Lake Tahoe

We are back from our first little vacation with Ella! Overall, it went very well and she did a great job! We had a few meltdowns and some difficult times BUT we survived and had a good time! We left Thursday morning and just drove half-way there and stayed in a little town called Independence. She did great on the way there! Our hotel room was a bit snug with a pack and play added to the mix but we all slept ok and headed out Friday to finish our trip. We drove right through Mammoth and there decided spontaneously to go and see Devil's Postpile...a National Monument. However, I forgot a hat for Ella so we had to stop at a shop and buy one...a little too big for her head but it did it's job! So, we packed Ella up in the Baby Bjorn and went! We ended up hiking to Rainbow Falls as well and probably did about 4 miles! YIKES!! I was SO tired...probably the most exercise I've gotten since before I was pregnant! Ella actually slept the whole way but we were all hot and ready to get back on the little bus to bring us back to our car!

We still had a good 2-2 1/2 hour drive to Lake Tahoe and that was the rough part! I think Ella was just sick of it and the last 40 minutes or so were TORTURE!!! She was crying on and off, she couldn't calm down enough to fall asleep, we were having a hard time finding the place we were staying, we were driving in winding mountain roads, etc...it was BAD!!! BUT, we finally got there and I fed her, we gave her a bath, and she slept! All night actually which was great! Saturday we just walked around by one of the beaches and just hung out and walked around. It was a beautiful day but of course, I left the camera! That evening, we explored the grounds of where we stayed and got this silly picture of Ella working out!



Sunday, we got all ready for a picnic down by the lake, drove down there, and it rained! We thought it was clearing up so we put out our blanket and started to eat when it started to rain again! So...we had our picnic in the back of the car! It was a bummer!

Before the rain

During the rain!

Sunday night, my parents got there (it was their time-share) and we all went out to dinner. Ella had a bit of a rough night going down due to being overly-tired. By the way--why do kids fight sleep so much when they're so tired? If they would just relax for a minute they would go down!! I guess we'll never know! Monday was a nice day! My parents watched Ella for us in the afternoon and we went and enjoyed a leisurely lunch at a yummy restaurant! Then we walked around some shops and headed back! Ella was great that night and went right to bed so we could play some games with my parents. Tuesday morning, my parents watched Ella again and Eric and I rented a boat for an hour to cruise on the lake! We had a fun time and I almost got launched into the water after hitting one especially large wake! My back is still hurting!

We left around 12:30 from there to head home...Ella was AMAZING! We took longer stops and let her have good wake-time and we were home at 10:30 last night! It was a LONG travel day but it was so nice to be home and to sleep in our own bed! We stopped at one of the Mammoth Lakes for one of her feedings and got this family picture! I think it turned out pretty good considering the camera was sitting on a rock and I had to run to get in it! Love the timer...

Overall, we had a successful first family vacation and we learned SO much!