More Time at Tahoe

Before we left the camp- ground for our first trip to the lake, I'd called Sam over to talk with him about not ignoring me if he doesn't want to do something I ask him to do but discussing it with me instead. One of my pet peeves.

Here he is laughing after giving me the, "I'm sorry, Mom." face. Hard to be frustrated with this sweet kid.

Dense, green forest surrounds the lake.








Cam's shadow reflected on the cool, clear, blue water.














Soaking it all in.











After awhile we wrapped up in towels to warm up.







Closeness.












Wonder and awe.
















Happiness.







Gracefulness.
















Silliness.












Bliss.












Glorious.












Content-
ment.











Cheesi-
ness.











Rowdi-
ness.









Fun.

I forgot one thing.

After lunch, the kids played Bocce while Cam and I set up camp.

Thanks for packing the game, Cam.

The kids were happy with their tent.















The pine cones we saw on our walk from the campsite to the lake were amazing.













As was the view of the lake itself.

Almost there.







Cam and the kids dove right in...









And thoroughly enjoyed the water (even though it was quite cool).





At the campsite, I realized I'd managed not to pack a swim suit.

I put on a light weight pair of shorts and tried to pretend I was wearing a suit.

Sadly, I never made it into the water above my stomach. I'd have loved to have been out there in the deep water with Cam and splashing around with the kids but I just couldn't get myself to do it this time.

Patience peered into the water.









Sam found and enjoyed playing with an enormous stick.

Unscathed?












He also found a rock that he described as leopard colored.






Patience showed Cam a frog she and Sam had found.














These tiny frogs seemed to live in the sand between the woods and the lake.




Sam made cool boats out of bark and used them to send pine cones floating.





This one seemed like it would stay afloat forever.

Patience's 11th Birthday at Lake Tahoe.

July 13th, the morning after Patience & Sam arrived in California, was Patience's actual birthday. Cam packed our camping gear and I packed clothes for myself and the kids. Before long, we were ready and on our way.

Tahoe is less than 250 miles from our house but the drive there is still tiring. We were happy when we arrived and were able to take a break from the car.

The kids went wading right after this picture was taken.

With one extra person in the car, we didn't have room for the big cooler full of food we usually bring with us on camping trips. Nice excuse to stop off for a birthday lunch.

Originally, Cam had generously given the seats with the view of the lake to the kids. In these pictures, we are in our second seating arrangement, with me going over the menu with Patience.

Soon, we realized the kids were so absorbed in their Wikki Stix creating that they weren't noticing the lake at all. We got them to trade places with us so we could get a picture of them with the lake behind them.

This spot was great because after sharing birthday cake, we were able to watch them wade around in the water from our table.

(See Cam's Flickr album from more Lake Tahoe pics.)

She came. She saw. She tried new things.

After spending a week with my folks and my mom's side of the family in Arkansas & Missouri, Sam spent a week with his dad's family in Iowa.

Then, just before their birthdays, Sam and his cousin, Patience boarded a plane and flew to California. Sam's been flying by himself for a few years but Patience was a bit nervous about getting on a plane without a parent.

As you can see from their enthusiasm while waiting for their luggage, they made it through with flying colors.

Patience's Dad, Sam's Uncle Brian had fed them lunch before the boarded the plane. After I picked them up, we stopped off at In & Out Burger for dinner. Outside the joint, Patience was impressed with our California Trees (palm trees).

During her visit, Sam explained to Patience why he thinks that In & Out Burger is better than McDonald's. I guess he was paying attention during Super Size Me. Sam, "The French fries from McDonald's have so many chemicals in them that if you put them in a container and leave them alone, a year later, they will look the same." "Well, if they were the last food on Earth, I bet you'd eat them." Patience countered. Touche.

I'd grabbed some berries out of the fridge before heading out to pick the kids up. Patience tried one, even though she'd never had one before.

They are not her new favorite food but I bet if they were the last thing food on Earth...





From Oakland, we drove across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco to show her some of the sights.
(It wasn't dark for us yet.) (photo credit)

We drove through the city. She was impressed with the buildings and cable cars (she called trolleys).

I drove on some of the roads that go straight up and straight down and we drove down the windy part of Lombard Street (photo credit) before crossing the Golden Gate Bridge (that's the ocean off to your left) and arriving home.

Since we left our guest bedroom in Chicago, whenever we have company, Sam graciously gives up his room and sleeps on the couch. In this instance, Sam asked, and was granted, permission to take all of the cushions off the couch, love seat and arm chair to turn the living room floor into one giant cushion/bed. Rest up, for tomorrow we leave for Lake Tahoe.

Sam's 10th Birthday

For Sam's 10th birthday, we invited a handful of his friends to hike over Ring Mountain with us. Sam wrote about his birthday party on his blog. His favorite part was climbing Turtle Rock. My favorite part was watching them climb around on a giant tree. There is a Flickr slideshow with more pictures on Cam's account too. Happy Birthday, Sam.

Sharing our California

Just under a week ago, Sam's cousin, Patience came to California for a visit. The two of them have always been close.

I though I was going to have him on her 1st birthday. He was born three days later.

Sometimes, they like to celebrate their birthdays together. This year, we had reservations to be at Lake Tahoe for Sam's birthday.

We invited Patience to come along with us. She accepted.

I am very proud of her for getting on a plane with Sam and flying across the country to a place she'd never been before. We are having a wonderful time exploring. The kids laugh and play together all day.

I will write more after she leaves. In the meantime, check out Cam's blog for a Flickr set of our time at Tahoe and pictures of Patience's first trip to the ocean.

I'm helping her start her own blog as well.

My husband took me to London this morning.

In the Vanity Fair Africa issue, I read about Live Earth, a series of worldwide concerts to raise awareness for the climate crisis. I was excited when I learned that MSN would be streaming live video of concerts from all seven continents. (Only available via Internet Explorer.)

From the comfort of my home, I could potentially watch shows by Jack Johnson in Australia, Macy Gray and Lenny Kravitz in Brazil, Chris Cornell in Germany, UB40 in South Africa, John Mayer in NYC, James Blunt and Madonna in London.

Last night, Cam realized the show had already started. We watched Paul Kelly in Australia and from Japan, Rihanna sent us to bed singing Umbrella.
Turns out there are good things about going to bed so early. Both of us woke up a little after 5:30 this morning and were watching Phil Collins sing Invisible Touch before 6am.

Already this morning, we have seen shows by Snow Patrol, Damien Rice, David Gray, Missy Higgins, Razorlight, Kasabian and Paolo Nutini.

The Black Eyed Peas asked us "Where is the Love?"

Of course, between each show, there are messages reminding us to make changes to help save the Earth. Some of the messages are more compelling than others.

I just heard part of one that was sweet. I didn't get all of it but a young girl was imploring us to save the reefs. She said, "Please, for the fish..."

There is still time. Tune in, Wake Up and join the movement.

How'd he know how I sometimes feel?

Something Cam wrote recently introduced me to a guy with really smart ideas. I'd never heard of Dean Kamen before but the more I learn about his thinking, the more impressed I am. (photo credit)

While I am thoroughly enjoying a relaxing, lazy holiday with my husband, I can relate to the animosity Dean expresses for wasting time.

For a little while, yesterday without having a sense of purpose or accomplishment, I felt sad. Most of the time, I either want to be enjoying myself or doing something worthwhile.

Dean articulated my feelings of urgency and discontent as well as the reasoning behind my search for meaning.

Life is really, really short... This perspective gives me a sense of urgency. With that sense of urgency, I get up every day and think that I do not want to waste any time. And if you don't want to waste time, you look at all the problems you can work on and say, "I only want to work on the big problems. I am only going to work on the ones that matter." If you are not working on important things, you are wasting time.

And I love what he says about how in a world of ideas: You don't have to win by someone else losing...

And it isn't just talk, either. In a graduation speech, he said, I'm a tiny, tiny company. I have two villages in Bangladesh that I'm electrifying with boxes the size of this podium. They've been running for 24 weeks on nothing but cow dung. (photo credit)


I've got a village in Honduras that we're supplying absolutely pure water to with a box the size of this [podium]. Yeah, I have a day job, and we make stuff for people who can pay for it today. But what makes me enormously optimistic is the idea that the world is moving to a place where I think really good ideas are welcomed. With some urgency, the world is ready for change. (photo credit)

I hope he's right that: We're also facing a world where finally people are realizing we're all going to succeed together.

I'm all about collaborating rather than competing. Now if I can just find a way to get paid to take his advice: Work on the big problems--the problems that matter. Most of the time you will fail, but you will also occasionally succeed. Those occasional successes make all the hard work and sacrifice worthwhile. And when you fail, you at least have the consolation of failing on really hard, important problems, which is far more appealing than running the risk of failing on easy, unimportant problems.

Thanks for the inspiration, Dean and for the introduction, Cam.

Salt Point Oasis

Last weekend, we went camping at Salt Point State Park. The day we arrived, we had a lovely time climbing rocks, hiking, relaxing on the beach, conquering trees and watching the sun set. But as Cam mentioned, it was quite windy by the ocean.

Our second day was spent exploring tide pools. After awhile, I found a nice rock to sit on and Sam spent hours observing and gently interacting with a community living in one tiny tide pool.

He shared many of the creatures he discovered with us. We enjoyed relaxing by the ocean and basking in the sun. It seemed like a much milder day until we climbed over the sea wall and started getting beaten up by the wind again.

Don't miss Cam's Flickr slideshow.

It tells the story of our weekend wonderfully.

(Make sure to click on the "i" in the middle of the first slide after you start the slideshow to view the titles and captions.)

Feel free to watch this video if you want to share the experience of our Salt Point Oasis.