On Saturday the Bauson clan made the trek to Tahoe. We left at 5:30 a.m., and had planned to be playing in the snow by 9:00 a.m., possibly even 10:00 a.m. (the weather was going to be a bit harsh, so we padded an extra hour).

We got through Sacramento without any problems. Once we hit Auburn, things started to slow down exponentially; by Colfax, they had closed down two lanes of the three lane highway to check to make sure that each car or truck was a four wheel drive, if not, they needed to have chains. It took us 6 hours to get to Tahoe.

We ended up stopping just after Colfax because both of our children were getting antsy. We had a quick brunch (super healthy by the way, nothing beats a BK whopper at 10:30 a.m.).

We hit the road again, and reached Boreal Ski Resort by 11:30 a.m. I had researched the resort on Friday evening, and read that Boreal had recently installed a tubing hill for children. We had been in the car for so long that John and I just wanted to start playing in the snow! We pulled over, found a parking spot, and started to suit up the kids.

I think it took us about 15 minutes to get everyone dressed, however it felt like an eternity. It really is a pain in the arse to get both kids in gloves, boots, jacket, and beanie.

We finally made our way to the Boreal lodge only to find out that the tubing area was closed because of the weather....grrrr. We were told that there was a "snow park" just a second up the road where we could rent sleds. We let Manny and Christian run around for another 15 or so minutes, and loaded them up in the car...again.

(I also had to nurse Christian once we were inside the lodge, which meant that I head to remove his jacket, beanie, and gloves which took me an eternity to put on...that was a HUGE pain)

We then spent the next 15-20 minutes trying to find where the hell we could rent sleds, but there was no sled rental in sight. My final assessment? I think the customer service lady was on crack.

Frustrated, and tired, we loaded up the kids in the car once more, and decided to make our way to our original intended destination, Granlibakken Resort. We were so happy to see that the roads had cleared up considerably when we were at Boreal. It took us another 20 minutes to get to Granlibakken.

We made our final destination, at 12:30 p.m! John and Manny went sledding (which is another funny story, but I will need another blog to explain) on the bigger hill. We then found another small hill for both boys to enjoy sledding. John and Manny made a snowman, while Christian and I looked on.

Unfortunately, when John and I started to enjoy ourselves, the boys were ready to leave. We really only spent about 3 hours of good play time in the snow.

I also have created a new rule about future ski trips: unless you're an excellent walker, and can walk in snow boots, you're not allowed to come on the trip with us.

My lovely baby boy, Christian, is about 23+ pounds. With all of his snow gear on, he probably weighs closer to 25 pounds. I had to lug him around the snow, at 8000 elevation. It was not easy. We want to take Manny to the snow again before the winter is over. We will be leaving Christian at home with a babysitter.

The ride home was a bit easier. The boys slept most of the way. It took us about 3 hours to get to Berkeley. By this time both boys were awake, and ready to get out of the car (they both were crying). We stopped at the Berkeley Wholefoods to grab some dinner, and ended up getting home at 7:30 p.m.

In retrospect, we did have fun. In total we traveled 10 hours, to play in the snow for 3. It was a lot of work, but when I asked Manny if he had fun he said yes, and he wants to go back soon.

Here are some more photos...



This is Manny's first meltdown. We were at the park for about an hour.