Tahoe-riffic

Jeff and I recently had the pleasure for some quality time in Lake Tahoe. We skied, we ate, we gambled, we ate, we shopped, we ate, and every minute of it was so much fun.

Although at one point it looked like the boys wanted to go with us, Kellie, Mimi, and GrandDad were gracious (crazy) enough to offer to watch them during the time away.

Kellie kept the boys during the week then took Hayden to Waco to celebrate Megan’s 6th birthday, while Davis experienced his first one-on-one time with Grandparents over the weekend. I am pretty sure neither of them knew we were gone. I hear Hayden just wanted to “spend one more night” in Waco, which makes me a little sad, but who would want to leave a place with 4-wheelers, horses, mules, and a swing set all at your fingertips…not to mention Megan. Kellie recently was awarded employee-of-the-month at work, and I am officially naming her babysitter-of-the-month as well. This is for 2 reasons.
1) She didn’t back out even after finding out about what I’ll call Lice-Scare-2007 in Hayden’s classroom. Some may view me as a bad parent for leaving her in this situation, but no worries, I left her special instructions and all of the home remedies that had been circulating around through email. If he gets lice, simply coat his hair with mayonnaise, put him in a shower cap, and let sleep in it. How hard can that be, really?
2) Somehow she managed to get Davis to poop on the potty while we were away. I would think this was a made up story, but Mimi was there to testify. Just when I decided that I wasn’t even going to start potty-training Davis until he was 2 ½ because it was such a mess with Hayden (literally), he goes and starts telling us every time he poops. Like they say, “all kids are different”…so the potty seat is officially out.

Jeff and I enjoyed every minute in Lake Tahoe….well every minute except for the 20 minutes it took me to get down the ski-run with 114,000 moguls that I did “just to say I did it.” One guy felt so sorry for me as I slid down in such beginner fashion, he stopped and offered his expertise… "Just plant your pole, and turn.” I kept nodding and sliding down—my way. He kept demonstrating and repeating his brilliant tip. Finally he stopped and said, “You know, I think you can cut through right over there to get back on the Blue," to which I responded, “Yes, but then I can’t say that I did it. It doesn’t matter how bad I look while I do it, it just matters that I get down.” At that point, he just gave me this you’re-a-psycho-look and skied the rest of the way down in professional form. Jeff wasn’t with me for all of this. For some reason, he didn’t have to urge to do it, “just to say he did it.”

Another few minutes we didn’t enjoy was when Tom, the local time-share salesman, took up 25 minutes of our time trying to convince us he wasn’t selling us anything, but how he would love for us to go learn more about timeshares for two hours. No Thank You, Tom!

Here are some key thoughts/memories from the trip:

• Being asked if I was from England, because my accent sounded like it. “Nope, I from Texas. Where are ya’ll from?”


• Arguing with Jeff about why I am not going to wear sunscreen because I think a little sun looks good on my cheeks….and eating my words that evening when I realized my cheeks and chin were burned, but my eyes and forehead were glowing white because of my headband and glasses. WHY DO I FORGET THAT EVERY YEAR?


• Breakfast buffets. Seafood Buffets. Cinnabon. Cold Stone Creamery. Every ski resort should have these. For this reason, we will go back to Tahoe.


• I no longer have the boots-are-too-tight issue. I now ask for men’s boots and that seems to work.


• I started off gambling with $100 and left with $100 after playing for 2 nights.


• I now feel more confident playing Black Jack and decided I would learn Craps on another visit.


• I realized Jeff is not the person to take with you if you go gambling, but anyone that knows Jeff probably already knows that.


• Gambling addicts are sad, but very interesting to watch, and worth staying at a $10 table for the show.


• I don’t like getting Aces in Black-Jack, because my brain is too slow to add the cards two different ways.


• Even dealers make mistakes. Jeff and I saw one pay out to someone having cards that totaled 28. That made me feel less stupid for staying on an Ace/Four combo when the dealer was showing 17. Oops.


• I added two more states to the list of states I have visited. All in one trip.