J.J.'s new shorts

My mom gave Jayden a new pair of army inspired shorts.  Yesterday morning, Jayden came into my bedroom wearing these camouflage shorts and says to me, "Mama, these shorts are sooo cool.  You know why?".  I thought to myself, my son must have found the ammo holder (pockets for individual gun shells/bullets).

Jayden points to the ammo holder and excitedly exclaims, "Look at how many pencils I can carry!".

Gl-amping Bliss

We just returned from our first camping trip of the season at D.L. Bliss in Lake Tahoe.  Based on all supplies we pack along - we affectionately refer to it as "Gl-amping" (glamourous + camping).

Question, is it still counted as "roughing it" if you wake up to freshly percolated coffee and towers of pancakes, eggs and bacon in the morning.  At night, mood lighting lanterns illuminate our camp kitchen as we prepare our gourmet snacks while singing along to the music from our satellite radio, all this before we turn in for the night on our queen sized aero-bed mattress.  Did I also mention our tent is heated?  Do we feel ashamed that our tent is nicer than our house?  Let us ponder this, while we lay in our double sized down sleeping bag in our climate controlled tent under the stars and we will get back to you.

As you can see, we were joined by Jayden's BFF and her family, the Czarnotas.  This was their first family camping trip!  The husband already forewarned his wife not to get used to all the "luxuries" that we bring. Luxuries? We call them necessities! 

First night: snug as bugs

A hiking we will go...

The next day we hiked the Horsetail trail.  It is a easier moderate hike along Pyramid Creek over granite slabs created from glaciers and along the edge of a series of cascading waterfalls. 

 Hiking Buddies

 Jayden and Lillie

 Loved the terrain on Horsetail trail!

Jayden finds his first geo-cache treasure!  Honestly, the adults were just as excited.

"Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online"

 It's an ammunition carton...but wait, what's inside?

 

Yes, we've been bitten

 Geo-Cache Booty

The coolest part?  This geo-cache was started 10 years ago - August 4, 2001, the same day that Chris and I got married.  What a memorable geo-cache find.  We will have to come back to find it again in another 10 years!

 J.J. and my "special" husband all ready for the trail!

J and J

 Taking a picture of "taking a picture"

 Lucy-Lu

 BFFs

 

 

Place where magic almost turned to tragedy (due to stupidity).  A group of tourists had climbed on a boulder in the middle of the river for a photo op.  One of the members fell into the water (surprise!) and almost drowned, if not for the quick action of our friend Pat, this guy would have been a goner.

 

 rainbow mists

night vision

What to do after a day of extraordinary hiking?  Spend it hanging out on the beach by the pristine waters of Lake Tahoe.  This was what was awaiting us just a few steps from our campsite:

 It's splash time!

 Preparing for the maiden voyage

 

Our Marriott beach tradition - dig the hole!

Here are the snaps form our last night, just chillin' by the fire:

 me and my babes

I am willing the fire to burn hotter

 watch out ladies - "glo-stache"

 My Pyro-husband

  I know someone who would not approve!

This place was so beautiful and we had so much fun that we were all sad to return to "civilization".  Glad we got to share it with the Czarnota family.  We can easily imagine many more - flash forward to the days when Lillie, Lucy, and Jay bring their families together for the Czarnota/Marriott camping trips here. 

 The whole family