Tahoe Freak Show (or Family Vacation)

I know...weird title for my post....right? Well, not if you were the Hughes in Tahoe! Seriously, I have NEVER felt so stared at in my life! Walking around with 4 kids was as if I were walking around naked! People stared and commented to us and after we passed about how many kids we had. Its not like we have 12! It was bizarre. We got a lot of "wow, you've been busy" or "you sure do have your hands full". One guy even said "you know there's a cure for that!". In Idaho people just think we are LDS but in Cali we were a freak show! I should have put a cup out asking for donations...I probably could have made some serious cash! Anyway...the staring aside we had a blast!

Best Family vacation of all time (so far anyway)! We drove to Tahoe the day after it had snowed about a foot and then the rest of the week it was 45-50 degrees! It was gorgeous. Jaxon and Kenna learned how to ski (I was SO proud of them), Huddy and Ty had fun playing at the resort day care on the days that we skied, and Jay and I got one day to our selves to ski! It was amazing, and yet I was quickly reminded that my body cant do the things it use to! The last time we skied was the year before Jaxon was born!!!! We will make sure that doesn't happen again because we can do this as a family. One whole day we skied with just Jax & Kenna and I was beaming and hootin and hollerin the whole way down the mountain...I was so PROUD of them! Kenna has a need for speed and Jaxon a need to perfect it...fun combo! We did lots of other fun things. Check out the pics below! Good times!

For just $5 you can stare at the Hughes family!

This is where we stayed. The Marriott Timber Lodge in South Lake Tahoe. We were seriously like 50 yards for the Nevada/California state line. We were technically in Cali. It was gorgeous inside and out and right next door to the Heavenly village which has shops, restaurants and an ice rink.

The out door pool was heated!

And, Yes, the kids swam in it!

One day we took the kids up the Gondola and they got to sled at the "Adventure Park". WAY to expensive, wouldn't do it again, but they had fun. Ty didn't love sledding so he reclined in the beach chair with daddy. (I thought it was funny that there were beach chairs, but I guess people need a place to sit)

Huddy had a blast carrying up his disc to slide down his not so huge hill...it was perfect for him.

This is the tow rope for the tubing which me, Jay, Jax & Kenna did. Jaxon is in the orange tube and Kenna is in the yellow one.

The little boys in the Gondola on the way down.

Me, Jax & Jay...the view up here was phenomenal!

This is another view of our hotel. See the Gondola going up...it was seriously right out the back door! So cool!

Jax & Kenna really wanted to learn to ice skate so we put the skates on one evening. Those kids fell left and right! I fell once...didn't skate again. Luckily it was at the end of the session. My tail bone still hurts! But again, I was so proud of the kids, they picked it up so quickly! Ahhh..to be young again!

Jay and the boys ate a carmel apple by the fire while we were falling on the hard ice!

Ski school was a hit! Here is Kenna at the end of a run. She had so much fun...once she got he hang of it.

Here goes Jaxon!

I love this picture! The view of Lake Tahoe was breath taking from atop Heavenly. Heavenly is the ski resort we skied at.

We really couldn't have asked for better weather. It was sunshiny and 50 degrees!

This is the day we took the kids skiing. They stayed on the easy run for about 1/2 hour and then up to the top of the mountain they wanted to go! I was amazed!

This is a cool map of Lake Tahoe. Jay is being educational and showing them where we are!

On our last morning we told the kids we would take them down to the water and throw rocks in the Lake but when we got to the water there were no rocks! Everything was covered in snow SO we threw snowballs in the water instead! Huddy wasn't to thrilled, but he got over it. HE was counting on those rocks!

I just cant believe how much luggage it takes for us to go any where! I'm starting to realize why people stare. =)

This was the way we ended our family vacation...at In-n-out! Any time we go anywhere, if there is an In-n-Out, Jay sniffs it out and we HAVE to eat there. We actually ate here on our way to Tahoe and our way home! And this was the first hamburger Hudson and Ty have ever had from a fast food restaurant. Them there are chicken nugget fans! (say it with an accent, it sounds better).

This was the first family vacation where we really wanted to stay longer! We cant wait to go back!