Lake Tahoe Wedding

photo by Jenny Renn

Our trip had a loose path/schedule we were following and one of the major events was getting to Lake Tahoe for Joshua's college friend's wedding. He was marrying a fabulous woman we'd gotten to meet a few times and we were excited to show his college friend's our baby and to celebrate. The wedding was happening at a house on the water at Lake Tahoe and our friend's had rented a tiny house nearby where we parked our van and slept. 

It was a whirlwind of a weekend full of so many happy things. When we arrived I had to get to making their cake so Joshua took Roslyn, strapped her on, and started helping set up for the wedding. Then we had to head out so the rehearsal dinner could be made in the kitchen so I put my cakes in the fridge, headed to the tiny house to meet up with our other friends, then back to the house to finish the cake. Duties all complete we jumped in the lake, ate leftover food, laughed with all their lovely welcoming amazing friends, and hung around the house til about 1am. 

Next day was the wedding! We hadn't brought any nice clothes on our trip so Joshua grabbed a tie in Cincy and I got myself a dress. Roslyn's little outfit only had a dot of poop on the inside that wouldn't wash out so we were all good to go!

The wedding was beautiful until Roslyn made some majorly loud poops right before the vows. I mean loud, the whole row in front of us turned around in disbelief and started giggling. Then she pooped even more! I got up to change her only to realize we didn't have any diapers at the house with us, so I put a paper towel under her and stood on the balcony to watch the rest of the ceremony. Luckily Andy's sister had a  baby only a bit older than Roslyn and they gave us diapers for the night. 

The rest of the night was magical! We watermelon gazpacho, melon wrapped prosciutto, and so much more. We danced all night and Roslyn was a trooper. As the night wore on we added her baby headphones and she conked out to all our dance moves. This girl is always good when it counts. She didn't cry all night. 

It was also really special to watch Andy & Lauren cut the cake that I made for them. It was horchata with a chili chocolate ganache. It is now one of my favorite cakes and I loved watching them dig into it and enjoy it. I really love when people want me to bake for them, I am a show your love with action kinda girl and deeply appreciate them asking me to participate in this way. As for the rest of the guest Lauren made a mountain of chocolate chip cookies that I ate my weight in.

It was a great trip and an amazing reason to get to see some amazing friends. It was hard to leave, we're loving being alone and introverted but this was a great change of pace.

3 Bear Lakes

Since Roslyn wasn't up for hiking the day before Joshua found a nice hike for us to do once we entered California. It was a relatively flat 4ish mile hike that went by a bunch of beautiful lakes. I'm used to having to hike miles uphill to see such beautiful lakes, it was a treat for them to  be so close and flat! The water was so blue, no clouds, interesting tree textures and colors - but Roslyn did not care. She spent a decent amount of the hike screaming.  

We thought - oh no it's yesterday all over again. Nothing comforted her and so on we walked hoping she'd wear herself out. She is a busy baby who does what she wants so of course she never wore herself out, she seems to have endless energy. The hike at a lot more to offer but it was a bit lost on us. So we turned around before the end, laughed about her crying, bonded over silly baby and when we got back to Walter took her out of the carrier and just set her down- she stopped crying. Then she started smiling! What a little booger.

Lassen National Park

We were ready for a more relaxed day, sans hiking, when we landed in Lassen Volcanic National Park. We secured one of the last campsites near a lake, and another Vanagon! Immediately changed into our suits and headed for the lake. Warm lakes are such a luxury, and then to have the sun beating on you after as you sit in a hammock and dry, heavenly. At this point Roslyn is getting pretty used to us dumping her into lakes and doesn't mind it, dare I say at times she likes it. Also we are now using dipping our bodies in lakes as showers.

We spent the day at the lake, had a slow evening with a walk around the lake at sunset. Then the next day we thought we'd do a small waterfall hike in the park but Roslyn was not having it. She was so so fussy all morning. She started screaming and wouldn't stop over and over again. We started to panic and looked up urgent cares because nothing seemed to calm her. After a small walk she fell asleep so we decided to drive on but when she woke up she was back at the screaming. Eventually mid afternoon she let out a bunch, like a bunch of toots and turned back into a happy baby. We were so relieved we hadn't broken her! Also can't blame the girl, gas makes me very cranky.

Hot Springs

Debating again where to go next we realized we were pretty close to the hot springs we'd gone to a few years ago for Thanksgiving. Joshua loves all hot water tubs/springs/pools so there was no question we were going for it. Pulled in, snagged a camping spot and headed to the springs. We found some lovely people down there to chat with and hung out til our toes were all wrinkly.

We weren't sure if we were going to put Roslyn in, babies aren't supposed to go in hot tubs, but the water was not too hot and was just a warm bath temperature so we stripped off her diaper and plopped her in. She loved it! She was so relaxed and chill, just watching everyone walk around in the water and her daddy swimming up to her while she smiled. 

She even fell asleep walking back to our campsite so we laid her on the ground in the warm air. We also finally got her to nap on Joshua while he was in the hammock. I laid on the ground and swung them back and forth, it was a really sweet moment. Then with a well napped baby we got a bunch of little giggles from her. 

Sawtooth Hike

The Iron Creek to Sawtooth lake in Idaho was incredible. Joshua has always had a thing for Idaho and this solidified it. We counted and I believe we spent the most nights on our trip somewhere in this beautiful quiet state.

This hike was a little over 8 miles and Roslyn was asleep for most of the first half. Getting her hiked back was a bit more of a pain but not too bad. The hike itself was stunning, it was a perfect blue sky day. We really lucked out again and the beginning meadow part of the hike was full of varied wildflowers and bright greens.

Then after some steep climbing and switchbacks we crossed a creek to make it to the lake. Mid creek crossing we ran into another couple (she was pregnant, it was fun to think that was me) and they pointed us to an almost invisible trail to the right and told us it was worth it to head that way then just go stand at the lakeshore. I protested a bit as we had just finished the incline to our destination but was very glad we persevered! They were right the view was amazing. We were looking down on the lake with the Sawtooth mountains in the background reflecting onto the smooth lake surface. We decided to hang out and eat our lunch there and watched the clouds float over the lake surface and see the ripples come and go.

We also had a few great campsites Joshua found us, all free. Finally took the time to cook dinner over the fire this night, swing in the hammock and lay around with Roslyn. She's not a cuddler but this evening we were able to steal a few. It was also the first evening she got bug bites and we felt terrible! She didn't seem to mind them luckily.