Tahoe with the Big Wigs

Let's start with the most memorable moment from our trip to Tahoe: the bear(s). 

The kids were playing on the deck our first morning at the cabin and before long they came in to tell us that our neighbor wanted to talk to us outside, ASAP. Fearing the worst (late-bird neighbors with a sensitivity to children and their noises) we made our way to the deck only to find the sweetest early-bird ever who was only wishing to warn us about what should have been our worst fear--a bear! She had seen a hairy, brown, teenager bear walk through her yard just that morning, took a video of his escapade and wanted us to see it so that we could keep our eyes out and keep our kiddies safe. How kind and considerate is she, right? She started walking down her steps, James and our babies started walking down ours with a hope to meet in the middle for a video-watching bear bash but what actually occurred was a whole lot of expletives from her and a whole lot of freak out from me because THERE WAS ANOTHER BEAR RIGHT UNDER HER DECK! A Mama bear to boot.

Luckily we got our kids in the house and luckily our neighbor got herself in the house and really, you should have seen how ridiculous and hilarious we looked screaming at each other through the windows of our respective cabins (because heaven knows we weren't going to go outside and be eaten by a bear, but we also had to figure out what to do!) The sheriff's department came out and with a swift rubber peg to the rump that Mama bear went a-running. And boy was I relieved.

But was that the end of our bear drama? Not quite. That night James and I wanted to go on a "date" in the kayak after the babies were in bed. We swim-suited up and met on the deck but we immediately heard a low, grumbly growl and knew there was a bear out there somewhere (but where?!) Finally we spotted our furry friend swimming in the lake under our neighbor's dock. The working theory is that we were looking at the teenager from the morning and that he had come back to find his mama. It was heartbreaking to think about them being separated and to hear his cries, but luckily before long the bear swam to safety on the shore and since this is my story and I make up the rules I'm just going to storybook end this tale with a joyous bear reunion between mama and cub and they all lived happily ever after. The end. (And hopefully the end to me ever seeing wild bears again. The zoo is good enough for me!)

Photo-evidence of our bear sighting:

Do you see those little ears on that little face under that little dock right there? Quinny still talks about how he was "da cutest widdo beaw" and I must agree, he was adorable, but my guess is that was probably because we could only see his head and not the massive claws below the surface and mostly because he was in the lake and not in our kitchen stealing food. I so love nature but in my heart I'm such a city-slicker and this bear thing...so cool and yet so "never, ever, ever come back!" Anyway, it made for a good story that the kids will remember their whole lives through and for that I am grateful. 

I could pretend that I don't have any other Tahoe stories that could live up to that bear tale but the truth is I could write a novel about the adventures we had during our week with the Big Wigs (and short of words I am not, so brace yourselves!) After an impressive winter and a sizable snow melt the water was higher than we've ever seen it and beautiful doesn't begin to describe the view from our North Shore digs. Add a Wiglet or two splashing around in the water, my eldest playing cards with his Papa, Gigi passing out love and popsicles and my legs getting kissed by the sun and wowzers, it all looked a little bit Celestial.

How did we pass our time, you might ask? How didn't we pass it would probably be an easier question to answer! We hiked to an icy mountain lake and winced when our toes met the frigid water (except for our resident eskimo--James--who found the 40 degree water refreshing and dove under multiple times!); we conquered a ropes course where we learned that T has no fear and his mother has many, heights being a big one; we jumped off our neighbors dock together and learned how to use our silly little phones to capture brilliant little moments in the air; we went deep-lake fishing way before dawn and caught three giant trout that were fried, BBQ'd and baked into our farewell seafood feast (along with some crawdads we caught under the dock, which Quinny now says are her favorite food!). We swam, we kayaked, we laughed and played and even if there were some attitudes every now and again they were basically swallowed up in the amazingness of this trip. It really was that great. Oh, and there was also ice cream so #winning!

It's always great to be on vacation and go on adventures but it's even better when the kids are able to share these memories with family. I am so grateful that we could play with Papa and Gigi for a full week and that my babies can look at these pictures for years to come and know that they are a part of a Team Wigginton that is even bigger and better than just our awesome LA crew. The grandest thank you to the Big Wigs for another wonderful week in Tahoe and a sincere hope that this is a tradition that will never end! 

(And speaking of never ending, here comes a photo dump that does just that. Yes, it goes on and on my friends...) 

When we were here last you could walk on dry ground to where those boats are buoyed and now look at that beauti-FULL lake! I couldn't help but comment on the water levels over and over again because it was seriously remarkable. I love this place so, so much.

Cora's finger wasn't allowed to get wet during our trip so she spent a whole lotta time hanging out in her Mama's arms down by the water. You didn't find her complaining about the non-stop cuddles one little bit!

Me and a few of my crew. Twenty years from now when T asks why we let him dab in every single one of his pictures I'll roll my eyes and smile just as big as I do every time I scroll through my camera feed at night and see nothing but the cutest 8-year-old goober doing what makes him feel cool and confident!

Doesn't do it justice.

Finding every stick and stone that the hike to Eagle Lake had to offer. And let me tell you, there were a lot.

I'm pretty much convinced that Tahoe is the most beautiful place on earth, but I'm pretty sure I've said that before about a million other different places. Gosh, we live in a remarkable world.

This one's for Ev.

And this one's for Coke.

Lest you think I was over-exaggerating about the coldness factor of this water, here is a totally candid shot that Papa took when I was trying to get knee-deep for a photo op. It was so frigid it felt like needles poking millions of times into my skin and immediately made my head throb. And to think, James and the boys went all the way under--crazies!

So worth the freezing temps for this cool picture with that gorgeous backdrop.

Probably one of the coolest pics I've ever taken. Eagle Lake was such a gem.

So many great things about this pic. Least of which is Ev's gun to the lens and Quinny's arms full of sticks! Behind us is Emerald Bay, one of my favorite places in all of Tahoe.

Ice cream for all chickens brave enough to jump off the dock. It was a near miss on one of their parts (guess who?!) but we all made it and boy did that ice cream taste GOOD!

James and his Dad were pretty desperate to hike Mount Tallac but I'm afraid this is as close as they got this time--seeing it in the distance while they hiked around Taylor Creek with the kids. That counts too, right?!

Everett said, "Look, I'm a farmer!" And then put a piece of hay in his mouth!

This year was supposed to be a Mom, Dad and boys adventure at the ropes course, but Ev decided "maybe next year" and so it was just me and Mr. Dab-man!

At this point on the ropes course I was honestly questioning my sanity because technically I signed up to take T of my own free will and choice. Yikes! It ended up being a great experience and T and I had fun but oh what a great lesson about overcoming fears and trusting in others and the power of prayer and so many other great things. And I learned something I would have never known otherwise, there are a million other things I'd rather spend my money on than this again...we'll see what happens if T is adamant again nest year!

On our first day in Tahoe we scored this never-before-used inflatable kayak on Craigslist and we used it on the daily for our whole entire trip. Since it's inflatable we transported it home with us and it's already gotten a little bit of ocean play in Santa Cruz too so it was definitely money worth spent. The boys loved to have their own special club on the kayak--no adults allowed!

Living. The. Life.

Papa and Gigi took the kayak out for a few little spins and we all agreed it was one of our best Tahoe purchases. I'm so glad they got some play time as well!

And speaking of playtime, our kids thought we were mighty crazy (and basically refused to kayak with us again) after we rowed our little boat out pretty deep and jumped and jumped and jumped some more. It was one of the funnest things I did on this trip and I'm so glad for this picture proof of our silliness.

The next three pictures of James and T jumping off the dock are classic! They had so much fun, and James even earned some cool Dad points with his flying dab!

These three generations of Wigginton men went fishing on a chartered boat and while the captain was a little gruff, they caught three fish and had a great bonding adventure. This was one of James' BIG bucket list items in Tahoe and even though I didn't think it would be possible to squeeze it in, the Big Wig's made it happen. Just looking at this picture of their happy 4 am faces makes me smile!

I guess T refused to hold his catches and instead opted to cuddle up to Daddy and Papa while they held those slimy things. "Mom!" he told me later. "They wanted me to hold the fish by the gills. I mean, ew! How disgusting is that?!" My city-slicker genes run in his blood!

Our awesome neighbor was throwing a party and had all these blow-up animals tied to her dock. When the party-goers were eating, she came by and asked if we wanted to go play on the inflatables. Wait, was that even a question?! Of course we did!!! I had wanted to buy one of these for our trip but I couldn't justify the cost so I decided to pass but she made my wish come true. 

Quinn and I legit needed a little rest after all that sun. She's such a wild child but for a few moments she was content to put her glasses on and relax with me.

That guy right there definitely won the cooking contest when it came to preparing trout. James' BBQ number was pretty good and my pan-fried one was bleh (I don't know why I'm even allowed in the kitchen) but Papa, that guy knows how to bake a trout. It was delish!

Quinn and her love of crawdads was seriously cracking us up. She kept begging for more, more, more!

The biggest news of the night was that after an estimated 50-year hiatus from seafood Gigi took a big ole bite of crawdad (dipped in butter, obviously!) I don't know why I was so excited and so proud of her but I was and it was so much fun to share that little moment together. She may not be ordering crab at a restaurant anytime soon, but she was pleased to know that she wouldn't starve if she had to survive on seafood!

This little Tahoe post has taken me five sleepy nights to finish and at this rate, please expect the remainder of our vacation to be blogged sometime before Christmas! Geez, if only I could steal some afternoon energy to use after the kids were in bed this would be a whole lot easier. Oh well, slow and steady wins the race.