It was another fantastic trip with our family. Darla and I haven't seen Italy, England or Spain together yet, but we have a nice anthology of fun family trips. This one was no exception as the weather was incredible, the accommodations somewhat Spartan, but there were four bedrooms and two baths, a nice kitchen and dining room and a great family room that was our headquarters for the week. It also had an incredible view as you can see by the pictures of the sunset. McKenny continues to ingratiate himself with Darla and I as he brought Sam up on Sunday and stayed a week. Jennifer flew in Thursday night and was there until Sunday.
Jennifer has a new job that really couldn't be any more perfect for her. She is working for a service provider for Cox Communications Las Vegas. The very day that she started work, one of the supervisors for Cox took a look at Jennifer's resume and created a job for her that is supervisory in nature and requires her to be a Project Manager for various Vegas projects throughout the area. That is a good boss that looks at all of the strengths of their staff and creates jobs that fit their skill set. Apparently her supervisor was not in on the hiring decision and was getting to know the three new hires and pulled Jennifer aside and talked. Her supervisor has already told Jennifer that she wants her to hire on fulltime with Cox when her contract is closer to completion. The contract has a buyout for Cox, but they want to work into the time remaining on the contract and also look at Jennifer a bit more to make sure she is what they want. It sounds promising as Jennifer and her supervisor are creating her position as they go along. Jennifer is thrilled with her new position.
In the meantime, McKenny continues to shine at Erricson. He does the work of about four people and I said before when we have travelled with him that he is one of the hardest workers that I know. He is in charge of about 120 sites that are being worked on now and he worked about three days full and one night went to bed at 2 AM and was up at 5 AM because some inferior part was in play at his cell sites and 90 of them went off line right in the middle of the Olympics. He was able to get most of them up and running. He had promised Jennifer that he would take Friday and Saturday off and he was true to his word. He put his phone on DND and enjoyed the two days with all of us.
I threw out my back in the middle of our trip. We took the hiking trail from the Emerald Bay overlook a mile down to Vikingsholm Castle on Wednesday. I had always wanted to make the hike down, but unfortunately, you have to hike back up. I had worn a backpack, but I think I overloaded it on our way back up the hill and was stiff and sore from the hike. I had to park the car about a 1/2 mile above the overlook, so left before Darla, Sam and McKenny to get the Explorer and drive back to pick them up. You can see the pictures of the castle above. It has a sod roof on one side. My back was pretty sore Wednesday night and by the time I got up Thursday morning my sciatica had already gone out of whack. I could barely stand up straight. luckily, I had several muscle relaxant pills with me as well as a couple of 800 mg Motrin that helped me get through the weekend.
I was able to get in to see Jane at my Bowen clinic this afternoon and although I'm still sore, I can feel her movements beginning to loosen up the nerve. It's a process.
Sam had to carry a cooler up the hill and she was slow to get ready, so her wet towel didn't make it into my backpack. Darla put it in her cooler and I heard about it when Sam made it to the truck. She carried it the whole way up the grade and neither Darla nor McKenny would bail her out. I was praising her for making it up the hill without help and she said, "Yeah, it would have been easy, but Grandma made me carry a wet towel, too." I guess Darla told her that if she made it up the hill without complaining that she could have an ice cream shake on our way back to the condo. She was true to her word as we stopped at the local ice cream shop and Sam had an Oreo cookie shake.
Monday, Darla and I took Sam with us and we headed out to Incline Village. The condo had a PlayStation system with tons of games, but one of the prior renters had taken the PS cord that wires the system to the TV. McKenny was able to go out between calls and get a replacement cord while we were gone. Our plan was to take Sam to Sand Harbor beach, but it was already full by the time we passed it at 11:00 AM. We went into Incline Village and had our picnic lunch at a nice park. From there we went on the hunt for a nice beach, I saw one on YELP, but when we pulled in it was a Private beach. We headed down the street to the city beach and it was full, but the guy at the entry kiosk told us to park across the street and walk in. We did that, but what he didn't tell us is that it was $12 a head for adults and $8 for children. We just walked in and Darla didn't find out until we left when she stopped at the gate to talk to the guard about the best time to get there to beat the crowds. Oops. We had a great time and you can see a picture of Sam at the beach above in her pink bikini.
Tuesday, we relaxed at the pool and had a picnic lunch there (McKenny came down and joined us). Afterward we packed up and headed to town and saw the movie "The secret life of Pets" at the Heavenly Resort shopping area. It was cute and Sam loved it. We went to pizza afterward at Blue Dog pizza. You can see the picture of Sam and Grandma standing at the counter and the drawing that Sam did and had added to the wall of fame. Her masterpiece is the one right between the two of them.
Thursday, my back issues started, but we went out to the beach anyway and went to Round Hill Beach, on the Nevada side of the border. Darla's uncle Junior had arrived Thursday and was staying over with us. Earl and Frances had tried to meet us all at the beach, but couldn't find the beach we were at. They stopped at two different beaches and told us about Nevada Beach.
We had all planned to go to Reno to pick Jennifer up Thursday night, but my back was balking over the hour drive each way. McKenny left about six and Sam stayed with us and we met Darla's parents and Uncle for dinner Thursday night at the Lakeside Casino for Prime Rib. We had a forty five minute wait to get in to the restaurant and Darla and Sam headed to the store to pick up some breakfast items and some flowers for Sam to give to Mom.
Dinner was excellent as always and the Lakeside is well known for their $9.99 Prime Rib Special. That special is now $14.99 and they've added another special with a lobster tail and Prime Rib for $19.99. We met up with McKenny and Jennifer after dinner at the condo and played a new dice game called "Shut the box." Sam was thrilled to have her Mom there and sat on top of her as she showed Uncle Junior how to play "Monsters' Inc." on Play Station.
Friday I had bought four tickets for the Heavenly Valley gondola. The cost for a single rider is $49 and I got two vouchers for $44 for two riders. I was happy with my buy right up to the point that Jennifer, Junior and the rest of us showed up at the gondola and I turned in my vouchers. It turns out that the vouchers were for Squaw Valley, about 31 miles away. We decided NOT to drop another $200 and skipped the gondola trip. We stopped at Fire and Ice and McKenny, Junior, Darla and I all had a drink while Jennifer and Sam shopped for trinkets in the store. Afterward, we said our goodbyes to Junior as he was off to see Earl and Frances at their RV park. We went to Nevada Beach which Frances had told us about earlier and it turned out to be the closest to our condo. We were able to scout out an area for the gang on Saturday when there would be 11 of us. The beach is about 1/2 mile of sandy beach and has a rental operator for kayaks and stand up paddleboards. Miya had said she wanted to try a SUP, so we were good to go
. I'm saving the four Squaw Valley gondola tickets until we go to Reno in September for a stay at the Peppermill. I had bought that voucher which is good for one night in a Tower Room with $100 in services (spa or restaurants) for $100 at one of the silent auctions at a golf tournament. No one was bidding on it and the hotel room in the concierge tower goes for $120 on the weekend. I basically paid for the dinner and we get a free stay out of it. We'll invite friends to go with us and hit the gondola ride on the way back.
Friday night, the boys arrived. Daniel and Becky got there about 8:30 and Dave and Maya got there at 12:30. Maya had a work commitment on Friday night and Dave overstayed at work getting caught up on his workload. They finally left Sacramento at 9:30. Darla stayed up and waited for them, but I went to bed. My back was sore.
Saturday we were all up early and had a big breakfast of quiche and toast and then packed up and were headed to Nevada Beach by ten o'clock. There was a line of cars to get in and the close in parking was already gone. We pulled around to drop off kayaks and boats that David brought and our chairs, towels, coolers and whatnot. As we pulled up, a lady told us that three of them were leaving and we could have their parking spots. It was God's Will as we parked front and center next to the beach.
We had a ball. Miya rented a stand up paddleboard for four hours ad everyone had their turn. I demurred due to my back, but got pictures. David went out on his one man kayak and rode along as Miya rode the SUP. Jennifer and Sam were next. Darla had a go as did Becky. David tried it, but McKenny, Dan and I all bailed. The boat got used as Daniel, Becky and Sam went for a ride. There were sand castles and volleyball and smash ball and relaxing on the beach. It was fun and we all enjoyed the sandwiches and fruit that was prepared.
Saturday night we all went out to dinner at Tep's Villa Roma, an old fashioned Family Italian restaurant. Darla and I treated the bunch to dinner in honor of our 20th wedding anniversary. We are proud of all of our kids and where they are in life. Daniel is well respected in his job and Dave has worked at his firm since he was 17 years old, taking five years off for college. Jennifer is in a good place in her life with a great guy who loves her and Sam and would do anything for them. It was a nice night and there was a lot of laughter and joy at our table as we enjoyed the pasta bar, salad bar and entrees.
The kids wanted to go out as siblings and have a drink and see the casino life, but decided to come home and play dice with Sam and the old folks (us). We played until about ten and they all headed out for a shuttle to the casinos. Darla and I put Sam to bed and sat and talked about the trip together after Sam fell asleep.
Sunday was cleanup and goodbyes as Jennifer, Sam and McKenny had a seven hour drive home. they left at ten after another filling breakfast. Daniel, Becky, Miya, Dave and Darla and I cleaned up the condo and headed over to visit with Earl and Frances at their RV. We left there about 1:30 and it took us almost three and a half hours to get home in stop and go traffic. We stopped in Auburn for an early dinner at 4:15 and then drove on home. The warmth of our memories are still with us as I close this.
I hope you all are doing great. Darryl and Cheryl are living their dream in Dallas and Randy and Cake out at Possum Kingdom Lake out in the boonies. I know Dad and Shirley plan a trip to Dallas soon. We will all be together before you know it on our cruise in March. Happy Birthday to Randy, a man who knows the saying "Living Well". I love you guys. Ciao.
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