Tahoe Trip – Part 1

These next few posts will be terribly out of order, but at least they’re going to get done. Eventually.  Much love to Mr. Tony for taking pictures with his snazzy camera as my cruddy little point-and-shoot came out a blurry mess.  Clearly, I had anticipated more from my camera than it was designed for and left my higher quality camera back at the cabin.  Lesson learned.

So in our two weeks off between the end of the school year and summer school, we rented a cabin for a week with the Gartins and the Fazzios for some good ol’ Tahoe fun.  As the boys are very active and Todd had to come to Reno to pick me up from the airport (another story, another post) everyone decided to head out to Reno for the day.  In Reno is one of those trampoline places and we thought the boys would love it.  The parents loved it because the Fazzios had a hook up and we didn’t have to pay. Sweet.

Did the boys love it? Uh . . . YES.  Did both my boys love it? You betcha. 

Was I jealous? Yes. Lame.

Luke’s favorite part? Jumping into the foam pit.

Daddy’s favorite part? Jumping into the foam pit.

Todd:

Mini- Todd:

Todd:

Mini-Todd: (barely missing getting run over by Shannon!)

Todd: (think he enjoys trampolines?)

The kids having fun altogether.  Being reminded repeatedly to get out of “traffic” on the trampolines. (ie: 15 year old boys being crazy.)

“Tony. Seriously. You’re not really going to take my picture in such an unflattering pose. Right? You know that this is a terrible angle. Right? Right?” Crap.  FYI: I had just flown in from SJ and was super tired/cranky/irritated. Oh and hugely pregnant. Bleh.

Drowning in a sea of foam.  While Mommy just watches.

So we discovered that we need to find more of these places in our area because there are so few activities that actually tire our boys out.  I mean, seriously. It is no surprise that there are going to be 4.5 years between my kids.  Luke is exhausting.  I am far more tired than he is by the end of the day.  That being said, I totally won on the husband front:  Todd can at least keep up with him.  Todd is awesome for that.  Especially now more than ever as I cannot physically do half of what Luke wants to do.

Good Reno times for the afternoon and then back to Tahoe for relaxation.  Which is what I was really ready for!

I love quotes.  I love it when someone can concisely say what I wish I could say.  I admire brevity and cleverness.  Every day, I get a Quote of the Day from my favorite magazine, "Real Simple." Sometimes the quotes come at serendipitous times and sometimes they're just interesting.  

Today's Quote o' the Day is one that I readily use and attempt to apply to my life.  It is one of the reasons that I love sunflowers.  I love that it's all about attitude and finding the positives in life.  It's one of the reasons that I have sunflowers as part of my tattoo. It is an idea that I want to instill in my children.  

What I didn't know? It is a Helen Keller quote.  You see, in my crazy mixed-up mind, I feel a special connection to Helen Keller. Weird, right?  Well, I decided on this "special connection" years ago when I did a report on her and found that we have the same birthday (June 27th) exactly 100 years apart (1880 vs. 1980).  And that while she lost her senses of vision and hearing, I have no sense of smell.  Weak connection, at best, but I was like, 12 years old and held onto my "beliefs."

All that out of the way, this year has been a challenge.  I have had my most difficult year at work, feeling incompetent and overwhelmed the majority of the year.  I tried to remind myself of this quote and told others about it, in weak attempts to bolster myself up.  Most of the time, I faked it.  At work, I smacked a smile on my face and tried my best to keep turning toward the sunshine.

The long and the short of it . . . it's all about attitude.  I can't control anyone or anything but myself, and I'll make the decision to face the sun.

And my grades are FINALLY done. Woo hoo!