Point Reyes

This tripped was planned for quite awhile (not exactly "the day of" kind of trip-especially with kids). Bryan did all of the research and made the arrangements. It was roughly a 2 mile hike into the campsite. No car camping here. We were backpacking in…with a double bob. :) Bryan read that there was a fire road that would be accommodating for our needs for the hike. We were prepared with everything from a first aid kit to a favorite stuffed animal. But, above all else, we set our expectations low.

Leading the way on the "fire road."

For Bryan, an ultra-light back packer, this was slightly humbling.

"Little" steep in a few spots.

Well, that fire road trail quickly became more and more narrow with deep ruts. Perfect for a double bob. 

I didn't take photos of the most technical parts of our hike, because 

1) I was worried I was going to be documenting a stroller flying down the mountain with my baby girl in it 

2) I thought the grandparents might consider "parental rights" for their grandkids. 

Everything turned out just fine, no run-away strollers. Just a lot of laughs---once it was over.

Emma didn't mind the bumpy ride, in fact, it lulled her right to sleep. 

I have to give credit to Luke. He did awesome on the hike and was often telling me to hurry up. To help slow him down,  I made him carry my pack. Not true, but I may have briefly considered it. He was a good hiker.

 

Arrived at Point Reyes.

It was chilly, but we weren't expecting tropical temperatures. The kids played frisbee, chased the ocean foam (and getting wet, of course), rolled down hills of sand, searched for sea shells, built sand castles and had a fantastic time exploring. It was beautiful. 

Lets see…where are the showers??? Oh right, 2+ miles back to civilization. Pass me a wet wipe, or 10.

We were having so much fun, that someone found it a little difficult to stop and pose for a picture.

All of the weight in the stroller from the wood was put towards an awesome bonfire on the beach. 

Our tent was close enough to the beach that we could hear the crashing waves. 

The kids slept great that night, once all body parts were inside the tent. They were worn out! 

The next morning, we explored the shoreline.

…and chased seagulls.

Later that morning we hiked out on the actual fire road. I'm still not sure what trail we were on beforehand. It was sooooo much easier, but not near the memory maker. This picture is brought to you by Luke. I think he's going to follow in Bryan's photography footsteps.

Luke hopped in the stroller on the hike out and fell asleep. I don't think he's slept in a stroller since he was 9 months old. The kids played, hiked and slept so well that it encouraged Bryan to start looking at another similar trip for our family to take. I have to admit, that I was skeptical, but it was such an amazing trip…that I'm actually on board for the next round.

Camping-Round One

Bryan got home from work last week at 5:00 and we decided to head out that night for a little camping. We threw things into the car and headed off for our fun family night. We didn't have a particular destination in mind so we drove up I-80 and pulled off when we saw camping signs-we're such planners. :)

We ended up at a great campground with huge pine trees (love that pine smell), a waterfall and even a small lake. The kids were in heaven. When the kids are happy, it's pretty easy for me to relax and be happy, too! The only downside with the campsite was that it was close to I-80 so we heard traffic all night long. On the positive side, it must have been like white noise to the kids, because they both slept great.

What camping trip is complete without s'mores???

Bryan tossed his hammock in and it was a hit!

This trip was a good test run for our most recent adventure…more to come.

Losing Your First Love

The time had come. Emma had to say goodbye to her binkis. She has done so well. Miracles happen. Luke has helped by playing up what a big girl she is now.

Cement Slides

A friend from church invited us to join them at the "cement slides". I can't tell you how far an invite goes when you're the new kid on the block. It has made us feel so welcomed. The kids had a blast and we easily spent our morning there. I now call them "the poor man's alpine slide". They were free, we used cardboard or wax paper as our sled and we got to run back up the hill to go again. We loved them.

These two stuck together for most of the time.

When they tired of the slide, they headed over to the park and continued to have their own fun.

Train Tunnels

We went up by the ski resorts to hike through a few train tunnels. These tunnels are no longer in use, that was a requirement of mine before I agreed to make this a family activity. These tunnels were part of the Transcontinental Railroad. They were built in 1868 by the Central Pacific Railroad. It was all constructed by hand-crazy! There are modifications (i.e. cement) done to the tunnels today, but a lot of the original tunnels are still in tact.  It was close to an hour and twenty minutes drive, so I was crossing my fingers that it was going to be worth the travel time. It was definitely worth it-we all loved the adventure.

This was the first tunnel we went through. It was about 1700 ft long (Bryan is the trivia guy).

I may have done a pretty good, "Choo-Choo" once inside the tunnel. Luke did not appreciate my sense of humor. Once I reassured him the train tracks weren't even in the tunnel so there is no way a train would be coming, we continued along our way. I'm horrible, but it still makes me chuckle when I type this. 

Apparently, there are some that choose to beautify these tunnels with creative and colorful artwork. 

These are the best "thug" pics we snapped of these two-I'm not too convinced they were the artists.

Emma was quite affectionate on our hike-it was nice to feel so genuinely loved.

This is nicknamed "The Chinese Wall" because it was built entirely by hand, no mortar by the Chinese. The Railroad was built right on top of this wall.

Creating "magic" with dirt…lots and lots of dirt. 

Those dirty faces are the biggest sign that a great time was had. :)

Lake Tahoe

We took a quick overnight trip up to Lake Tahoe. Depending on which part of the lake you go to, it is roughly 2 to 2.5 hours from our doorstep. Not too shabby. We got there a little before dinner time and right as we checked in, Tahoe lost power…and it stayed off for about 5 hours! Luckily, we had plenty of food and no one went hungry. :) It was pretty rainy and cool so we decided to save our exploring for the next day. Tahoe did not disappoint us.

"So this is what it looks like!"

Emma was clearly more interested in checking out the scenery than looking at the camera.

The morning time was perfect to hike a little bit around the lake and wrestle these two kiddos.

Luke found lots of lizards. This lizard played quite the trick on Luke and gave us all a really good laugh.

Climbed to the top of these rocks to capture is "amazing" picture of the three of us.

It is the most beautiful lake. 

The morning was still too cold to play at the beach so headed to Carson City (about 25 minutes away) to check out the railroad museum. We were impressed!

One of the kids' favorite part of the museum, the train table consisting of Thomas the Train and all of his friends. :)  

The only bummer was they do train rides on weekends and we happened to be there on a weekday. However, they let us try out one of the "push carts." Luke didn't appear to be disappointed once we were cruising down the tracks on our cart and Emma was good about holding on for dear life! 

On our way back to Tahoe, we stopped at In-N-Out. Delicious.

We had a blast at the beach. The lake stays shallow for a long ways out. The water is very clear, so much so that Luke took his torpedo diving toy out there and could easily spot it and dive for it.

Emma was content to mostly stay on the beach and make sand castles.

We will definitely return to Tahoe. All of us loved it and needed at least another day…or week!