Reno

We went to Reno the weekend before last to visit with Rob, Anna, their kiddies, and Court (who flew in from DC).  It was our first trip with the Wee.  She was pretty much a dream traveler, although we did have to take a lot of stuff along for her.  We'll have to get used to paying to check baggage. 

We arrived on Friday night.  Rob and Anna's house is a quick jaunt from the airport and is located in a really neat spot in the foothills.  We loved looking out the guest room(/office) window down on the city lights. 

Saturday, Ann Marie was kind enough to watch the Wee in the morning so I could ski.  Dawn and Ed Flinn, Jim's sister and brother-in-law, made the 2 1/2-hour trek from Yuba City to join us.  Rob, Lu, Tucker, the Flinns, Jim, and I had a leisurely morning skiing at Mt. Rose, while Clara took a ski class (we thought).  Turns out that shortly after they started, Clarice decided she was done.  She sat in the lodge until class was over.  Of course, she regretted that decision when everyone went out to ski after lunch and she couldn't join them.  Anna brought Anders and Ever up around noon, after Anders finished a scouting activity.  We got to introduce the Flinns to Ever, and then Anna, Clara, and I headed home while the keiki, Jim, and Rob got in a little more time on the slopes.  Court spent the day with her best friend from home, Kadie, who drove in with her fam from Oregon, but joined us for a delicious dinner that night at the best-named Chinese restaurant in America - 168 Chinese Restaurant. 

Sunday after church, Rob, Anna, and Court went on a long walk, while Jim and I stayed home with the keiki.  We had a wonderful Brazilian dinner courtesy of Ann Marie. 

(Brazilian food not featured.  Photo by Court.)

Court held an Everdeen photo shoot. 

This girl is in love with Jim: 

They are very cute together.  Sunday afternoon, he read to her out of his medical journal in a very animated, I'm-reading-a-kid's-book voice.  It took me some time to realize what he was reading.  (Sodium levels?  Heart failure?)  That night, she asked him to read her Barbie book to her.  He read it for a while.  And then he sang it.  Man, what a song!  Loud, confident, and verging on operatic, although not necessarily melodic.  He'd repeat lines so Clara could sign along, too.  "It shimmers!  It sparkles!  It shimmers!  It sparkles!"  She was jumping and dancing on the bed as he sang.  I tried to join in sometimes to spice things up.  (Not that they needed spicing.)  Court videotaped a small portion of it.  I'd post that if I had it. 

Monday we tried to go to Tahoe but turned around because of snow on the road.  We ended up doing a beautiful little winter-wonderland walk, where sleeping Everdeen posed for a multitude of shenaniquin pictures. 

  

 

With her hair smushed down from her Christmas beanie and no pink in sight, Ever looked like a little boy on the way home.

Court left super early Tuesday morning.  Rob, Anna, Clara, Jim, Ever, and I headed up to Tahoe after Clarice's gymnastics class.  Tahoe was gorgeous, and Ever did a lot more shenaniquining.  She was extremely unhappy at first.

 

(Do I not look exactly like Cornyee in this picture?)

  

Then Clarice, who was also having a rough morning, got in on the action - involuntarily, of course.

We thought it was pretty funny.  The little ones did not.  They were both screaming.

It took a long time to get a proper shenaniquin picture of Everdeen on this boulder.  She was asleep by this point and kept falling from one side to the other.

We finally got this one.  Jim is proud because he's barely visible. 

She's very cooperative when she's sleeping.

This place is beautiful.  We hope to spend lots more time here.