Mark's family planned to have a reunion in Lake Tahoe the last week of June from Monday - Friday. Mark works at the airport Monday Tuesday and Wednesday nights. For some reason Mark thought the reunion was Tuesday through Saturday so he planned on taking Wednesday off to to travel to California and then spending all of Thursday and Friday with his family then flying back to Virginia for church and work on Saturday. It was sad to fly all the way out there and just have one full day with his family but it was the best we could do. We are really glad we could make it out. Our flight plans of course changed the morning we left. Instead of flying from Dulles to Salt Lake to Reno, less than hour from the house in Tahoe we flew out of Richmond (1.5 hours away) to JFK in NY and then on to San Francisco. Less flights is good because then there are less flights you have to worry about making but San Fransisco is not very close to Tahoe. Its about 4 hours away. So we rented a car and then drove through crazy bad traffic in San Fransisco and then got stuck in traffic in Sacramento as well. After a "pick me up" stop at In-N-Out Burger we made it to the house just after 7:00. We left our home at 4:30 in the morning and traveled all day. It is not quick or easy to get to California from Virginia but we did it. We only managed to keep Jared and Lydia awake in the car by rolling down the windows and singing songs from the Greatest Showman on the top of our lungs. The refreshing mountain air was quite helpful and felt so good. We didn't want them to sleep for the last 45 travel minutes of the day. We were excited to reach the house (it was awesome, it had a hot tub, indoor pool, game room with pinball machines foosball and pool table, outdoor games, mini basketball arcade game and all kinds of space) and say hi to everyone. We had Jared and Lydia stay up for awhile (they got some magical energy once we reached our destination) so they could have more time with their cousins. It was a long day but it was worth it.
Eli and Jared (David and Cecily's son)
The next day we stopped at the store for some Tillamook yogurt (not available in VA) and donuts before driving over to Sand Harbor Beach. This beach was on the Nevada side of Tahoe. Mark's sister Laurie and her family really like to vacation in Tahoe so she was the one who planned some of the activities. This is her favorite beach and it was beautiful. Growing up in Northern California, only 1.5 hours away from Tahoe, I always saw bumper stickers that read "Keep Tahoe Blue" the color of Lake Tahoe is amazing. The shades of blue, how clear it is we loved it. The other thing I heard a lot was that because it is largely snow melt the water is freezing and this was absolutely true. My family mostly went to Tahoe in the winter to play in the snow so it was great to be there in Summer.
This beach had a fun boardwalk to walk on next to the water, kayak and paddle board rentals, and cool rocks to climb on. There were older kids jumping off the rocks into the water and Jared wanted to try it, (I don't know if he really would have if we said ok) but this was not the trip for that. Mark had lots of time to visit with his siblings which was great and Jared and Lydia spent hours climbing the rocks and playing in the sand and water. We spent the day at the beach and then once we got back to the house Jared and Lydia swam with cousins in the pool while Mark and I helped David and Cecily prepare dinner.
Jared was thrilled to climb all over these rocks.
April and Cecily
Steve, David and Mark.
I was glad they could have a chance to catch up together.
Mark's mom had assigned 2 families a night to cook dinner together. Any time there is a reunion we are paired up with David and Cecily. I love it. Cecily is really great. So are Marks sisters but there are 5 of them and I just think Cecily and I are the most similar and both married into the family so there is just a different bond. I love getting to hang out with her. We made hamburgers/hot dogs, baked beans and a really awesome salad. Cecily and I had a funny conversation about this meal before we headed out there. Many members of Mark's family eat really healthy. Quite a few are vegetarian, gluten free, lactose free, sugar free its kind of complicated so trying to prepare a meal for them was kind of daunting. Cecily and I and our families are none of those things and we had a good laugh about how we intend to stay that way and enjoy every meal we eat! She made some delicious candied pecans and they have inspired me to try to eat salad for lunch more. The more toppings the better. She and David made some delicious strawberry shortcake for dessert. For the one meal we got to eat with the family it was a good one.
That night Mark's mom called everyone together for a devotional. She shared some stories of her growing up and showed pictures of how the family grew from her and Elmer to what it is today and then asked us to go and listen to President Nelson's last fireside for the youth. She encouraged us all to stay on the covenant path and talked about the things he said in that talk.
It would have been nice to have at least one more day with Mark's family but he needed to get back home. I am so fortunate to have married into a fun and loving family. We left Tahoe at 7:30 Friday morning, dropped Mark off at the Sacramento airport and then Jared, Lydia and I waited at the airport for my sister to come pick us up and take us to Yuba City where we planned to spend a few days with my family.
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