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We spent the past weekend in Tahoe at the cabin, and the past two days our Nanny has been very ill leaving me to juggle work and micro-me, so I’m just now getting the chance to record our recent events.

Ah, Tahoe.
We’ve been watching Deadwood thanks to NetFlix about the North Dakota gold rush in Deadwood during the 1800s, so I was particularly interested in the gold mining history in the towns on the drive to and from Tahoe. In memorial to that history, many of the towns have statues of men panning for gold. Some maintain an old timey downtown area with 2 story wooden buildings occupied by businesses like Calamity Jane’s Confections or Wild Bill’s Steakhouse. Most of the gold in these parts is in the form of tourism money, as for a few bucks a person, you can buy your own vial of gold dust and the opportunity to try your hand at gold panning. I’m sure we’ll be wading in the frigid waters in a few years when the kids are old enough.

It is also interesting to me to think about how people traveled to their destinations long before cars. Our 3 hour drive from San Francisco to Tahoe would have been a common route, but with the Sierras and the heavy woods, I can’t imagine it was a quick or comfortable trip on horseback or in wagon. Thank goodness we were born in the modern day.

Our Tahoe trip was quite pleasant. Thanks to the heatwave, even the cool evenings only dipped into the 50s. Will somehow got it in his head that we’d be going fishing in Tahoe, so we spent the 3 hour drive discussing what he might catch (not sharks or rays or jellyfish; maybe crabs, crawdads and probably fish) and how he’d catch them (with fish marshmallows on his hook or worms – neither are for us to eat) and how he’d bait the line (by sticking a pointy hook THROUGH the worm). It was one of those conversations I wish we’d have taped. Sylvie spent the drive paging through her books.

We spent Saturday on the beach. The highlight was Will and Sylvie catching 5 crawdads in the rocks around the swiming area. Sunday, we took a boat ride around Donner Lake. Will got to steer for a bit. He was so proud. When I told him he was doing a great job, he smiled ear to ear and said, “You like how I drive the boat?” Doug asked him if he was a pirate steering his pirate ship, eliciting more proud, ear to ear grins. After lunch, Doug, Sylvie and I headed home, leaving Will with the grandparents.

I have to say, the quiet in our house without Will is deafening. We’ve checked in on him a couple of times, and know he is doing well, but boy is it sad without him. I think Sylvie is enjoying being an only child, esp since she’s had non-stop mommy attention due to the ill Nanny, but we all miss Will’s enthusiasm. I’d also taken for granted how much we use peer pressure to maintain order. Without Will, there is no one to encourage Sylvie to stay at the table. (Without Sylvie, there’d be no one to convince Will to EAT.) Doug and I have both been buying gifts for Will in excited anticipation of his return, Friday.

Here’s the kids eating popsicles while I packed:

The kids in Tahoe: