Early Memorial Day at the Lake

Rule number one when you want to spend a day at Lake Tahoe in your own private cove. Get there early! Dave and I pack up in the morning....Well OK, Dave packs up early in the morning. It takes me 30 minutes to drink my coffee and put on my sunblock - a must before you hit the beach and sun at 6,000+ feet. Dave makes sandwiches and packs our day packs, etc.

We arrive at the lake before 9am. It takes a good 30-40 minutes to hike down from the road to the lake and find the perfect spot. The water is low this year meaning more sandy spots, but bad for the CA water supply.

It is amazing the amount of stuff that you can pack down in two day packs: sun tent, umbrella, one blanket, two towels, lunch, water, reading material, iPods, camera, binoculars.... well you get the picture.

There is nothing better than relaxing with nothing else to do except read, lay in the sun, and catch up on my Fresh Air podcasts.

The weather was picture perfect. Sunny and in the low 70's. Blue sky and puffy white clouds. It was surprisingly empty on both Friday and Saturday. All of the hotels in King's Beach had vacancy signs. The economy is hurting tourism in the area.



We were lucky enough to see a mother with her ducklings and a family of geese with their goslings when we were there.



Some of Dave's pictures from our day.

Grandma's 100th Birthday

My Grandmother just turned 100! We celebrated in style at my Aunt's house where my grandmother lives. Currently there are 5 generations in one household. My Grandmother, my Aunt, her daughter - Becky, two of Becky's children (Fawn and Cheyenne), and Fawn's two children. Don't worry, the house is big enough to hold them all and my uncle is an extremely wonderful man! Although my Aunt Ilene gets the award in my book for patience and acceptance.

My Grandmother gets around with her walker and is still completely alert and talkative. The only problem is her hearing. It could be better, but she refused to purchase new hearing aids when she was about 90. She didn't think it was worth the investment... ha! She occasionally doesn't feel well and demands to be taken to the hospital. The last time this happened was the day before her party. She woke up and told Ilene that she wanted them to call an ambulance. When Ilene told her that everyone was coming for her birthday party the next day she responded, "Oh, well then, I guess I feel alright after all."

So what day in May do celebrate this auspicious occasion? Well, we aren't exactly sure what day. My Grandmother has always celebrated her birthday on May 19th. Social Security has her birthday down as May 16th. My Aunt had been going through old papers a few days before and found my Grandmother's birth certificate. It had the date of May 21, 1909. Grandma was very upset over the birth certificate discrepancy. "My mother told me I was born on the 19th!"

Me....I'm not upset... I know her real birthday is the 19th. I mean wouldn't you trust a mother's word over the government's?

More pictures

Mom's Night Out

When I was having my kids almost 20 years ago, the concept of a "mom's night out" didn't exist in my world. Now, I don't know if it existed in some other world where husbands did half the childcare and cleaned the house, but not in my world.

Not that I'm complaining. My husband gave me lots of breaks, but they came in the form of taking the girls for walks or keeping them entertained at the beach so I could read.

And as my children got older and the concepts of "play dates" and "mommy and me" became popularized I scoffed at the these overly structured parenting activities. Weren't you just supposed to throw your kids outside in the backyard on a nice day and lock the door for a few hours? That is what my mom did and since none of my peers had children when I did, I had no other role models -- at least that is my excuse.

Anyway, about the time the notion of "play dates" hit it's peak, another idea also became popularized -- "mom's night out." This isn't a bunch of friends getting together for a good time. It is an organized structured outing. Thank god, at this point my children were well into two digits and I felt no need to participate.

However, last night my sister-in-law called me up she was excited "I'm going to my mom's night out! You know I told you. Your brother's watching the kids. It is over by your house. Did you want to come?"

So, I found myself at BJ's one of those awful chain restaurants that have taken over suburbia and are now even moving into downtown areas to punish everyone. The table was filled with women my age (OK maybe a little younger) all of whom had had children no older than 5. Hmmmmm so the conversations went something like:

Some pregnant woman who looks like she will pop any moment, "Oh, We just went to pre-kindergarten day for Jamie. It was so much fun, but I hope he is emotionally ready for school." Me "Oh, I get my daughter from college in a couple of weeks. I don't know if I am emotionally ready for her to come home."

Another woman with tattoos on her shoulder, "We don't know what to do about Darcy's potty mouth." Me "Yea, the potty mouth thing is tough. I don't know what to do with the morning after pill prescription that I found in my 16 year old's bedroom." I actually sort of hoped that she might have a suggestion for me, but I guess the tattoos were just for show.


OK, so the conversations probably didn't really happen quite that way, if at all, and I actually did have fun, but I definitely had more fun when my sis-in-law came back to my house just the two of us for a little "wine and whine"........ We can try to organize fun and friendships, for our kids and for ourselves, but it isn't the same as finding a true friend who is there for you no matter what.

Prom

I've never been to prom. When I was prom age I was in my anti-establishment mode and you wouldn't have caught me dead at prom. Prom was for valley girls and cheerleaders and certainly not for me. Think "Breakfast Club" and that might paint a picture for you.


But, now that I am 41, I have shopped for at least four prom dresses. We have have sent our girls off to various incarnations of this special dance every spring for the past three years. They have gone with boyfriends, friends and lovers.

It has been an exciting time of anticipation and preparation. Each time they head out the door I realize that this is a letting go exercise for me. I am watching them grow up and learn how to make choices about all kinds of things both important and mundane. Choices about dresses, about dancing (to freak dance or not to freak dance), about partners, and choices about being safe.

Alyssa is home this morning safe and sound and sore from dancing. She has at least one more prom to go. Which means I do too. I'm actually looking forward to it, but thank god I have a year in between.