TAHOE 2011~

WARNING LONG POST!!

This year for the Andersen Family Reunion we hit up TAHOE!!

Most of the family is from Idaho or Utah, so the reunions tend to be in that area. Matt and I have only made one or two of those reunions, but when Family from California plans the reunion we are SURE to go!!
Matt, the kids and I packed up the Assender as much as it could take and headed out. We dropped off some Wakeboarding stuff in Stockton, then hit Sacramento for dinner and to pick up my sister Sharon. We went up a day earlier than the rest of the group. We stayed in Matt's Parents time share for the first two nights. Here Landon is enjoying breakfast on Wednesday morning.

 After breakfast we all got dressed and ready for the day. I realized I forgot to bring my body wash, so we decided we would do a little shopping until the rest of the family arrived...

 Sharon and I are relaxing in the swing at the time share waiting for Matt and the kids who were playing. After some fun shopping we decided to get lunch... Taco Bell was having crunch wraps for .99$ so we decided to hit them up RIGHT away!!

 After Lunch we headed to the hotel that the Reunion was being held at to see who was there and see how great the beach access was. We packed the kids in the stroller, but not before we hit up the grocery store for dessert. ICE CREAM... we walked by the beach enjoying our ice cream just waiting for the crew to arrive. After our stroll everyone got to the Hotel and we checked the place out. We were all on our own for dinner so the Bryan K. Andersen Family hit up Applebee's. We had an EARLY celebration for Matt's Birthday. It was alot of fun, and the food was GREAT!

 And of course we took the opportunity for some FAMILY pictures...

 The GIRLS

(notice Hailey running, she ran circles around us and she thought she was SOOOO funny)

 THE BOYS

(Matt and Preston TYPICAL crazy shot)

We headed back to the Reunion Hotel, did a little swimming, and then went back to the time share.

The next day on Thursday we had a great breakfast then went Crawdad Fishing.

 We drove then hiked to Fallen Leaf Lake and fished off the Dam. When we were younger my family, and my Uncle Brad's family would go crawdad fishing. We LOVED it. We usually just fished in Lake Tahoe, but this was a beautiful little spot I was glad we hit up.

 Landon enjoyed EATING more than he enjoyed the crawdad fishing...

 Here comes the "LATE COMERS" half of the family left a little earlier and got lost. I hear it was a beautiful scenic drive so not so bad. I also hear my brother Preston was leading the way... that explains a lot! Above is my little sister Nicole and her hubby Brian holding their daughter Katelyn. They left baby John John at the hotel with grandma.

 Everyone had a great time. It started to look REAL gloom because NO ONE was having any luck with the crawdad fishing. Then Matt went over to an area that had still water and saw a few crawdads. I think we ended up catching 3 or 4. The plan WAS to cook them for lunch for those who wanted to try them, but I doubt that happened...

 Grandpa and Sharon are showing Hailey the crawdads in the buckets. My kids LOVED just watching the crawdads for the rest of time we were there. Luckily I had brought snacks and bubbles to entertain the kids up until then. After that we went back to the INN BY THE LAKE where the rest of the Reunion was staying for the remainder of our stay. We had a BEAUTIFUL view of Lake Tahoe. The kids LOVED sitting out on the balcony...

After Lunch we headed over to the beach. This was not the original plan, but the weather forecast said it was going to rain the next day when we had the beach day planned so we jumped in the car and went to have fun.

 
 There was VOLLEYBALL for the oldies and building sand castles for the youngerZ...

 Hailey LOVED helping the girls build the sandcastle...

 The boys built one too. Both were VERY nice...

 Landon helped build a little, but mostly ate snacks and interrupted the Volleyball game. He kept running over to Matt, at one point I think Matt played with him in his arms. What a good daddy and what a cute boy!!

 They LOVE playing in the sand!! Can't you tell?? We got back to the hotel late, and had a late dinner at DENNY'S with the family. The kids ate SO well for dinner, WHAT a busy LONG day!!
The next day we had a NEAT SURPRISE planned for my parents... We sent them on a Romantic Scavenger Hunt around the Hotel...
While we set up the scavenger hunt the kids played with the dad's on Uncle Brian's new toy...

 OHHHHH... Cousin LOVE... So anyways... we gave them the first clue and sent them on their way. They got Sexy Hott Glasses, Martinelli's Sparkling Cider, a Sweet Treat, and a Romantic Questions Game. The final destination is below. We set out a blanket and you can't tell but behind them on the table are candles (you can see the candle wax dripping if you look closely) and left them to play the game and enjoy the drink and sweet treat... they were SO surprised and we think they loved it...

 After the Romantic Morning we went to Emerald Bay and took another "LITTLE HIKE"... The drive there was AMAZING. At one point as you were driving out to the bay you were up on a hill surrounded by Lake Tahoe and Emerald Bay to either side of the car. It was BEAUTIFUL, but we "LOST" our camera for this part of the trip so you just have to believe me that it was AMAZING. This is a picture of Emerald Bay I found Online... the picture just does NOT do the place justice!!

 

We were told this hike would be FINE with strollers. Little did we know it was going to be a WORKOUT getting it DOWN the hill to the bay... We rested at the bottom and saw the beautiful waterfall. Just as we were going to head back to be on time for lunch we saw some of my cousins heading back as well... I was DREADING pushing this sucker back up the hill so we offered to "pay my cousins in candy bars" to push the kids back up the hill...
GENIUS!!
Best IDEA EVER!!
It was not hard talking them into this. Three of the older boys took my kids; McKay, Conner, and Kyle... they took turns RUNNING UP THE HILL with the stroller... we kept yelling "CANDY BAR" and they would yell it back at us. They are young and athletic so I was not worried about them at all... a few of my girl cousins took my sisters kids back up the hill... they were behind me most of the way so I am not sure who all helped but Brianne and Hannah started... when we got to the top the boys were just sitting there with the kids like it was no big deal... LOVE THEM! YOU GUYS ROCK!!
So after our "NICE LITTLE HIKE WITH STROLLER ACCESS" we went back to the hotel for lunch...
After Lunch WE were in charge of CRAFTS with the KIDS. In THIS previous post I talked about the glitter tattoos and face paint we did for the kids... Here Hailey is with her MERMAID on her face... she LOVED IT! But we did a few other things too!!

WE also had them make Juggling Balls... Matt was going to show them how to juggle, but I guess it took so long to make them we did not really have any time for that... we also made a Pillowcase for our cousin on his mission, AND we made Homemade Ice Cream too!!

Here I am painting a Tattoo for Preston. His tattoo was VERY intricuite... He is on the Football team at NHS, so he requested one wing (the mascot is a Nighthawk) an "N", a football and his number 64... I had to mix colors and pull out all the stops for this one. But I think it turned out nice!:)

We were BEAT after that... we had dinner, then did a Family Talent Show. I did not get any picture because Landon got sick and we had to leave half way through but Hailey represented the Bird Family and did a little HULA action. It was cute, and my dad represented for the BKA Family by telling jokes and throwing our Sunsweet goodies to the crowd. My dad is the controller at Sunsweet; our family LOVES it because every Christmas and sometimes for birthday we get HOOKED UP!~

The next morning was Saturday and it was also Matt's Birthday. We had breakfast, surprised him with a little piece of cake and a Happy Birthday Chorus then headed home...

The reunion was a BLAST!! We are SO glad we were able to attend. I got to see my cousins I have not seen for a few years and it was truly a

GREAT TIME HAD BY ALL!!!

LOVE LAKE TAHOE and LOVE MY ANDERSEN FAMILY!!!