is. These rock outcroppings are awesome because you can jump and dive off of them into water that is over 10 feet deep even though it looks like you could just reach down and touch the bottom. One really cool rock stands about 15 feet out of the water. It seems really close to shore and is hugged by rocks on all sides, but from one side of the perch, the water is about 12 feet deep and it makes for some great jumping. My little pregnant Amber and our boy jumped off this year. A bunch of hipsters were jumping off before us and as they watched Amber scale the rock, they gave her major props for her adventurousness and declared that we are going to have one wild little boy on our hands!
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| Our cliff jumping spot where Amber wowed the locals! |
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| Roxy really liked this place as the water was really calm and she could walk in and out of it without stepping on rocks or being worried about waves. She laughed as we jumped into the water and was such a good sport at digging in the sand and just enjoying the Lake. |
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From there it was off to Emerald Bay for our family picture. We now have 8 pics of the same pose from the same spot. It is kind of cool for us and makes for an easy birthday, Christmas, Anniversary present for Jon to reproduce the pictures in a different format.
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| Emerald Bay is just so beautiful from either the top or the bottom. |
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| This is our traditional pose taken each year for the past 8 years. Man, do I love this woman! |
Lake Tahoe truly is a magical place for us.
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| Roxy loves the beach and hates the ducks! |
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| She chased this seagull and duck for around 30 minutes. |
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| This is Amber's new hat. I think that it is really cute and stylish. She is such a hipster. We bought it in Kansas City from a boutique hat shop. I love her confidence. |
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| Our wild child wanted to let her hair down for her last night in Tahoe. Who could blame her. |
