Going to Tahoe

Our first Tahoe trip was pretty much a success, despite the complete lack of good snow. We set off Thursday evening (after much kurfufling trying to get the snowboards in the car). Ian vibrated for an hour or so before falling asleep, Isabella took slightly longer. Not too much complaining. Had a mad rush to a Target for a potty break part way up. Took a while for the kids to settle in once we got there, but they went back to sleep after awhile. They were both Very Excited. Isabella was yelling at everyone at day care "I'm going to Tahoe!"

 They clearly remembered the place from our visit before - Ian headed straight for the pool table. Fortunately, now he can walk relatively well and understands about stairs so I'm not so freaked out about him walking around. Even caught him going down the stairs without hanging on - but fortunately he usually asks for a hand down.

Isabella made a pretty good effort at "climbing" the wall in the dining room. Got up pretty high, actually.

Babysitter was Very Cool, and the kids took right to her - no real problem with us heading out in the morning. Lots of hugs for everyone when she left in the evening.

 We promised Isabella some sledding/tubing on Sunday. The snow being so bad we just both put the boards in for tuning up and just picked up Isabella. Here we are on the Gondola, riding up. Isabella was a bit unsure of the whole thing - she was afraid that when we went back down we'd go really fast and she'd be scared. Hopping onto the gondola was a bit exciting - they don't seem to be moving that fast, unless you're 3 feet tall and not so sure about what you're suppose to be doing!

 Tubing turned out to be Awesome (if way too expensive). We primed Isabella to stand on her toes under the height requirement sign so she'd be tall enough. To get up there was a slidewalk. The guys operating the slidewalk were sooo good, telling her what to do and helping her on. (By the end they let her do it all by herself, since she was such an expert.) Mom, of course, had to figure out how to get two tubes on the slidewalk while trying to run and catch up with Isabella who wanted a hand.

Isabella went down... Bill collected her... response was "I was so scared I cried the whole way down" (Uh oh, $60 down the drain...) "Do you want to go again?" "Yah!" She was, by far, the smallest person riding - there were a few other couples with kids who decided they didn't want to do it and quit pretty quick.

(Slidewalk.) We finally pried Isabella off an hour and something later (they let us keep going past our allotted time). Mom and dad had great fun going down, too. Although it's the most regulated tubing I've ever seen - one person at the top in each lane and two people down at the bottom getting everyone out of the way.

After tubing we spent a few minutes playing in the ice, uh, snow. Not even soft enough to make snowballs. There was another girl there for a few minutes, then she disappeared.

Drive home was pretty uneventful. Kids fell asleep even faster (I think Isabella passed out in about 20 minutes).