We made reservations for a rental in Tahoe eons ago for the week that Dylan and Taliana were on winter break from school. Given previous years, we knew snow wasn’t a guarantee in January, but we crossed our fingers for it anyway.
As it turned out, the weather was perfectly balmy and beautiful and there was hardly any snow to be seen anywhere(!), but that didn’t deter us all from having a good time!
The big highlight for the kids was sledding on a small hill covered with manmade crusty snow (you could even see patches of the ground at the bottom!). The kids also played with the snow in a teeny snowbank along the side. They had so much fun the first day of sledding, we took them back the next day for a couple of hours more….
This was the first time Cameron rode on a sled! Last year, while everyone else sledded, I holed up in the car and nursed her….
She just loved it! And, unlike Dylan the first time he encountered snow play, she was gung-ho about getting her hands into it and playing. She didn’t mind wearing a hat, snowsuit, boots, or mittens (unlike Dylan who disliked ALL of that bulky wear…).
As usual, we had to battle with Dylan to persuade him he’d have fun–he didn’t like his snowsuit, his boots, his jacket, or his gloves!
Luckily, the snow was so crusty, he didn’t really need boots and we brought an extra pair of pants so he could skip the snowsuit and change clothes if he got too wet (he didn’t).
After much pouting and dragging of feet, I decided to quietly just walk the grumpy boy up the hill with me after having asked if Heather would be willing to sled down with him. He wanted me to go with him, but when I explained to him that I couldn’t because of the baby, he went on with Heather…and clearly had a great time!
I think he only did 1 or 2 runs with Heather before he went off on his own….
He even lugged his own saucer up the hill!
Of course, sledding is more fun with good buddies….
The big kids went down the hill a few times all holding hands. It was very sweet.
After sledding some, the kids all made some snowballs.
Then, when the kids got hungry, we fed them apples and PB&J sandwiches before heading back to the house for hot cocoa.
The second day of sledding was a little cooler, but that didn’t deter Cameron at all!!
Dylan loved sledding, but the ground was crustier this second day, so after a few runs, he wanted to go into the “lodge” with me.
We also just had fun hanging around the house. The property next door (owned by the guy who built our rental) had a nice outdoor swing. And, the property went all the way to the creek–it was frozen on top, but we could still hear the water running below.
By the way, this sweater was Cameron’s holiday picture sweater that she’d previously refused to wear!
Dylan was more interested in collecting materials for a fairy house than he was in the swing or the frozen river.
Of course, Tom had to make fun of me snapping away on the camera!
Due to the lack of snow, we spent more time indoors than we probably normally would have! Heather coordinated a production of the Three Little Pigs and I got to be the assistant.
Heather made piggy ears and noses from construction paper and tape and adorable squiggly tails out of giant bendable noodles! It definitely pays to have such a creative best friend!
All of the kids LOVED practicing and they were so eager to put on their play!
And they all did their lines beautifully, including Cameron (who just loved saying, “not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!”
The kids also threw a bday party for Taliana’s doll, Ivy (Heather made the cake, candles and candle flames out of construction paper…who knew it could look so good??).
It was a surprise party!!
The night before, the 3 bigger kids spent quite a lot of time wrapping all sorts of presents for Ivy!
Of course, there was also a lot of reading time…Here they are reading with Heather’s mom (called Anyam–“grandma” in Hungarian).
And, here they are reading with Heather’s dad.
And the kids found one of Dylan’s dreidels in one of his activity bags, so they all organized a game using Cheerios as currency!
Dylan and Taliana listened to kiddie music on his mp3 player (my old Rio player), too. They dragged it to dinner, but luckily, they are still very willing to take them off when asked!
You can see the kids really know how to make the most of a situation! This tiny patch of snow just outside the house entertained them for close to an hour!!!
We all had a great time! I think Dylan just loved having a 4-night sleepover with his best buddies, waking up and immediately getting to play and playing until bed time. It was party, party, party! And, Cameron is just game for just about anything!
In the end, the lack of snow was maybe a positive! It was Cameron and K’s first time really playing with snow and it wasn’t tooooo cold or wet (some of the things that kind of put Dylan off in the past). Still, we are hoping for more snow next time…!
