Lake Tahoe with Friends

Last weekend we headed up to Lake Tahoe with our Small Group!
It was so great to spend a weekend together hanging out & having fun.

For the past year, Kate has been begging & pleading to go to Tahoe & play in the snow.
We only went once last winter and when we go in the summer, there is obviously no snow, so Kate has been so excited for this trip. The first thing she wanted to do was make snow angels.
Unfortunately for us, the last big snow Tahoe got was over New Year's so most of the snow was hard & icy. (And, of course, right now it is DUMPING snow in Tahoe....we were a week too early!)
Here are some snapshots from our getaway:
The first night we were there, we heard a lot of noise from the room Kate was sleeping in....turns out she wasn't sleeping, she was walking around with my UGGS on.
I forgot the Pack n Play for Claire. Oops. So she slept on the sofa bed. She actually did really well....we are thinking about transiting her to a big girl bed in the very near future. Wish us luck.

The weather was beautiful the whole time we were there.
Blue skies & 50 degrees. Gorgeous!

We went on walks & played in the snow.

On Friday night, we headed to the new Northstar village for dinner.
Our friend Dan, pulling all the kids in a wagon.

The village is awesome, there are a ton of shops & restaurants with an ice skating rink in the middle.

The girls were in awe of the ice skating rink & really wanted to try it.

Kevin & the girls checking out the ice skaters while we waited for our table:

Sweet Kira:
All around the ice rink are fire pits with cozy outdoor furniture.
We brought stuff to make s'mores for an after dinner treat!
Waiting for our marshmallows to finish melting:

Claire loves her s'mores:

And so does Kate:

Jackie's daughter Beka really wanted to try ice skating, so she took her. So cute!

My girls watched Beka ice skate & they really wanted to go.

So, Beka let Kate borrow the skates for a turn. Kate was in heaven!

Seeing Kate skate made Claire want a turn, so Jackie took Claire on the ice with her boots on & Claire thought she was skating also.

On Saturday, the original plan was to go skiing, but because the weather was so warm & there hadn't been any new snowfall in a while, we decided to go sledding instead.

Kate could have stayed on the sledding hill all day long:

Kate is just so happy in the snow, it was so fun to watch her.

Kevin & the girls ready to go down the hill:

Dan & Jackie pulling their girls back up the hill:

The girls caught on fast that walking up the hill was hard work, so they just caught a ride on the sled & made Kevin pull them up each time.

Sledding is fun!

My turn to take a ride down the hill:

It was such a beautiful day to go sledding!

Kate & I:

The Nickelson's:

The Dowd's:

Our little family:

The whole group:

Lake Tahoe is my happy place & it was even better being up there with friends.
All of the kids played so well together.
We are already planning our next trip for this summer!