Lake Tahoe

We headed to Lake Tahoe over Memorial Day weekend and had SO MUCH FUN!!! It was absolutely gorgeous! We went with three other families and had a blast. All the kids were so cute together and enjoyed each others company. It was a looong drive but so worth it. Kaia and Kristian did so well. Kaia watched 100 dvds and Kristian slept the entire way with small breaks to eat :) Eight and a half hours later we were there!
We rented this beautiful chalet in Tahoe City in North Tahoe. It was a few minutes from Alpine Meadows ski lift (you can see it in some of the pics below). The town was so cute with all kinds of local shops and restaurants. We fell in love with the area immediately. People were so friendly and just seemed to enjoy life (with that kind of view every day why wouldn't they?). The house was so great and every day started off with a gorgeous view of the snow covered mountains. The weather was perfect. It was in the 50s in the mornings, 60s and 70s during the day and back in the 50s once the sun went down (maybe even the 40s). We ate GREAT food, drank great wine, and had many laughs (not hard to do with this crowd).
Here are some pics of the house, our walk around the neighborhood the first day, the kids, and some random others.

The Chalet


On Saturday we headed to King's Beach. It was in the mid 70s, low 80s so we were able to put a suit on and play in the sand and water. Kaia LOVED the beach. She enjoyed playing in the sand and really loved watching the water approach her. She would shout, "Here comes a big one" and the water would crash into her legs and she would laugh so hard.
It was the perfect beach for families. Lots of shaded areas, a playground, and a sandy beach area for the kids to play.

King's Beach


On Sunday we drove 30 minutes to Emerald Bay. It was beautiful! We hiked Cascade Falls which was about a 45 minute hike up and back. Once at the top of the falls, we hung out for about an hour and a half. We had a picnic with the most amazing view over the lake and Kaia did some light hiking with daddy while I fed Kristian. There are a million pics of the landscape because I just couldn't stop shooting, it was too pretty!!!

Hiking Cascade Falls



After the hike we were in need of something sweet so we headed back into Tahoe City and got a giant ice cream cone and went and ate it on the docks of the marina. It was fun watching the boats come and go and Kaia thoroughly enjoyed her ice cream!!!
Ice Cream at the Marina

Mom and Kristian

Thanks Vegas and Krystal for the adorable onesie for Kristian....very fitting :)

It doesn't get old...

I could take 1000 pics of these two cuties. They just get cuter and cuter everyday :) Of course, I am a little biased!!!

Summer Fun...

Some shots of Kaia playing outside. It is getting so hot, we may not have many more of these pics soon :(

Hiking Mary Jane's Falls

We headed up to Mt. Charleston this past weekend to escape the Vegas heat! We thought we would try this 2 hour hike and it was gorgeous! The views were great and it ended up being a 4 hour hike because we had so much fun at the top!! Kaia enjoyed the 100 ft. water fall, the snow, hiking to the cave with dad (mom was a nervous wreck and stayed behind to feed Kristian), and she even found a buddy to play in the snow with! We will definitely do this hike again!!

Some stats...

Kristian went to the doctor this week for his 8 week well baby check (he is 9 weeks now) and here is what we found out...
He weighed 14 lbs. 11 ounces, was 24 1/4 inches long and his head was 40 cm in circumference
He is in the 95% for weight and 90% for height
He is healthy and happy and doing great!!! He didn't even cry for his shots (although mommy did a little) :)
He is such a cutie pie and is really starting to stay awake a lot longer during the day now. He loves to interact with Kaia and have little conversations with Mommy and Daddy!



















Some comparison pics at 9 weeks

























See Kaia's 10 week stats

DIVA, but in a good way :) at least for now....

She is definitely getting worse in the DIVA department but it is oooohhhh so cute! She LOVES to have her finger and toe nails painted and she loves wearing mommy's shoes!! She also enjoys sitting on the counter and "helping" me put on my make-up and she will brush my hair for hours if I let her. She combs and brushes her own hair and loves to sit and let me experiment with different hair styles on her...she is so fun!!! I love having my little girl around :)

9 weeks old

Kristian is nine weeks old and growing and changing so much. He loves to laugh and smile! He is finally enjoying being on his tummy and is really raising his head up high. He is still eating so well and the past two nights he slept for 8 hours ....WOO HOOO!!!!!!

Out of the bath...

Hiking the Valley of Fire

We went hiking on Saturday in the Valley of Fire. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect! We are trying to get in as much as possible while the kids can still be outside! The sandstone rock formations were awesome and looked really neat in front of the limestone ones creating different color backgrounds. Kaia was enthralled by the lizards (they were BIG!) and she really enjoys hiking some on her own now. Kristian did well too...he slept in the Bjorn until we stopped and had a picnic and decided to wake up and talk to us!! We stopped at the visitors center and Kaia enjoyed the museum part where she got to see some snakes and lizards up close.

In case you don't want to look through the 200 landscape pics I took, I divided them into two different slideshows...one of pics with US in them and the other, just God's gorgeous works of art (not that we aren't :) :) )!!!