I [Heart] My Life

Celebrating My 36th: Looking Back at the Tahoe Celebration

A month ago we were in Tahoe for a week. A glorious wonderful, end-of-that-stinkin-cancer-year week. I'm finally getting around to pulling my vacation photos off my camera. Snow and winter already seem so long ago...

Trip highlights: Playing in the lake despite the chilly weather, learning to skip rocks (me & Nia), games, books, riding the tram up to the top of the hill at Squaw Valley, chocolate birthday cake, hand-crafted nature earrings, lots of movie-watching, and my friend of 31 years coming for birthday dinner -- we had so much fun I forgot to take any pictures. :) (Thanks, Megan!)

All the photos are here. My favorites are below.

Here was last year's birthday trip blog post & photos.

 

Escape From Cancerland: Coarsegold, CA

On Friday I got a tattoo.

Only it was only a couple of dots on either side of my mastectomy scar and it was totally cancer-related. (And have I mentioned how absolutely tired I am of needles right now?) Anyway, the tattoo was part of the set up for the next phase of my cancer journey: Radiation.

On Friday I had a CT scan and all the mapping and measuring done so that when the radiation begins next week, they don't accidentally zap my heart, or my lungs, or any other important organ. Just nuke the invisible cancer cells, please.

More on all of this later, I promise.

But first an escape from Cancerland is well over-due. Grab your pink, glitter cowboy boots and your sequin beret, we're off to Coarsegold for the weekend!

Lake Tahoe Summer Photo Album

Some pictures from our glorious time in Tahoe a couple weeks ago... Yep, we pretty much spent the entire time either in the water, or looking at the water. Breathing in... breathing out...

For fun, a link to pictures from Nia's first Tahoe trip, two years earlier. From baby to kiddo...

Swimming in Puerto Rico

When I travel for work, it's overrated. I mean, largely I only see the inside of some hotel that took a day to fly to. Sure, some hotels are really, really nice. But for the most part, I could be anywhere in the US. But, even though I'm stuck inside for days at a time, it feels really good to know that while I'm working, this is happening outside:

Flashback: Here's a picture from last year's Puerto Rico trip (I think Nia's hair grew 6 inches in between trips!).

Adios

Bye bye Puerto Rico...

Montana Memories...

Some more pictures from our Fourth of July trip to see Kyle & Whitney in Plains. In case you haven't been playing along at home, you can find the whole Montana 2011 series of posts here. 

This was my first time buying firecrackers. Can you believe that? 34 years old, and never bought firecrackers before. Maybe because they are illegal in CA... My neighbors don't let that pesky little fact bother them, though... 

This was Nia's first time doing sparklers. I was really excited for her to do them. I vividly remember doing sparklers as a kid! We did sparklers and some other G-rated fireworks that lit up and spun on the ground and had different colors. Nia was a little worried at first, but then totally into it. 

*sigh* Santa Cruz has one or two things going for it, too, but I would so much rather be on the banks of this river thank sitting at my laptop now... Until next year!

PS: We'll definitely be doing the Slip 'n Slide again next year!

 

Remembering Montana: Corona Lake

We are home again now from our lovely trip to Montana. We got back to Santa Cruz around 2a on Thursday morning after a series of delays due to thunderstorms in Denver. As usual, Nia was a regular trooper and cheery and chatty until slightly after leaving Denver at 11p. Then, she slipped off to sleep and managed to sleep all the way through to waking up in Santa Cruz in the morning! Wish I could have done the same, although it was a treat to settle back and watch a movie on the plane. I don't think I've done that in 3+ years! 

Our last full day in Montana, we went up into the mountains to escape the heat. We spent the afternoon at Corona Lake, a sweet little spot with absolutely no other visitors. Nia spent the time splashing in the water, chasing the dogs, exploring the woods, looking for treasures. At one point, she and Kyle walked the perimeter of the lake. When they were across from Whitney and I, Nia howled like a coyote. I howled back, which Kyle later said made Nia worry she'd woken the wolves! (Wolves were a theme for Nia in Montana: Wondering if we'd see any, would they be nice or scary, etc. -- alas, we did not see any, though they were there.)

It is lovely to be home but it was such a sweet vacation... one that will live in our memories for a long time.

 

 

Montana Cont'd: How to Build a Dam

Before we left for Montana, I read a review for a book called something along the lines of Let Your Kids Do Dangerous Things. It included all kinds of fun, essential childhood conquests like supergluing your fingers together, spear-throwing, tree-climbing, etc. One thing on the list that wasn't especially dangerous but brought back a flood of fond memories from my summer camping trips as a kid was Dam Building. I knew immediately that it was time for Nia to learn how to build a dam, and the simple joy in influencing nature's course. However, I have a broken foot. Thus, the MT trip was well-timed so that she could learn from Uncle Kyle while I chronicled the great moment in her childhood. 

 

 

Montana Cont'd: Horses

Kyle has a horse, Tes. We went one afternoon to visit her, and her stable-mate, Midget, on a beautiful piece of land outside of town. Breathtaking. Nia said that when she is older, she'll have a horse and she'll walk it on a rope and feed it hay and it will live with us with the daddy horse and the baby horse in the backyard. 

Montana Cont'd: Beating the Heat

Water balloons! Gardening! Dining outdoors! Watermellon! ~ A pretty quintessential summer vacation, no?