Gangi was able to join us for a week - the kids were excited to show her all their favorite Tahoe Donner spots, primarily the Trout Creek rec center pool:
- and the vending machines full of junky little toys and gum-balls at Pizza on the Hill.
It wasn't all pool-lounging and pizza eating.
I signed the kids up for an archery lesson, partly to get them out of Gangi's hair for a bit, and partly as an apology to Brennan, who had wanted to do an SF Rec & Parks archery camp with his school buddies but couldn't due to mis-matched schedules, the nail-biting competition for camp spots the minute registration goes live, and his mother's inability to do 2 drop offs in separate locations and get to work on time.
Lucie really wasn't that interested, but was a trooper and went along with it for her brother's sake. Despite Lucie's concerns about being the youngest and the only girl, Gangi reports she looked well on her way to being the next Katniss Everdeen by pick up time.
Lucie went to her favorite camp of the summer - horse camp at Piping Rock Equestrian Center! She reports it was "way better" than the horse camp she did with the San Mateo Y last summer, because she "got to do lots of riding every day, and at the other camp they only got to do riding a few times". Which shed some light on why a) I was miraculously able to find a horse camp last summer that would take 5 year olds; b) why Piping Rock cost almost 3 times as much, if you factor in that it was half-day.
The grand finale was the horse show on Friday. The kids brushed the horses to a shine and adorned their manes and tails with ribbons and braids, and then showed their families how they could ride safely in a group, navigate a little obstacle course, and do an emergency dismount.
Lucie was awarded the "Horse Whisperer" ribbon, possibly because she rolled with a change of mounts several times during the course of camp. Here she is on Classy, but I think she preferred riding Eclipse, a smaller gray mare who unfortunately was on the disabled list on show day.
It was a fun week - but kinda busy - before we knew it, it was time for Gangi to fly to Michigan, our friends to go home, and Daddy had to get back for a few days of work. Monday started a little chilly and overcast - bad weather for a pool day, but perfect for a hike with Roux!
We had a field trip with the same friends (& their mother) to Nevada City.
Our visit to the Empire Mine Historic Park was a bit of a bust - the kids were disappointed they could only go this far down the mine shaft. In my defense, all the promotional material touts the site as "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California" and kind of downplays that currently almost all of it is flooded.
But I managed to redeem myself with our next stop - the 49er Fun Park. $30 got us a cup full of tokens and 2 go-karts. Waiting for 5 kids to calculate how much candy and cheap trinkets their game tickets would get them was excruciating, but on the upside, Lucie wasn't sure about her go-kart driving skills and asked me to be her chauffeur.
We made sure to fit in other favorites - like pool-side ice cream treats:
- Wiki Stick art and buttermints at The Lodge -
- and binge reading graphic novels picked up at the thrift store.
Daddy was back soon, for Brennan's birthday. He celebrated 9 years with a new skateboard -
- and a piñata cake with family and friends.
What? you say, How is that a piñata cake? It doesn't look like an animal or Spiderman or Sponge Bob. No one is whacking it with anything. Well, my friend, check out the candy insides of the cake:
We spent a little playtime enjoying toys old and new in the driveway-
Roux showed interest in making new friends -
- but I thought that might not be the best idea.
We started our last day off right with a very exciting trip to the dump. Sorry, no photos, but I can report that finding the site and paying $9 to throw styrofoam and unwanted lumber into a stinky, hangar-like building while wondering what the minor scrapes I acquired in the process were possibly getting infected with, did embolden us to start claiming "part-time" residency status.
Also the dump looked close to some access points on the Truckee River Trail, so why not make a day of it? We brought along the bikes for a few hours of cycling along the river, with a few stops: lunch in Squaw Valley, mistaking 2 large hairy dogs for bears, and what might appear to be an Olan Mills studio with a "mountain forest" backdrop.
While we were biking, Brennan and Lucie were invited to join their friends for a big boating party on Donner Lake, followed by pizza and a sleepover. While I'd made some "last night of summer vacation" plans, I knew what they would prefer -
- so I dropped them at the marina, called the restaurant to change our 4 at 5pm reservation to 2 at 7pm, and went to stuff cardboard into the bin at the Sheriff Station solo.
I'd filled my maximum number of yard waste bags and even Daddy had run out of chores, so we went downtown early to walk around before dinner. We made it about halfway down the main drag when the sprinkling started, progressing to a full-on downpour by the time we got back to the restaurant. But it gave us the chance to stop in the wine bar downstairs, and mid-way through dinner the rain stopped and left this behind:
As always, we wished we could stay longer, but it was time to head back to the city for the first day of school. So long, Truckee, we'll see you again soon!
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