A couple days before we left on vacation with my parents I hit up the dollar store for things that would be entertaining in the car. We only pulled out 2-3 of the things on the drive there (about 11 hours of traveling) She didn't sleep at all the whole time...she also didn't fuss once. This kid is a superstar traveler!
This set was a hit. The giggles we got out of her numerous times with these made them worth every cent!
Dinner with "Grammy and Grampy" the first night at a cute little Italian place. She currently finds it very funny to add an E sound to the end of most words :)
We stayed at the top of a mountain ridge near Lake Tahoe. Grandpa, Dad, and S all went on a little walk gathering pine cones for a fire. S loved every minute of it, but no, it really wasn't cold enough to warrant a fire. We had the windows open while the fire was going :)
Pine cones dad, grandpa, and Scarlett gathered for a fire.
Sunday evening we took a little walk at an overlook down by the lake. It was so pretty, the weather was perfect, and S had a great time exploring :)
Grampy and S
Peeking through the rocks
playing with Dad
Grammy and Grampy
playing together on a log
We brought books from home to keep nap time and bedtime as "normal" as usual. She took full advantage of getting as many stories out of everyone there as possible.
Bedtime stories with Dad
The first day there we hiked to Emerald Bay with the purpose of taking a tour of a castle built on the bay. We had about 30 minutes to wait for our tour time so we decided to play in the water. It was frigid, and the rocks hurt the toes. After a bit it wasn't so bad because you couldn't feel your feet anymore :) Grandparents do things they don't love for their grandkids....like grandpa getting in the water!
this kid LOVES the water...no matter the temps :)
These ducks were very domesticated. He walked right up to us for food. S loved watching him. The only thing we had that he might eat was pretzels. It was too hard for him to break through so he took it to the water to moisten it :)
When we were close to the top we got a picture of both families. It was quite the hike down, but such a beautiful view!
grandma and grandpa
us! Yes, I packed her all the way down and up :)
One night we were there was my parents anniversary. We all went out to dinner together. S loved walking around holding Grampy's hand whenever possible. They are so fun together!
After the anniversary dinner
Grandpa insisted on finding a place with ice cream for this kiddo :) When he saw the place we went into had a banana split, that was it. He couldn't wait to see her take it on. She was completely in heaven. Yes, she got spoiled a bit this week! Yes, we pitched in and helped her finish!
banana split
There were dogs everywhere we went. This man was kind enough to let S pet his dog early in our trip that she asked to pet other ones she saw all along the way. He even gave her kisses on her cheek which she talked about for days!
We stopped by the lake spontaneously one day. The place we stopped we decided we needed to come back to another day. It was warm and and shallow for a long ways out. I love how excited she was to just be there and be in the water!
Brett had a project for work that had to be done while we were gone. It was due to a client while we were on our trip. He ended up staying at the condo and the rest of us went on a drive around the lake. One of the fun things we got to do on the way was to stop off at Squaw Peak where they held the Olympics years ago. It is a beautiful place! They are adding lots of new things there, and we stopped at a cute little toy store. So much fun!!
After Squaw Peak S miraculously fell asleep. She VERY rarely sleeps in the car. We went lots of places so I was amazed that she actually fell asleep this day. She was exhausted! I had to take a picture since it happens so rarely.
We were amazed to see a bear at our condos one night. When we saw it, it was standing next to the dumpster on its hind legs. Brett stood there later and we were able to see that the bear was about Brett's size. S still talks about it. She went on a walk with dad one night to see what they could find. I was praying it wasn't a bear :)
The following day we went to Virginia City. It was quite the mining town back in the day. When Brett saw they had a train ride that was top of his list. We took a little tour and had a great tour guide who definitely was informative, but also fun!
There were several fun little candy shops in town. S had a grand time walking around with Dad and a basket picking out what she wanted to try out.
Our final full day there we spent at the beach. We went out about 100 yards and it only hit S's waist. She was in heaven. She'd walk for a bit, then sit and play, then walk out a bit farther. It was so much fun to watch her and play with her. I wish we had more places like that here in Utah.
On the drive home we really had some fantastic clouds a good chunk of the way. It wasn't a beautiful drive, but we had beautiful skies.
On the way home she amazingly fell asleep. She only slept about 45 minutes because we had to stop for gas. She did great though. She only had one meltdown all the way home and that was when it was approaching lunch time and getting hungry.
