Tahoe '10, Pit Stop--The Kapics

I was so excited about posting the snow pictures, I completely left out our drive TO Tahoe. We had to stop by and visit our good friends, The Kapics, as a little pit-stop up. I've talked about Danny and Emily before, they used to live here in SF and attended our church and have always had a special place in Young's life. They have triplets the same age as Timo and Cameron...So many people say to me "I don't know how you do it with twins" but it's all I know so it doesn't seem like a big deal...but then I look at Emily and say "how do you do it with triplets?" Amazing. They have a blog as well...The Kapics

Anyway, we stopped by their house for a visit and I think all the kids had fun together...I know my two had a blast playing with the multitude of toys! The ride on cars were the favorites. Fletcher, Baily and Parker were so nice in sharing all their big wheels and motorized cars!

Fletcher was digging by the tree and spotted a worm! All the kids rushed over to see and the boys turned into worm wranglers as they all tried to pick it up....the girls hung to the back, just observing...but Baily was ready with her bucket if need be...

Emily and I ended up chatting a lot which left Young to watch the kids. Thank goodness they have a huge sandbox so everyone can fit in at once...keeping all toddlers contained in one area.

We had a great visit! Thank you Emily (who is on a little scooter right now b/c of ankle surgery) for being such a gracious host. We loved seeing you and catching up...and I know the kids were worn out from all the activities...they passed out in 10min from the house.

When they woke up again...there was snow!

Coming Home and Train Museum

We split the ride up on the way home, drove an hours and half to Sacramento and planned a stop at the California State Railway Museum. Promising Timo we were going to see trains was the only way we could get him in the car that morning...he wanted to play in the snow so bad. I packed their backpacks full of books and knick knacks to occupy them. They did pretty well in car, only fussy the last 20mins or so.

But when we got to the parking garage for the museum, words can not discribe how excited Timothy was. If he can't skip yet but if he could, he was skipping the whole way to the museum. He was laughing, smiling, saying "see trains Mommy? See trains?" Once we got inside, he was sooooo overwhelmed by the size, he just stood and strared for a long period of time. He ran from train to train, pointing...."Trains! Daddy look, choo choo trains!"

There were a bunch of cars you could go inside and see all the period pieces of yesteryear. I wold LOVE to go back and take our time to really explore all the history that was there. (I have a feeling that would mean without the kids) I think the size was a bit scary for the kids too, I tried to get them to go up and touch some wheels but they would only get so close...

Cameron really enjoyed the model trains. They had lots and lots of running trains in villages that she she just loved watching and pointing out objects she knew.

Upstairs they had all the Thomas train sets and that's where we camped out for a long time. (We were trying to tire the kids out so they would nap on the way home) They had a few different Thomas sets and plenty of trains for all the kids that were there. Timo would have stayed here forever if we let him.

The saddest part was when we had to leave...Timo was crying so hard. We got him outside and he just ran back to the front door, clinging to it, crying and screaming "Traaaaaains". We hated to take him away but it was way past their nap and we still needed to eat lunch....we spent 2 hours there! But we'll be back...

After a some lunch we headed back to the car to get on the road again. I knew they were so tired...they both fell asleep before we even got back on the freeway! They slept the whole way back home. What a great trip!

Tahoe '10, Day 2

This is what we woke up to the next morning...a new, fresh blanket of snow. I think we got about a foot of snow. It was so beautiful. The kids were especially excited about the snow being powdery and easy to shovel.

You can see how deep the snow is on the kids. There is a huge redwood behind the house and the kids loved playing all around the base. They kept shoveling snow in between the bark. We were in the middle of the forest so the snow kept falling off the trees...as though it was snowing again.

We all chipped in to help Yang dig out her car. Mason was going skiing that day and we had a good view of the slopes. Cameron was just concerned about getting the sledding underway! Our driveway was a slight hill...big enough for a 2 year old!

Cameron wanted her gloves at one point and started making snow balls and wanting to build a snowman!

And then the most exciting thing happened...the snow plow showed up to plow our driveway!! Oh, the kids were soooo excited. They just stood and watching from the front porch for the whole 20min it took to plow it. Timo kept saying "snow plow, snow plow" over and over. He talked about the snow plow well into the the next day...

We took the kids out to the Heavenly Village for dinner that night. I won't go into how that was a bad decision except to say it wasn't a good idea to show the kids the Gondola ride BEFORE we went into the restaurant. But we had a good time running and showing them all there was to see. They really loved the ice skating rink...I think it was the music. We got them all home and in the bath, everyone slept solid that night...nothing like a day in the snow to insure good sleep!

Blogger Isssues

Sorry, I've been having issues with Blogger. I guess I maxed out my storage space so I'm having to delete some things to make more space. This is why you can't view some of the photos I've posted. Will fix it and get back to blogging when I get everything worked out.....stay tuned...

Tahoe '10, Day 1

As you can tell from the last post, we made a trip up to Tahoe last weekend and the kids saw snow for the first time. I couldn't tell who was more excited, the kids or Young. Young grew up in the mid-west so he really misses snow in the winters. He couldn't wait to get unloaded and get the kids out in the snow. The entire weekend was almost perfect...I got some 24hr bug and was really sick one day, but other than that, it was an amazing weekend. Our friends Yang and Mason came along too. Their son, Jasper, is one of Timo's best buds. All the kids got along great with no major melt downs. I was so surprised that the kids didn't mind putting on all the snow gear to go outside. No complaints from anyone about snow pants, coats, hats, gloves (sometimes), or snow boots. Here they are all bundled up!

Like I said, the first day I was really sick so Yang and Young took the kids out. There was a fair amount of snow on the ground, enough to make a few snow balls and get the feel of how to walk. The kids seemed way more interested in shoveling snow with the spoons. Yang brought Jasper's sand toys and that was a big it. Everyone was shoveling snow and trying to get it in the bucket. They spent at least an hour in the driveway going back and forth to the bucket.

Young did get the kids to make some snow balls and try to build a snow man but it was hard with their gloves on and too cold with the gloves off...so Daddy took over operation Snowman!

It started snowing in the afternoon and they took the kids out once more for the day. I don't think the kids understood the concept of "it's snowing" but it look so beautiful. After dinner and bath, the kids all climbed on the sofa for a bedtime story from Yang...I was still sick and trying to stay away from the kiddies :( And yes, we planned the matching PJs. Just before bed the kids wanted one last look at the snow still falling. Timo figured out how turn out the lights for a better view...you can't tell from the pictures but it was really snowing hard...it snowed all night!