Fall has historically been our big trip to Albuquerque and all those beautiful balloons. But with Dick and Darlene's big move to Colorado, we moved our family time to a new location: California! Kevin and Katie live in an amazing place and we were lucky they chose to have their wedding there and invited the boys to be part of their special day. So it was off to Lake Tahoe!
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| First dip in the crystal clear (very very cold) Lake Tahoe water. It was sad to see how low the water was, with docks high up in the air. But still such a gorgeous place. |
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| Our little home for the wedding. |
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| Alex coloring with Grammie. |
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| Nathan showing off the giant pine cones. |
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| The morning of the wedding, we went for a little hike down to Emerald Bay. |
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| What you can't see is this dock is about 10 feet in the air. Not very useful for boats at this point. |
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| Nicki and Michael cooling their toes. |
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| Happy Alex. |
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| Throwing socks with Aunt Nicki. |
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| Loving the lake! |
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| "Castle" in the bay. Cool green roof. |
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| Snack after the hike overlooking Emerald Bay. |
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| Then it was wedding time!! The boys were VERY excited to be ring bearers. |
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| Photo with the groom! (Nathan made me a very special necklace for the day) |
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| My handsome boys!! |
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| Kick golf (it is really a "thing", google it!) |
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| One of many Shirley Temples. |
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| After the big ceremony, hanging with the flower girl. |
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| Can't keep these boys out of the water! (Seriously can't get over how gorgeous this place was!!) |
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| Hanging with Carly. |
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| Cousin time with Carly and Alicia. |
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| Lori and Grammie looking beautiful on Kevin's big day! |
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| The amazing couple, Kevin and Katie. |
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| Having so much fun! |
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| Proud Mama and Michael. |
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| Watching the sun go down with Alicia and Carly... |
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| Then dancing time! |
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| Tearing it up. |
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| Watching twilight by the fire. |
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| Relaxing my legs from all the dancing. Such an amazing night. Congratulations again to Kevin and Katie! And thank you for having us a part of your special day. |
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| The next morning we met up at one of the casinos for brunch, and the boys had fun with Alicia and Carly in the arcade. |
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| Snowmobiling with Daddy! |
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| Then back to the beach. |
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| Fun in the sand :) |
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| Funny acronyms (South Tahoe Public Utility District) |
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| Hanging on the front porch with family. |
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| Dinner out! |
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| Handsome Daddy |
Then after the wedding, it was off to Yosemite for some camping!
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| The boys getting a little goofy with Captain Underpants after too much time in the car. |
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| The Merced River just outside our campsite with a gorgeous view of Half Dome in the background. |
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| Waiting for the shuttle. Couldn't get enough of this view! |
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| The boys participated in the junior ranger program, and learned all about the flora and fauna of the Yosemite Valley. |
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| After becoming Junior Rangers, we were off for our first hike, up to Vernal Falls. |
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| Halfway there, the falls in the background. |
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| Still many, many stairs to go. |
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| Gorgeous view of the falls, with a rainbow to boot. |
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| Trail sign... |
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| Alex on the way back down on his "whale rock" (the crack looks like a big mouth). |
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| Enjoying some brother time <3 td=""> |
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| Watching the fire dance. |
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| One very happy camper! |
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| We discovered a little secret, there is no dress code for breakfast at the Ahwahnee (dinner requires fancy clothes!), and so we treated ourselves. And they even had mini Etch a Sketch for the boys, their favorite thing to do when we go out to eat. |
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| Such an amazing view out every window. |
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| Later that day we took a tour of the valley floor. First stop: Valley View. Might have bribed the boys for a cute photo. |
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| Alex contemplating the view. |
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| Another stop was at Inspiration Point, took my breath away. So did these cuties! |
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| Family photo at the famous view! |
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| Dinner out in Curry Village, Nathan showing off his Smokey the Bear tatoo. |
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| The next morning we drove up to Glacier Point, with an amazing view of the valley floor, and all of Yosemite. |
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| Someone was nice enough to take a family photo in from of Half Dome. |
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| Nathan admiring the view from the Geology Hut. |
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| Stealing some ideas from the wedding photographers, half dome reflected in Nathan's sunglasses. |
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| Then we took a wonderful hike to McGurk Meadow on the way home. |
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| Happy family :) |
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| We found some ninjas at our campsite! |
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| Enjoying the sunset on our last night... |
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| Watching the moon rise before heading to "Stars Over Yosemite", a wonderful program despite some clouds. Nathan was over the moon to talk space with the presenter. |
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| Then it was time to head back to Reno in the morning, we got an early start so we could visit Mono Lake on the way back. |
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| Nathan could have stayed all day in the visitor center, reading all about this unique place. |
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| Visiting the unique limestone formations. |
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| Saying good bye to an amazing week in California!! |
