Oops, we ended up in Tahoe for a few days

The girls and I got back from Utah, went to sleep, then woke up and sat there staring at each other. It was really, really quiet. No kids to pal around with, no daddy (TubaDad was still in Asia), no exciting houseguests. Just us. Blink blink blink. So I asked Ro and Ree if they wanted to cruise up to Tahoe for a few days and they practically ran over me to get to the car. Packing was a breeze. I’m usually a smidge (cough cough) anal-retentive with my three-page list and all, but this time the Utah suitcases were still packed and wallowing in the hallway. (I’ve mentioned before that I don’t unpack for weeks or months, right? Drives TubaDad stark raving nuts. But in this case it worked for me.) We flung the dirty clothes out of the suitcases, threw in a few fresh outfits, and were on the road 45 minutes later.(Round Lake in Tahoe, pic by Jane)

My little bro and his wife were staying up at the family cabin and laughed at me later because I left Bobby a voicemail at 10am saying that we were thinking of possibly coming up to Tahoe sometime this week, and then I left Jane a voicemail not even an hour later saying that we were on the road and would see them in a few hours. Heh.

See those bright white fleeces? I sent the girls out on a walk with Uncle Bobby and Aunt Jane and they came back black. (They’re soaking in bleach now.) Oh, and Ro apparently silently fell during the walk and conked her eye area, which later started to swell and necessitated a trip to the urgent care and a round of antibiotics. Yipes!

While Bobby and Jane were mountain biking the next morning, the girls and I headed to what used to be our fave lakeside beach, Tallac. It’s free and parking is easy, and there’s always plenty of shade from the huge pine trees. Fun, hidden place that no one seems to go to:   

And this would be where they started to get “just a little wet, mama.” Ree is in orange, and Ro is in pink, and they picked and packed all of their own clothes for the trip:

Later that afternoon, we all went to a new lakeside beach, Regan Beach, that is the new reigning favorite. It’s so shallow that you can walk out as far as you want to and never get over your waist. Perfect for kids! No shade though, so bring an umbrella:  

It was smokin’ hot out there, so we dragged our chairs right up to the water’s edge and plopped our feet in. Oh yeah!!:

Ro’s eye was starting to look troubling by that evening. And then it looked worse the next morning, so I took her to urgent care. The dr was a little worried about staph infection since she had broken the skin when she fell, so we started her on a round of antibiotics and she’s looking a little better each day:

The eye trouble didn’t keep Ro (or her sister, pictured here) from having lots ‘o fun. We ate icecream at the Camp Richardson Icecream Parlor, which just makes us grin. Warning, get a kid’s scoop, because the “regular” single size scoops are as big as your head. Seriously.

And drove up to a new place, Fallen Leaf Lake, which Bobby and Jane found. We’re now hooked! We crept up to the lake on a somewhat-thrilling, itty bitty, one-lane road, then popped out in an adorable community nestled around a cool lake. They had a big general store that also serves breakfast food, sandwiches, etc., and they rent every kind of lake equipment. We tried the paddle boards.

This little boy cracked me up. He chatted the girls up, then gradually moved his towel in between them, then brought over some food to share. Hee! Makes me picture them in high school:

Fun place. We’ll definitely be taking TubaDad back there (I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot this summer.) Once back at the cabin (yes, yes, green shag carpeting, orange corduroy couches, etc), the girls wound down with a little doubledecker iPad watching:

Fun spontaneous trip. We’re back home now for a few weeks (I think). And might even get around to unpacking those suitcases this time…