Tales from Our Roadtrip, day two

Or, "The one in which we get attacked by bee like insects and I win 22 dollars."

As I stated in part I, we did not sleep well at all the first night. We also got up earlier than normal for G on Thursday morning. We needed to get up by 7:50 ish, and we were up at 7:20. Boo.

it fits!

Our first adventure was a minimally-nutritious (but fitting of a vacation) breakfast in bed. G absolutely LOVED her first taste of donut, but still ate some cheerios and grapes. We got ready for a morning aboard a water ski boat and headed down to the lake.


My husband's family is super into water skiing, and I now love it too. Unfortunately, it's very high on the DO NOT DO when pregnant list, so that was a huge bummer. I was excited to see my husband ski, though, because it's seriously the happiest I've ever seen him. Since getting older, we've only been able to get out on the water once a year, which isn't great for water skiing skills. When you add on the fact that we were in an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar equipment, and he's been working long and hard at his current position......it's pretty much a recipe for non-skiing. I will say, though, that I warned my husband of my fears and suggested he take out a 'pair' or two skiis--versus the single or 'slalom' style ski he typically uses. Two skiis are way easier to use. I know he wanted to be the hard-core skier he believes in his heart that he is, it's just the conditions weren't ideal.

the best we saw

Long story short, he didn't heed my advice, didn't ask for gloves to help his grip, and spent the hour trying to get up once. I felt really bad for him, because he had such high expectations for the morning, and it's kind of my fault for jinxing him, I suppose. I also couldn't ski--so he didn't have a break from trying.
G didn't hate or love the boat this year--last year the life jacket swallowed her alive, but this year it was a nice fit. Her crying stemmed mostly from my husband not being in the boat with her. When he was in the boat, she was fine. Long story short, the money was semi-wasted, but at least we got a boat ride, pretty views, and learned the lesson of listen to your wife :-)

happy to be back on land after the boat ride

After boating, we went back to the hotel to pack up, eat a snack, and depart for South Lake Tahoe (versus North Lake Tahoe / Tahoe City /Squaw Valley). I planned to stay in two separate areas so that we could maximize our appreciation of the lake and do the various activities. Our hotel for Thursday night was Harrah's Casino--something for me :-)

Thankfully, G only cried a little bit on our hour drive before falling asleep for a decent car nap. The views on the drive were beautiful and we passed our hotel en route to a less popular beach area just into Nevada. (If you are counting, G has been to more states before turning two than a lot of people in America). Round Hill Pines Beach costs EIGHT dollars to park but was probably worth it. We had a lot of fun playing by the water--kind of in the water--and soaking up some rays. G loved playing in the semi-sand (apparently real sand is very scarce at Lake Tahoe) and splashing in the cold water with daddy.

G and Daddy

G and Momma

I had packed a picnic lunch but it got eaten before our beach excursion because we were all famished. So we bought beach diner food and ate on the sand. It would have been wonderful except we were constantly berated by some type of bee or wasp like insect. Thankfully we were never stung, but I was seriously irate about the situation. It was a total mood killer. After we scarfed our food down amid waving towels at the tens of insects, play time began. I didn't bring a swim suit for myself or G because I knew the water would be too cold to really play in, and real clothes provide better sun protection. So when my husband was put off by G dumping sand and water on her capris, I told him that was the plan. How fun, eh? Playing on the beach and not worrying about sand getting into her diaper because she was wearing real clothes...that was a smart mom move if I ever made one.

Lake Tahoe Beach Babe

After our beach adventure we headed to Harrahs to check in, scope out dinner, and hopefully win our down payment on the craps table.

Our hotel room was really nice! My husband doubted me, but I read a million reviews and weigh all options heavily before selecting hotels or restaurants, so we are rarely disappointed. I was even pleased with the minimal smoke smell on the casino floor (The hotel is smoke free but not the gambling area--lame).

took this right after we got to the room, love their similarities

hanging out with dad

G and daddy hung out for a little over an hour while I had my fun-time (since I couldn't water ski). I took $60, with hopes of quadroupling it into a nice size down payment. Realistic, no, but we certainly couldn't afford to lose more. And that's what 'they' always say--never gamble with more than you can afford to lose.

I usually break even, or lose a little bit (I've only ever been in a casino 4 or 5 times), so I was prepared. Honestly, though, I just love being at the craps table. It is a social, exciting, fast paced, fun and energetic place to be. I absolutely love it. Therefore, I have fun no matter what.

off to win some money!

How did I do?? Well, it's actually a fun story. I lost most of my money right away, the table was doing poorly and it needed some serious energy. Enter ME! :-) Twice I was down to my final ten dollars (re: it was on the pass line and I had zero chips in front of me) and came back!! I had a great roll and the table turned around a bit. I told myself once I got up to my starting $60, I was putting it away, and playing with any extra I made.

You listen to yourself a lot more when you have a family and a future house mortgage. I cashed out with $82!!!! I was soooo giddy I almost ran down the hallway from the elevator, after reaching our floor. I know it's only 22 dollars, but still--to play for an hour and a half, not risk much, and come out able to pay for dinner----SWEET!!

We ate dinner in a restaurant in the hotel/casino. It was sub-par, so that was a bummer, but G behaved and we still had fun. Should have sprang for the top floor buffet, but at $20 a plate, we thought it seemed a bit much.

After dinner we all got ready for bed, as we were tired from the night before. We had thought about putting G in one of the bathrooms (yes, all Harrah's rooms have two), but I decided it was inhumane and unsafe.

She actually fell asleep pretty easily, as did the two adults.

sunset view from our room

Jump forward about two hours. My husband and I were awoken by a LOUD , obnoxiously LOUD, alarm going off. At first, I was out of sorts and hit my husband and told him to turn his alarm off. I guess I thought we were at home...but after I fully woke up, I realized it was much louder, and was talking to us. Imagine the most annoying alarm clock buzz + amplify it by 1000 and add "May I have your attention please, we have received an alarm notice, please stay tuned for further instruction" or something like that. It went on for about 10 minutes. THANK the Lord, G didn't wake up. I don't know how a garage door can wake her up, but this alarm didn't....I'm certainly glad though, because after it turned off, there was a minute of equally loud and annoying "this has been a false alarm" message. Then two minutes later another false alarm for a minute and then another minute of "false alarm" message. It was absolutely ridiculous. I can only imagine how hard G would have screamed if she had woken up and how hard it would have been to get her back asleep. Whew, is all I can say.

We slept pretty peacefully until about 7 or so the next morning.


Day Two Highlight: pretty scenery + beach fun + WINNING at CRAPS!
Day Two Bummer: unsuccessful water skiing + quality of dinner + insects + fire alarm
Lessons Learned: Go with the flow because sometimes the little things don't matter. When I look back on the day, sure there are seriously crappy things, but we had a lot of fun and wouldn't change it!