Lake Tahoe

We tried to put together a big family get together at Lake Tahoe this year.  It didn't quite go as planned, but it turned out to be a great visit anyway.  Karen and her family were able to make it to Tahoe for a couple of days, as was Valerie and her family (minus husbands in both cases).  It was a great sister visit! 

The three Pyne sisters ... me, Karen and Val

Lincoln is the newest addition to our family, and boy is he a cutie!  He's such a happy baby.  Leticia (Mom) and Thomas (Dad, Val's son) sitting on the beach.

We stayed in a house in South Lake Tahoe.  Rental houses have become my accommodation of choice for family vacations.

Don't ask why there's an undecorated Christmas tree in the living room in August ...

After a couple of days in Tahoe (because everyone else had to get back to work), I drove over to Grass Valley, Calif., where Karen and Mike now live.  What a beautiful area!  Thanks to GPS, I went a different route than I probably could have figured out on my own.  It was like driving through an English countryside, except on the right side of the road.  I even passed through Cool, California ... wouldn't that be an awesome place to live?

Karen and Mike have managed once again to find a "cabin in the woods" type of house.  We also went over to Lake of the Pines, a very nice resort area where Karen works, and walked through the town of Grass Valley. 

After a couple of days with the Willis family, I drove over to Fallon, Nevada to spend some time with Valerie.  I'm embarrassed to say that I have never been to their place before, so it seemed that it was high time I went.  It's a bit out in the middle of nowhere, but they have a huge property (necessary for all of Dale's antique cars) and lots of open space around them.  Val made some awesome chicken tacos, and we had a great visit.  I was able to see Dale's two inventions ...

a folding tailgate seat (guys would absolutely LOVE this in their garage!) and ...

Sock Me, which is a device that allows people to pull on their socks without having to bend over at all (I tried it ... it works like a charm).  He came up with this at the request of a friend who could not pull on his own socks.  Both of these inventions are in the process of being patented.  Thomas, their son, is also quite the inventor.  Because they are deaf parents of a hearing child, he came up with a baby monitor that vibrates when the baby is crying.  Ingenious!

"Trains"

One of the things that Atticus absolutely loves is "trains" (TRAX).  No matter how long we sit and watch them go by, he always wants to stay longer.  So one day I decided to take him on an adventure.  We rode TRAX down to the City Library and back.

Even though he was completely tuckered out by the time we got home, he still wanted to stay and watch the "trains" and all during our walk home, he kept trying to turn me around to go back. 

Pioneer Day Floats

It has been awhile since I have been to SLC's Pioneer Days Parade, and really, the main thing I have missed is seeing all the great floats.  But, to my delight, they have a float "preview" at the South Town Expo Center a few days before the parade ... and let me tell you, this is the way to see the floats!  First of all, they're up front and personal.  Second, they have all kinds of great kids' activities (which we would have taken better advantage of if we had planned better).  And finally, you get to be the ones voting on the them (I always wondered who did the voting).  Oh, and it's inside where it's nice and cool.  So, yeah, I think this needs to be our new tradition. 

The overall theme seemed to be something to do with dreams.  One of the activities for kids was to write down one of their dreams or goals, put it in the wishing well bucket, and then when the bucket came back up, it contained a piece of candy.  This was Teague's dream, in his own writing: