I feel like we’ve been dipped in blue

This was our lunchtime view – nice picnic table beside a little trail overlooking that bluerthanblue lake under bluestblue skies. Really, could it have been any prettier?! I practically didn’t know whether to eat or stare. (Ha, you KNOW I ate, right?):

Love these two little beach girls.

Funny quote of the day: when the girls were making a lake-cooled hole for their rootbeer bottle, Ro dumped water on Ree and she screeched “Seriously, Ro? Seriously????” Definitely picked that one up from me -- wonder what other gems have been absorbed…

This is one of the things I love best about Tahoe. You can be sitting in the sand in blazing hot weather and still find nice cool shade under some stately pines:

Hard to believe they still fit in this red wagon. They’ve been squeezing their little butts in here since they were one year olds. By the way, the new packaged s’more treat they were trying out here was pronounced “delish.”

Good to know that some things never change. I stopped at a red light and looked back to see this. We end every good beach trip this way:

After resting up and grabbing a little pasta, we headed as north as we could get in search of the tiny patches of remaining snow we could see on the mountains. Couldn’t get high enough to get our hands on any snow (if anyone knows what roads go to the tippy top, please share) but did find some good climbing rocks and intriguing crevasses (the girls called them diamond caves and would have played there all evening if we didn’t get chased out by vicious mosquitos):

I loaned my mini tripod to my dad, thinking our second one was in the van. Yeah, apparently not! The camera is balanced precariously on a rock and piece of bark for this shot. Whew:

I don’t know what she’s planning to do with this fluffy mossy stuff, but Ree can’t resist picking it up everywhere we go:

I’m a total sucker for the sight of delicate wildflowers framed by trees and boulders. Was even willing to risk more mosquito bites to stop and appreciate this view as we hauled butt back to the safety of the van:

When we got back to the cabin I had to kill yet another ginormous black spider. That thing was a big as a quarter and right above my pillow. Ugh – gives me the intense heebies every time. Don’t you hate it when you look around frantically for someone to take care of something only to realize it’s all you? You’re the only adult for miles around and the only choice is to suck it up and get it done. Does that happen to anyone else?