Tahoe Trip - August 2015

As is becoming our Summer tradition, we enjoyed a week up at our family's home in Northstar, Lake Tahoe, in August. We played at the beach, we visited Heavenly (our favorite South shore destination), we shopped, we swam, we crafted, we played on the 12th hole (outside our back door)...and for the first time EVER, I actually played a short round of golf with my Sweetie (Incline Village's Mountain Course -- I was there for the 19th hole!).  Nine holes is plenty for me, thank you!  It was fun to put my golf equipment to good use and put my ego in its place.  

We are continually grateful for our memories made in this special family place.  Our pictures can be seen by clicking this link;  Tahoe Trip August 2015.

Sarah

Thanksgiving At Tahoe

We spent Thanksgiving week enjoying our family home at Northstar in Lake Tahoe.  Now that we have two kiddos, our gratitude for this wonderful place to make memories (and vacation affordably and conveniently) continues to grow.

The week was pretty low-key with lots of quiet down time for all of us, but here are some highlights:

--Quality time with my Mom & Uncle
--Walks along the golf course
--Tess's first time ice skating (video below)
--Preparing our first Thanksgiving meal, which was delicious
--Taking outdoor family photos
--Shopping and coffee in downtown Truckee
--A wonderful "date night" at Pianeta in downtown Truckee
--A light snowstorm
--Tess's first time sledding (video below)

I took along a few projects and was thrilled to complete most of them during our time there, too.  We drank lots of coffee, sat by the fire morning and night, watched TV and movies, I read a book, and enjoyed lots of home-cooked food.  It was great!  On to Christmas and New Year's!

 

Tahoe Vacation 2014

We are so grateful for our family place up at Northstar California (North Shore, Lake Tahoe).  Last week we were able to get away for about 4 days for a short family vacation with Chad's parents Paul and Barbara and our nieces, Elise and Everlee.  Tess sure enjoyed the extended play time with her cousins, and they were equally enamored with baby Kate.  While we didn't have any huge adventures, we spent plenty of time having fun -- at the beach, by the pool, and on the back patio.  Below are the pics from our trip and a video of the fun little "show" that Elise coordinated for us.

And P.S...A sweet little video of our niece Elise singing to Baby Kate!

Tahoe Vacation 2013

We spent the first week in August up in Tahoe with friends.  It was a great vacation!  Highlights include:

 

-A FULL WEEK with our dearest friends, the Sullivans, and their adorable kiddos.

-A long weekend with our local close friends, the McDonalds, and their four precious daughters.

-Having 2 of our favorite families together with us!

-7 beautiful kids under one roof.

-Beautiful walks around the Northstar neighborhoods and golf course.

-2 full days of relaxing on the beach.

-Riding a ski lift up to gorgeous views of the Tahoe mountains.

-A fun day trip to Heavenly Village at South Shore.

-A full day of outlet shopping.

-Finishing a couple books.

-Wave runners, paddle boats, and PARASAILING on the gorgeous blue water of Lake Tahoe.

-A much-needed adults night out (triple date FUN!).

-A quick trip to the casino with some unexpected wins at the slot machines.

 

We are so blessed to have the family we do (with a beautiful home to vacation in) and the friends we do.  Grateful for such an easy and relaxing getaway! 

Tahoe Weekend

Last weekend we spent 3 days and 3 nights up at Chad's family's home in Lake Tahoe.  We invited our dear friends The Cutlips (Troy, Carrie, Caden and Ryder) and The Stricklands (Kelly, Monica, Brandt and Reed) to join us and had a wonderful time!  With 6 adults and 5 kids (all 8 and under) there was plenty of activity, yet for me the time was thoroughly relaxing.  The boys played outside or did crafts indoors, Tess got lots of lap time and attention, and the ladies got in all the girl talk we wanted.  We watched the snow melt, ventured out into the rain, shopped the Village at Northstar, read magazines, watched HGTV and movies, and ate delicious food.  While we were there, I celebrated my 35th birthday just the way I wanted -- a quiet day surrounded by loved ones and delicious meals, with 2 naps included! We are grateful to have such a beautiful place available to us and we are blessed to have such great friends (and their kiddos) to share it with. 

Below are some of the pics I took ~ enjoy!

Tahoe Vacation!

During the week of July 4th we headed up to Lake Tahoe to spend time at Northstar with Paul, Barbara, Chris, Kristi, Elise, and Everlee.  We are so blessed that Chad's family has a lovely home up there for all the family members to use.  We had a wonderful week full of relaxing, reading, eating, swimming (for the kiddos),shopping (for the girls), golfing (for the guys), and crafting (for me).

Despite some sleeping challenges, Tess did so great being away from home for a whole week, and LOVED all the play time with her cousins and grandparents.  She also got lots of time in the kiddie pool at the Northstar recreation center, and it confirmed for us that she really is so outgoing and adventurous.  She's also incredibly adorable, but we already knew that.

See below for pics and some cute videos from the trip!

Memorial Day Weekend In Tahoe

Well, this is a first, and I blame it on my pregnant brain! In the process of trying to download pics from the camera and upload the photo album for this post, I accidentally deleted all the photos from this trip. And yes, they were taken with my brand new camera and yes they were good! Nice. At least I had a few measly pics from the weekend on my iPhone! I will try to borrow and add pics from the others who were snapping away with me all weekend...in the meantime, my meager photo offering is below. And now begins the post!

Over Memorial Day weekend we traveled up to Lake Tahoe to spend time with "the cousins" on Chad's side of the family (the Dryden side). Grandpa ("Pop") has a house at Northstar and for 15 years it's been a fun place for the family to get away to. This time it was just us youngun's! There were four couples and five kiddos (all girls, all age 5 and under).

One unexpected guest for the weekend was SNOW -- and lots of it! We spent much of the time indoors, talking, eating, or playing games and enjoying a fire. On Saturday some of us ventured into downtown Truckee for some shopping and eating, and on Sunday the whole group took a short trip to the Village at Northstar to see if there was anything exciting going on....nope. Just lots of snow!

Turns out, for me, it was a great weekend to just relax and enjoy being around people I really like, and watch the little ones play together. And of course I am always thrilled to see my beautiful nieces, Elise and Everlee.

The photos taken with my phone, and a few "borrowed" from Facebook...

L to R: Chad & Sarah; Kristi, Chris, Everlee & Elise; Dan, Sarah & Lindsey (their other daughter, Lauren, is standing next to Elise); Jayme, Greg & Olivia.

Road Trip!

Heading to Northstar at Tahoe for a "Cousins Weekend" with Chad's family. Hope to catch up on the blog while we are there!

What a handsome chauffeur!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Memorial Day Weekend At Northstar

Thanks to the efforts of Chad's "Auntie Di" (Diane Schmidt) at our holiday gathering last year, the extended Dryden family decided to spend Memorial Day weekend together in Lake Tahoe, at "Pop's" (Grandpa's) cabin at Northstar. We packed about 15 people into the place -- bunk beds, air mattresses and all -- and enjoyed making meals together, playing games, watching movies, and just hanging out! Some of the more adventurous family members went hiking (and got rained out) while others of us ventured down to the lake for dinner at Jason's. We were bummed that our closest family members (Paul, Barbara, Chris, Kristi & Elise) couldn't make it, but it was great spending some extended, quality time with Chad's side of the family. We're looking forward to it next year in hopes that it really does become an annual tradition!