OK, I know my last trip was a little sappy and little emotional. Sorry about that! Well, no, not really. I'm not sorry, that post means a lot to me, and I'm glad I documented my childhood home and have that to look back on and to one day show my children and grandchildren.
But, lest you think I spent my whole trip weeping about my childhood and waxing nostalgic about the past, I didn't. We actually had a great trip and got to do a ton of fun stuff. We tend to visit Reno in the winter months, and it's a whole different ballgame in the summer. There is so much to do, and we tried to to all of it! I hope your ready to look at a whole lot of pictures!!!
First, let's just recognize that Nevada is the gambling state. It's what we are know for. And apparently even my 8 month old felt the call of gambling, although I'm not sure what this game is called!
The weather was pretty much perfect while we were there. Warm but not hot. (Well, maybe it was hot to the people in Reno, but when you're used to 115 in the summer it was practically cool!) The nights were perfect for sleeping with windows open and the days were perfect for park dates and eating on patios. We took the kids up to Rancho San Rafeal Park, which has been there since I was little. It's huge, although over the years they have slowly started closing down parts of it. It's a little sad that a lot of the stuff from when I was little is gone, but it's still a great park with tons of play structure, huge grassy areas to run around, and the Dinosaur Park, which is always a hit!
We spent a morning there and were pretty much alone, except for a girl scout troop that came through on a field trip. (Oddly, the troop was from the same girl scout camp I went to when I was little…. even though I was never a girl scout!)
We also took the kids down to the river. The Truckee River pretty much runs through Reno (I don't know where it comes from or where it goes…. geography is not my forte!) and most importantly it pretty much run right in front of my parents house. This is literally a three minute walk from my parents front door and where I spent all me time running around as a kid! It's pretty darn beautiful, right?
The boys absolutely loved it, and it made me wish I could take them there everyday! And, in the spirit of vacation and reliving my childhood and I guess just being "cool" parents for one day, we allowed the boys to strip down to underwear and diapers and play in the river to there hearts content! A little too cold for me, but the were in heaven and L told me it was "just like bathwater!"
My favorite day was our Lake Tahoe Day. S has never been in the summer, and it's really pretty amazing. I mean, not only is it one of the most beautiful places on earth (Truly) it's less than an hour away and it's perfect for a short little day trip.
When we first got there our "Arizona-ness" was showing big time. Windy and 69 degrees is really cold for us these days! Thankfully the wind died down and it warmed up and we all had a great time! My parents even came up and joined us for the day!
I was surprised L went in the water as much as he did (Tahoe water is really cold!) and I was slightly even more surprise when L2 ventured down to the waters edge and was playing in it (He has been pretty anti-swimming, anti-pool, anti-water these days!) and best of all, R loved it!!! None of the other boys have wanted anything to do with sand when they were babies and we took them to the beach, but R was all about it. He was crawling everywhere and chasing geese and burrowing down in the sand. He was also pretty intent on trying to eat the sand, but mean mommy wouldn't let him!
We were in town for Art town, which is a really cool event that Reno does every summer. It's actually a ton of different event ranging from food stuff to music to festivals to plays… it's cool. We didn't have time to do a lot (and we missed the wine walk, I was so bummed!) but we did make it out for a the family night which had a few small booths and then a great musical act which did a bunch of different kid songs!
One of the main places that the Art Town events take place at is a nice park downtown that is right on the river. It is also right across the street from the old church who's basement once housed my kindergarten. I love this old building, and even though the school has long since changed locations I had to get a picture of my two big boys on the steps where I once took school pictures.
Those were the big things we fit in on the this trip, spending lots of time as a family and with the kids, but S and I also managed to sneak away for a date night and we got t see quite a few of my old friends. For our date night we went to one of the casinos and tried our hand at gambling (we lost!) and then went to dinner and a local bar. We were home by 10:30, but it was still nice to have some time alone with no kiddos!
We also managed to see quite a few of my friends, which of course I have no pictures of! Sometimes you just get caught up in the catching up and pulling out your phone or camera is the last thing on your mind! I did manage to snap of few pics of R and his future girlfriend T, who is my best friends little girl. It was hilarious to watch them play…. R is such a boy and made her cry about 5 times by playing too rough, but then she totally retailed and bit him. We were all dying laughing, it was pretty funny to watch them interact!
And, now we're home! It was such a wonderful trip and I truly didn't want to leave. It also reinforce with me that I would love to move back to Reno if we can figure out a way to make it happen. But all good things must end, and now we are back home, getting back into routine and gearing up for some changes around here as the school year starts!
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