Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Summer at Squaw

The littlest pinks and I took friends to Tahoe with us this weekend. Paige's twins are the same age as mine, and classmates, too.

We had a leisurely drive Friday afternoon with one stop for frozen yogurt, another at Old Navy to use our Friends and Family coupon and a third at Ikeda's for fruit and other assorted edibles.

There really are two Tahoe's -- the summer one and the winter one. I prefer the Winter Wonderland while many people, my husband included, prefer the summer one. On Saturday I came a little closer to understanding the summer one. My MIL's gentleman friend has a place on the lake and graciously took us all out on his boat. Ron has grandchildren of his own and a lot of patience. He even let the kids steer the boat and the dinghy. Riding on his inflatable Sea Doo pulled behind the boat was so much fun that my face ached from grinning so much. The little kids loved it. Surprisingly, they also loved swimming in the very cold water.

After spending a few hours on the boat we went for a late lunch at Jake's and had my favorite appetizer: Hula Pie. Our waiter obligingly brought it on the double and didn't flinch when I ordered it upfront. This might be my favorite treat: macadamia nut ice cream, Oreo cookie crust, chocolate sauce and lots of whipped cream. It's even better than Mud Pie.

The kids hopped in the pool when we got home and then ate dinner in front of TV while Paige went into The Village to get sushi for us. At 10p we were all asleep except for Thing 1, who I encouraged to make coyote sounds out the bedroom window to scare the people walking by. While this was my not best parenting moment, it was sure funny!

On Sunday morning the girls rode their scooters along the Truckee River while Paige and I power-walked. It was gorgeous out -- not too hot yet with lots of rafters to watch on the river and bikers on the path to avoid. They did the trampolines when we returned to The Village, swam and then we had a late lunch at Burger Me before leaving the mountains.

Paige is a very good house guest; she drove some, let me pick all the places we ate, applied sunscreen to all children within reach, even when they complained, read the car user manual out loud en route so we could figure out what all the buttons on the dashboard did, and even dutifully signed the guest book. She's even good at loading and unloading an SUV. (Note to Jeff: Do you know how good you have it?!)

Four seven-year-old girls are quite entertaining, pee-in-your-pants funny at times. They talk about their siblings, how they get along with their twin, food, religion (we're Jewish, they're Mormon) and clothes. Paige and I covered the usual subjects: books, TV, parenting strategies, places we'd like to vacation, celebrities and elective plastic surgery.

Dave, the kids and I have just one weekend planned up there before summer ends and I'm fine with that. Soon enough the snow will fall and our skis will come back out.

2 comments:

Paige said...

Oh yeah, I'm looking goooood. Ugh. My husband knows how good he has it because I tell him all the time.

Polka Dot Moon said...

Fun girls weekend!! School starts here on Monday.....not looking forward at all! We're still dabbling in the 110+ degrees.....ugh summer here is just too darn HOT!