Ice House Reservoir

This is the fourth time we've camped at Ice House Reservoir in the past five years.

The lake is small enough that there isn't too much activity. The weather is warm enough for swimming but we're still in a mountain environment. We just love it.

My sister and her husband drove their 5th-wheel down from Washington to join us. Along the drive their trailer had two flat tires; the first they changed with the spare and the second happened close enough to my house that Walt was able to go "rescue" them. After a trip to the tire store, they had five new tires and were back on the road again. Needless to say, the first day started out a little later than planned.

We camped four nights. Here's what we did while we were there.

Meals:







An easy hike(it was listed as easy but it totally wasn't) along a creek to find a waterfall that only Walt managed to get to after scaling granite rocks:




Our friend, Wendy, visited us on Monday. She took the hike with us, had breakfast and lunch, and hung out by the lake.


Around camp:



This was a balancing-on-one-foot show down.


We hunted down two geocaches:






Walt, the kids and I went up to Big Hill Lookout for the views:

It's a fire lookout with a vista point.



This is Union Valley Reservoir. It's not far from Ice House but it's a much larger lake.

And at the lake:


Walt's boat was a source of frustration. The motor only worked for one day.

He had to use the electric trolling motor to take the family out fishing. It was a four hour tour.

Although neither dog likes being in water, both dogs are very different. At the beach, Smokey would run back and forth in the water biting at the small waves from wakes.

Buddy would sit in any shade he could find.





That's another camping trip down. Who knows what next year will bring?

A Little Nature Goes a Long Way

We went camping with my sister, Shelly, and her husband, Nick for four nights at Ice House Reservoir. The kids and I have been camping with Shelly for five years in a row now and no matter how many nights we stay it just never feels long enough.

Here is a peek into the trip. I'll post more soon.

The Amazing Lake Tahoe

A friend of ours, Susan, was given a week stay at her boss's Tahoe house as a Christmas gift. She reserved her week in July and invited her sister, nephews and some friends to join her.



Josh, Carley and I were able to squeeze in a couple nights up there between family visiting and reading classes, which gave us one full day to play.

All I have to say is WOW! We had a wonderful time.


There were several other kids there for my kids to play with and they all got along so well.


In fact, there were enough kids that they sort of became self-sufficient and didn't demand too much attention from the adults. It was wonderful.


They played Apples To Apples a lot. It's now Josh's new favorite game.


One of Susan's managers was up in a different area of the lake with her husband and their boat. They were kind enough to share it with us.


They gave us a shoreline tour of the lake. It lasted nearly 4 hours!


Some areas of water were absolutely amazing. The colors were like nothing I've seen before.


We even docked for a potty break and a quick snack.


I've been around the lake in a car but never on a boat. The views are so different.


After the boat ride, we hung out at the beach at Camp Richardson for the rest of the afternoon.


All five kids took an hour long paddle boat ride.


And played in the sand.


The adults were able to sit on the patio of the restaurant and have lunch while we watched the kids play. Luxury.


The long day in the sun wiped us out. Carley fell asleep before we bot back to the house.


A short walk from the backyard of the house is a creek. Each evening we went to the creek.


Some people were brave enough to get in. Not me.


I was just the photographer.


It was such a beautiful area there was no need to experience the ice cold water.


Carley had reading class so we had to cut the fun short and head home. Josh, on the other hand, was able to stay two extra nights with his friends and caught a ride home on Saturday.

The two nights and one day went by so quickly and we were sad to go. But the experience and memories are something we'll never forget! So thanks to Susan for that.

For Josh, Carley and me, it was a first being at Lake Tahoe during the summer, being on Lake Tahoe in a boat, and swimming in Lake Tahoe. The only thing that was missing was Walt but he has at home, hard at work earning money for our family to have the wonderful life and experiences that we have. And thank you to Walt for that!