Day 9 - Home Sweet Home

Today was the first day of vacation that we actually slept in... 9 am for me. Ben was up and in the shower while I started packing. He loves to get out of all the work.



I made pancakes for breakfast. They came in waves.... First Sydney, Ben and Taniya. Then Michael, Bianca and Natalie. Peyton opted for toast, she's not into breakfast like the rest of us. The last wave was Vanessa, Nikki and finally the cook got to eat.


More packing, getting the girls dressed and getting myself ready. I left the rest for Ben and his crew to finish....

Took a few pictures before we loaded up and headed for HWY 50. The traffic was terrible, it took us an hour to drive 25 miles. Finally we made it home around 3. We came home to 108 degrees....

Natalie, Vanessa, Peyton, Sydney, Bianca, Nikki

I unpacked everything when we got home. Loads of fun. Then started downloading pictures and blogging while Ben raced off to pick up his soccer goals. Who knows what he did. He hasn't done anything to really help here at the house. He just informed me that I'll need to put the kids car seats in my SUV in the morning.

What a nice guy.

Can't wait for Tuesday. I'm off to put the kids into bed.

Great America Pictures

click here to see more of the Great America Photo's

Day 8 - Tahoe Queen

Rise & Shine - we had an appointment to sit through a 90 minute presentation where they want you to buy a time share. Luckily Taniya signed us all four up for a presentation together. We all knew we weren't about to purchase any time shares, but we did get a free 3 day stay at any Diamond Something Resort.

We left all six kids at the cabin asleep. Sydney and Peyton woke up first and proceeded to wake the rest of the household. The kids ate and goofed off until lunch time.

We grabbed burgers at Burger Lounge. Ben and I had the Heavenly (Avocado, bacon and cheddar) Taniya and Michael both got burgers with lots of onions (gross). Ben and Michael ate cheezy fries while Taniya and I ate pesto fries. It was over $45 bucks for lunch for the four of us.... No more burgers....

The plan was to take a cruise on the Tahoe Queen but the older kids didn't want to tour Lake Tahoe, so that left Ben, me and the lil ones for the tour.

Taniya, Mike, Nikki, Vanessa, Bianca and Nat all went back to play at the lake.

We found a ice cream shop. Damn I can't recall the name of it but the lady who owned it introduced herself to us and chatted us up for a lil while. She took pictures of Sydney and Peyton. She had lots of blown up black and whites all over her shop and she wanted to add them to the wall. Peyton had a chocolate goatee while Sydney ate a freshly baked lemon cupcake. The girls sported their green gap ice cream cone tank tops. I'm waiting for the email of the photo from the lady and her daughter. Wonder if it will be plastered on the wall next time we're in Tahoe. This isn't the actual picture. This is just one we managed to take as well.

Sydney enjoys her lemon cupcake while Peyton bathes in chocolate

The 3 level Tahoe Queen was nice. There were some plush leopard print high back hairs on and assortment of other types of chairs. The kids wanted to be on the top outside level, it was the best place to see the tour. There were actors on board who mingled with us and did a few skits. We drank Shirley Temples and snacked on the three hour adventure.

No naps for the girls. We all met up at cabin where I hoped I'd get the lil ones down for a nap. No luck. Taniya and the bigger kids all went shopping - Bianca got a new skirt. Then they messed around, went to minature golf and check out some chocolate factory.

Ben and Michael were at the Casino again.

Sydney, Peyton and I enjoyed another walk and then the solitude of the cabin, them catching up on cartoons while I read a lil bit. Really no solitude or relaxation, but hey it was just the three of us.

Taniya brought dinner back.. pasta for the kids and her and I ate Falafala's (not sure how you spell it or say it, but we ate it) Then Taniya and the big girls ventured out again giving me and the lil ones more alone time.

.....lights out. it's all a blurr after that.

Day 7 - more pictures

side view of the cabin
Peyton's ad campaign for Tahoe Fencing

Look what I found

Here mom

smelling flowers while out on a walk

stroller rides are our favorites

my turn to be Captain

faster

Day 7 - Life's a Beach

Woke up bright and early to Peyton snuggling up against me in bed. She's such a cuddle bug sometimes.

Taniya started a pot of coffee, it was perfect to start the morning. She started breakfast, scrambled eggs, bacon and toast.. just as the 'BOYS' (Ben and Michael) went to get a newspaper, and came home with bagels and cream cheese for everyone. Everyone ate bagels and bacon, and the eggs were yesterday's news. Poor Taniya.

We cleaned up the kitchen, everyone took showers and then we headed to the beach, all before 10 am. We rented some paddleboats and played around in the Lake for a couple hours. You could walk out about 400 feet before the water got to deep. The kids found lots of shells and splashed around in the water.

We ate lunch at Big Daddy's and then went back to the cabin for 'more showers'. Bianca, Nat and the lil ones stayed at the cabin while the rest of us went to North Shore... which turned into a trip to Carson City. It sucked. It was 20 degree's hotter in Carson City than in Tahoe and Ben never uses the air conditioner in the car.

Next stop... The strip. Got Jamba Juice then Ben and Michael disappeared to the Casino's while the rest of us went back to the cabin. Taniya took the bigger girls to the arcade and dropped them off for a couple hours. I took the lil ones for a walk.

Later Ben suggested sushi and everyone thought it was a good idea, 'off the hook sushi' sucks... Don't ever go there. We spent almost $100 and it was like a teaser... The kids got Pizza and pasta from Fat City (i think that's what it was called) Ben, Michael and Taniya went to the casino while I stayed with the kids. They watched scary movies while I read.

Ben won some $$$$ I ♥ when he's LUCKY.

Nikki & Bianca

Sydney & Peyton

Sydney, Bianca & Nat

Peyton & Sydney

Nat, Bianca, Michael (left side)

Taniya, Vanessa Nikki (right side)

sand castles

Daddy helps out

Michael is looking for deeper water

Nat & Vanessa race for the sand

Bianca & Nikki search for shore

Day 6 - Heading to Lake Tahoe

I got a call late in the evening on the 5th day of my vacation.... I'd be waking early and going to Donate Blood first thing in the morning. What fun. Hooray.

Sleep ended at 7 sharp...I finished all the last minute packing and had everything downstairs and ready for my ride.

I hit Peets on my way to the lab, got a piece of zuchinni bread and a short blonde, only had two drinks before I made it to the lab. It took an hour at the lab, they couldn't find my paperwork and I had to make a phone call and have the dr fax my lab request over. Two minutes later I had given the two viles needed and was back in the car finishing up the morning ritual.

Ben and I cleaned out my ride. We had to take out the carseats because we were putting them in Taniya's Expedition for the drive to Tahoe. There were impressions in the middle row where Sydney and Peyton's Captain chairs sit. I can't remember a time they weren't in my truck. We found enough cheerio's to fill a box ;P

We unloaded Taniya's truck and reloaded it after we got the carseats in. They were in the 3rd seat and the girls had the best view, though they both fought over who got to sit on Nikki's side.

We were on the road by 1230, made it to Tahoe around 245. The trip up was uneventful. We unpacked and then took a trolley ride around Tahoe.

Here are some pictures.

Our tour guide while on the trolley was a local, not overly feminine, but female. Long blonde hair pulled into a low ponytail. Perfectly arched eyebrows, no make up. Ugly mandatory uniform. She welcomed us aboard, collected the $2 and we started to make our way down the trolley. Peyton had to stop and ask 'Why is your hair long' I thought it was an odd question but we kept going til we found our seats... Sight seeing was fun. We made a pit stop about 30 minutes into the trip. We had to pee.

Everytime I talked to the driver or explained to the girls what she said, Peyton tried to correct me saying 'He said' I kept telling her the driver was a girl, but she wasn't buying it... At one point while Taniya and the driver were talking Peyton was talking too... 'why are you a boy? why do you have long hair? are you a boy or a girl' I was embarressed, trying to do everything I could to get her away from the driver.

Peyton fell asleep on the last leg of the Trolley ride still arging with me that the driver was a man. Let's say I was glad to get off the Trolley.

After a few unacceptable stops for dinner we found ourselves eating. Taniya got a boring salad prime rib salad with blue cheese, Vanessa had a chicken sandwich, Nikki something with Steak and gravey. Sydney had pancakes and eggs, Peyton a quesodilla and I had bacon, eggs, hashbrowns and toast.

We did a lil grocery shopping and then back to the cabin to relax. I finally got the girls to sleep around 1030.

Ben, Michael, Bianca and Nat arrived around midnight.

On my 5th day of Vacation

my true love gave to me.... 4 kids and some cash so he could get rid of us for the entire day. The gang - Me, Bianca, Emma, Sydney and Peyton met up with Tia Andria, Dominic, Donovan, and Devin for some more fun, this time at WAC. We got to sleep in a lil bit, the place didn't open til noon.

Pulled into the packing lot a few minutes after 12. We made a quick stop for safety, and totally skipped Starbucks even though the Cult was calling.

We planted our double jogging stroller, Large ice chest, small ice chest, 9 beach towels, 5 bags in the shade, spread out, it was great. First stop - Sunscreen for all. Tia was last to get any screen, but we didn't let her completely forget.

WAC is huge, lap pool, diving pool, waterslide pool, mushroom pool, regular pool, kids play area. We hit them all. I think the favorite was the lil kid pool with the waterslide, play structure and lots of squirting water features. The water was 1 foot 4 inches at the deepest, perfect for all the kids.

Bianca and Emma did the waterslide and divingboards (high and low). Dominic, Bianca and Emma spent a lot of time playing in the mushroom pool while the rest of us lounged around in the zero entry part of the pool.

The kids had a great time, most of my pictures didn't come out because my camera dial was moved and I didn't actually preview any photos...

We played about 4 hours, I can't wait to go back... I wished I would have blogged sooner about Day 5 at WAC, but I had to pack and get ready for Tahoe and Day 6, 7, 8, 9....