Lake Tahoe -A Family Reunion

Summer is in full swing around here which means kids are going to bed late after playing hard all day, the house is a total mess, beach towels and swimsuits are covering the laundry floor, and I'm trying survive the chaos.  My goal today is to finish unpacking my suitcase from our trip to Tahoe.
We flew down there for five days last week for Randy's family reunion.  We were so happy we scored relatively cheap airfare {when you're buying six plane tickets it's never cheap} so we could skip out on the 16 hour drive it would've taken to get us there. We stayed in the craziest cabin I've ever seen.

It was two cabins hooked together by a long, dark, rickety staircase with mirrors on the walls, random doors leading to who knows where, and even weird clown artwork on the walls.  It was hilarious!
Since we were the last ones to arrive we were given the smallest bedroom and the funniest part was that it was also the main thoroughfare to get from one cabin to the other if you wanted to avoid the creepy stairs so we constantly had people walking in and out of our tiny bedroom.  Such is the life on a family vacation...

creepy stairs

Landon's cozy little spot on the floor.  Good thing he's little!

Lake Tahoe is everything everyone said it would be: cold and blue.  We spent a couple days at the beach playing in the sand and riding paddle boards.  So basically the same stuff we do here everyday which is why I love where I live.

soda and sand - Parker's heaven

Bean takes sand building very serious.  He hardly even got in the water

Partners in crime

Randy's brother and wife planned lots of fun games and competitions {Randy's family is very competitive} which made for some good fun.

hula hoop contest - Ethan is actually really good!

Get the Cookie In Your Mouth Without Using Your Hands Contest

Human pinata - Grab the candy off the t-shirt when your uncle runs past you

The proud winner of overall competition and receiver of the worst trophy ever.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for storing it for us cuz that wasn't going to go on the plane or in my house!

All these kids hiked up a mountain.  Be impressed.

Lake Tahoe matches the blue sky

We found lots of snow to play in as we hiked along

I found a great ice cream shop after the hike that even served huckleberry ice cream, a Ball's family favorite (even though none of my kids tried it).

We also had family pics

Love this boy and his cute glasses

My baby isn't a baby anymore but don't tell him that!

He's 5'3 with a voice that gets deeper every day.

This goof ball can't stop smiling

I LOVE Randy's gray hair!

The kids loved playing in the hammocks

The kids crowding around our tiny DVD player to watch Star Wars so I could read uninterrupted

Our rental car was awesome!  It only had 3 miles on it.  But what a pain trying to get all the kids in and out of it, not to mention buckling kids in car seats.  Glad I drive a minivan but this was fun for a few days

Everyone pretty much took off for home on Saturday morning but our flight didn't leave until the evening so we took the boys parasailing.  It was my first time doing it and it was so cool and definitely not as scary as I expected.  The lake was so beautiful from up above and the water was so clear you could see all the rocks at the bottom of the lake.  It was a such a fun memory and the boys' favorite part of the whole trip.

Reed and Pam came along for the boat ride

Hiking around Emerald Cove

The cold water felt so good on a hot day

Balls Family Reunion 2016 was a good one!  I think my kids finally learned all their cousins names!