A Little Fun in the Sun

After my brother's Police Academy graduation, my family headed up to Tahoe to finish off the week.  My parents had been staying up there all week at their timeshare, Edgelake, and came home for the graduation.  The worst part of this trip was that the day we were supposed to head to Tahoe, we woke up to pouring down rain!  What is up with that?  For once we leave a sunny WA and come to CA and get rain...NO WE DID NOT BRING IT WITH US THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Despite the rain, we headed up to Tahoe and made the best of our first day (ended up just sprinkling with mostly clouds all day).  My college friend Alli and her husband Adam came up to join us for a night as well.  While we waited for my brother to finish up an application and drive to Tahoe, the rest of us decided to start having some fun, so we took the kayaks on a little voyage on the lake.

Alli, Adam, Jason and I ready to hit the lake

Off goes our group, while my mom walks the beach as our photographer

Me and my dad kayaking on Lake Tahoe

Jason found this great spot where he can "walk on water"

After a little fun on the lake, we headed back just in time to meet up with my brother Russ and sister-in-law Amber.  The sun was starting to come out a little by this point, so we hit the pool for some munchies and relaxation.  And in the midst of all the craziness there were tequila shots going down left and right...thanks Adam!

Jason, Alli, Adam and my dad hanging out by the pool

Tequila shots...compliments of Adam

Apparently this is what happens after you drink tequila?!

Once just about everyone was good and liquored up, we decided it would be best to go mini golfing, so that is exactly what we did.  We played guys vs. girls and I think the guys ended up winning.  My dad took the best score of 50 points and I was a close second with 53 points (now I know where my competitive spirit came from...thanks dad!).  By the time we finished, I think the worker there was happy to see us leave (we were just a tad bit loud...but doesn't that mean we were having fun?!).

The girls team (Alli, my mom, Amber and me)

The guys team (Jason, my dad, Adam and Russ)

The teams come together

A retake of our picture at this same course 4 years ago

I would like to add that our night did not end at 10 pm when we left the mini golf course.  We ended up going to the casino for some gambling fun and then came home and played a long game of SPOONS.  We sure know how to make the most of our vacations don't we?!

The next morning did not start out as early as we had thought considering most of us didn't get to bed until 1 am.  We made it out to the boat and managed to still get some amazingly calm water for wakeboarding.  First up...ME!!  46 degree water and NO wetsuit (note the wetsuit tops that Jason and my brother are wearing)!

Haven't totally lost my touch after a year!

Amber up on the board

My dad showing off his jumping skills

Russ clearing the wake

Jason is getting some air

My mom taking her turn jumping the wake

Enjoying some sun with Alli on the boat

After boating Alli and Adam had to take off back home.  We spent the rest of the day out in the sun by the pool.  My poor little WA white skin couldn't handle too much of that strong Tahoe sun, so I didn't last too long.  The evening was spent enjoying a nice dinner out and then a lot more casino fun (and I was a winner!).

The next morning we packed up our place, checked out, and headed out on the boat for one last trip.  I got to board one more time and the boys got to do a little wakesurfing this time.  Both my dad and brother had some really long runs on the board!

Last wakeboarding for a while

My dad wakesurfing

My brother wakesurfing

The kids all together (this rarely happens)

Our parents...they pretty much are the best!

It's always sad to leave, since these trips with all of us together are rare these days, but we have so many great memories to look back on now!  Thanks for a great trip to Tahoe mom and dad!!!

A Big Day for my Big Brother

Jason and I flew back to CA last week for a very special occassion...my brother, Russ, was graduating from the Sacramento Police Academy!!  He started the academy back in January and spent 6 long hard months in training.  It was definitely an emotional ceremony watching my brother complete something that he really wanted to do.  All the family came together for this special day and we are so proud of Russ!  It is going to be very exciting to watch where his training takes him in the future.

The family waiting for the graduation to begin

Russ marching in (he is right above the ladies' head)

Shaking hands as he receives his certificate

After he received his certificate

Class 10BR-1 repeating an oath

Proud wife and proud parents!

Proud sister and brother-in-law!

WAY TO GO RUSS! 

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!

A Hike on the Boulder River Trail

We managed to get one semi-decent day of weather this weekend so Jason and I continued to do some Half Dome practice.  We hiked the Boulder River Trail with Coda, which is about 8.6 miles roundtrip.  It's a very pretty hike that walks high above the Boulder River (so you can hear the river the entire hike with occassional viewing spots).
Some highlights on this particular hike are the two beautiful waterfalls along the way.  They were definitely a sight to see!!

Our little hiking family at the first and biggest falls

Of course we knew there had to be better views than the one where everyone stopped to take pictures at (where our family photo was taken), so we hiked a little further until we found a little trail down to the river at the base of the falls.  This was a nice place to enjoy lunch, see some wildlife (a little chipmunk type creature that Coda wanted to play with), and just enjoy the quiet scenery.

Jason and Coda at the bottom of the falls

The beautiful river where we ate lunch below the falls

After we filled up our bellies with some yummy Subway, we continued our hike in search of the second falls.  We had to cross a super cute bridge and make a stop for a few photos along the way, and just as we think we have passed the second falls, we come up to another gorgeous waterfall (smaller, but just as pretty)!

The cute little bridge we had to cross

Our photo stop off the trail

The second falls

(we were not able to get down to the bottom of this one)

Jason and Coda at the view point for the second falls

We did not make it to our final destination, which is a campsite on the river, but that was okay because it didn't seem like an impressive destination anyway (the waterfalls seemed like the main attraction for this hike).  At about the time we decided to turn around the weather seemed to be getting a little more stormy looking and my knee was progressively getting more painful, so I think we made a good choice.  Luckily we made it back to our car RAIN FREE!!!

We Don't Let Distance Keep Us Apart!

This past weekend was a special one for me because my good friend, Amber Klingensmith, came up to WA!!  She was ultimately here to visit her cousins who live in Yelm, but she also knew that she couldn't come all the way up without a visit with us.  What a treat too...that last time I saw Amber was when her son Cooper was only about a month or two old and now he is almost 4 years old!!

Our weekend together started on Saturday night as we met for dinner.  She brought her cousin Tara, who she drove up here with, and her other cousin Stephanie, who she was staying with in Yelm.  We met them for dinner at Elysian Fields Brewery in downtown Seattle for dinner.  Boy there was just not enough time in the night for all that we wanted to catch up on in person, but we tried!

Jason, me and Amber at dinner

Stephanie, Tara, Nick, Lindsey, Jason, me and Amber at dinner

After dinner we decided to all head out for a little downtown Seattle nightlife.  Where else would we choose to take them besides COWGIRLS INC?!  That bar never seems to disappoint.  I was happy to see that things have not changed over the years.  It was just like the times we would have in college.  And it's always nice to see that we aren't getting too old yet :)

The girls outside Cowgirls Inc.

The girls inside Cowgirls Inc.

Just like old times in SLO

Planning for a not so late night out on Saturday, turned into a lot later than we all expected.  Why go home when you are having fun?!  So Sunday morning was a little bit of a late start for all.  We ended up meeting back in Seattle for a little toursity fun at Pike Place Market and around town.  This time it was Amber and Tara with Cooper (Amber's son) and Stephanie's 2 kiddos, Sophia and CJ.

Here we are at the famous market

Amber, Cooper and me

Cooper and Amber checking out the fish getting thrown around

Amber couldn't pass up a coffee at the 1st Starbucks!!

We lucked out and got an amazing afternoon in Seattle!  A little crowded, but the HOT sunshine was so nice!  Remember Amber, you just lucked out picking the most perfect weekend to visit!  We hadn't had sunshine or temps like this in weeks!!  It was a little hard to say goodbye, as I hope it's not another 3 years before I see her again.  So after a great day together, we sent them on their way through Seattle as they rode the ducks :)

Amber and Tara with the kiddos before boarding the boat on wheels

COME BACK SOON AMBER! 

WE ALREADY MISS YOU GUYS!!

A Visit from the Past

Every so often we will get a message from a friend saying that they are coming up to WA and are hoping to see us at some point during their visit.  We really like this because it means we still haven't been forgotten up here in WA.  This time the message came from a friend, Kyle Klaus, that I have known since elementary school and haven't seen or really talked to since high school almost 9 years ago!  Thank you Facebook for always keeping me connected!

We lucked out and got one really wonderful sunny, semi warm day to hang out!  We have some other friends from CA, Matt Vaggione and Christine Harms, that have recently moved to WA that we never manage to see and they happened to know Kyle too (small world, I know!), so they came along.  We went on a fun brewery tour at Red Hook in Woodinville and then enjoyed a very long lunch catching up on old times.  The day couldn't have been better and I always enjoy catching up with old friends!

Christine, Matt, Kyle, Jason and me

Us again as we were getting ready to head home