what i did on my summer vacation

what i didn't do, is take any pictures!  i have no camera right now, and my cell phone died 3 hours into our trip!  c'est la vie, you'll need to take my word for it, we had a blast!
first up..Portland!  with our dear friends the keelings.  they had a busy weekend already, and were so nice to let us hang there for a few days.  we played in the park, rode bikes, and just lounged around on the awesome front porch.  

oh and looks like i lied...i did have one picture from vaca, georgia and luca!  luca loves georgia!

next up, a 5 hour car trip to ashland OR, where we stayed the night (aaron had to go back to seattle, so it was just me and the kids!).  the kids were champs in the car, and true was great at sleeping in strange places.  luca, however, would only sleep in my arms....as sweet as it was, it made for some restless nights.

after ashland, it was another 7 hours to yerington NV, where my mom and jay live.  again, the kids were awesome in the car, with very little arguing, and lots of singing.  whenever i stopped to get them out of the car, they insisted on getting back in to soldier on.  we were oh so happy to get to mom's, where the cool grass and lots of hugs and kisses waited for us.  the kids got hair cuts, we went to a party, and played endlessly in the sprinklers.
next on our agenda...TAHOE!  which was the real goal!  just a short 1.5 hour drive from mom's, Tahoe City is my home away from home.  i was raised on the south shore, but i feel like i belong wherever it is that i am in tahoe.  my heart swells with the first sight of the lake, and i even shed tears.  this type of reaction was not limited to first sight....i also cried everytime i rode my mountain bike.  i was that happy! 
we had such good times, every day!  the kids managed to get tans (yes, tan!), they swam in the lake and played daily at the community park.   you could not wipe the smiles off our faces!
one of our tahoe highlights was sharing the weekend with the bartholomews (my brother, sister-in-law and 4 boys!).  it's been a long time, and they are all so grown up.  the cousins all got along great, even the teens managed to share some laughs.

david, karl, gabriel, tracy, mom michael, luca, caleb, true

the kids eventually decided it was time to go back to seattle, although true asked if we could live in tahoe on one side of the street and seattle on the other.  oh, if only!
the car ride home was without issues, and the cloudy arms of the northwest welcomed us just south of ashland.  of course.