Tahoe - Day 1

Growing up, every January, my family would take a long weekend up to Tahoe to spend time together, enjoy the snow and celebrate my brother's birthday. We always rented the same condo and I appreciated the family time together.

We had a revisited family trip 5 years ago, but haven't been back since Luke has been born. I was so excited about Luke getting to play in the snow. Grandma and Papa decked Luke out with some winter gear along with snow gear handed down from his cousins. After the ER visit, we were concerned about Luke traveling, but the doctor okay'd it, so we went with it.

The first day, Luke was so excited, we bundled him up, bundled ourselves up and were out the door. He had so much fun sledding and walking around!


The weather was beautiful and Luke loved to GO FAST. Imagine that!

We found a snow covered playground that Luke was happy to toddle around in. He found it very funny to slide down a slide that was half-covered in snow. Not a fast slide, but a silly one.

Todd took a seat and watched for a bit while I took a bunch o'pictures.

Then he tried his hand at "Sled-boarding."


Not very effective at first, but he got the hang of it.


Todd tried to get a really gigantic icicle for Luke, but it was a little more difficult that he had anticipated.

He was successful, though!

Papa had to get one for Luke, too. It was scary and enormous.

I was so happy to see how much fun Luke was having - he didn't complain about the cold or about the falling, he was just glad to get out and play in it.


Luke loved to be pulled along on the sled. Grandma thought it would be pretty fun to pelt him with snowballs. Interestingly, he thought it was pretty funny, too.


After the first day, we were all pretty exhausted. Luke's cousins were going to be driving up that afternoon, so we relaxed for the afternoon. We were going to be starting off the next day sledding and had to be ready for that.

Except . . .

Luke ended up with a high fever that night. Poor guy - it was just awful. We were up all night trying to get that fever to break . . . which it finally did around 4 am. My parents were on the phone trying to find the nearest hospital, in case he got any worse. He had never had a fever that high before, so we were all freaking out.

But after the fever broke, Luke and the rest of us were all able to get some sleep and relax.

First Day - Round 2!

We'll do a little backtracking before keeping current. I'm okay with that, hope you are too.

Winter break was what I'd like to refer to as "Clash of the Titans" as we were feverishly trying to potty train Luke before he started full-day preschool. It was not successful. It was full of tears and frustration and a really poor way to potty train. I don't recommend it.

School was starting on January 3rd. Luke started peeing on the potty on January 2nd. Nothing like pushing the boundaries. The only reason he started peeing was because it was on his own terms. I know that, he knows that.

So the next "My-Baby-Is-Growing-Up-To-Fast" moment that results in tears and photos is making Luke's school lunch. So I cried and took a picture. Due to his "activity" level, Luke is off juice at school. :)


And, I totally forgot to take a picture of my kid. *sigh*

But Luke absolutely loves school and couldn't be happier. We still have moments of crying when we have to leave, but it just reminds me that he really wants to be there. We've seen improvement in so many areas - from listening and following directions to knowing his letters and sounds. He loves learning Spanish and adores his Spanish teacher - it's nice to be able to hear about what he's up to all day, as he's only a few classrooms over from me and I'm always running into his teachers.

The first day of school, Luke bailed running of the play structure and fell on the steps, face first. Took him all of one day for a head injury.

By Thursday, he ran, fell into a cement wall and I was off to the ER. Sounds about right. Turned out he was okay, but he was acting strangely: wanting to go to sleep, not wanting to eat, crying a lot, and asking for me. Not like him at all. But he had a great time at the ER and hanging out with the doctor. The worst part? They put a monitor on his thumb sucking thumb. That was NOT okay.

But Luke got a popscicle, some juice and a hospital bracelet out of the deal, so we were good. And we left the next day for a family trip to Tahoe . . . which was another adventure.

MONSTER TRUCKS.

For Luke turning 3, we had to have a monster truck party. Luke has never seen a monster truck rally but he still loves them. I think it must be a boy thing. I found the invites online and had to laugh at a monster truck barreling through a cake. It was very "Luke."


We kept the party pretty simple this year, which was definitely a good thing as most kids were either a) sick and couldn't come or b) getting sick and were only staying for a bit. This both resulted in c) Luke getting sick. (More to come on that)


Always watch the kids.

As any parent will tell you, kids at a party really only need 1 thing: balloons. Not even nice blown up helium balloons (mine were half deflated by the party anyways . . .) but just regular ol' air balloons to be kicked around and hit back and forth. Glad I didn't drop all the $$ on the pinata. *phew*

We bought take-n-bake pizzas from Safeway on the cheap and even sent a couple of unbaked pizzas home with family. Fruit, spinach dip and cheese and crackers rounded out the meal. And cupcakes. Of course, cupcakes. I put decorated donuts on the tops of the cupcakes, which were decorated to theoretically look like monster truck tires. Eh. Close enough. No one complained!



The kids ran and played, enjoyed pizza, sang 'Happy Birthday' and ate cupcakes. Luke opened presents, but got tired of it pretty quickly. (We still have yet to do family gifts. He is certainly wants for nothing . . .) Everyone trickled out and a few friends and family remained to hang for a little bit. Luke napped like a champ and we were thrilled. He was able to get up and play with his new presents . . . but then came . . . the fever . . .


Not so interested in taking pictures and being swung around by Daddy . . . we get why now.

Playing with his fire truck and fire house from Grandma and Papa.