Our Tahoe Week

Travel is starting to be a thing again.  I have seen more travel pics on Facebook, and while I haven't ventured anywhere yet, the school took the high schoolers on a leadership retreat to Tahoe.  

Freshman Hannah borrowed Katie's Christmas camera for the trip, and came back with pictures of snow.  Bad mom--this was her first time in the snow.  Because yuck.  I'm not a fan of the cold.  Last time we took the kids to the snow, my face got horribly sunburned.  So that trip was good for over a decade in my mind.  

This was a composite pic staff shared on Facebook.  Heaven forbid anyone find out my son owns sleeves.  Yes, that's snow a stone's throw from him.  

I was a little worried about how Hannah would do on the uneven terrain, but she had a great time.  

I took some "senior" pictures of Jack.

Which the Grum photobombed, of course.  He was so thrilled to be outside.  

The new TV has a fish tank setting.  Fiona was all about that channel.  

At first, Katie was bothered by the idea of Hannah going somewhere she didn't get to go.  After I pointed out that since it would only be the two of us at dinner, we could pick up fast food, she was more okay with them leaving for Tahoe.  The first night, we had Taco Bell.  The second day, I picked her up from school and said, "How about burgers tonight?"  She said, "In & Out?"  I scrunched up my nose and said, "No, their fries taste like potatoes."  She then asked, "Is there other burger places?"  :facepalm:  It's been a while since we've eaten out.  She has been to McDonalds before, I swear.  We stop at the one in Fallon, NV, when we travel out to my dad's place most summers.  Only, not for the last few years.  We had delicious, salty, greasy fries with our dinner that night.  

My snapdragon "bush" finally died, so I have a big, empty spot I need to replant.  The remaining snapdragons are from last year.  Someone forgot to tell them they're generally thought of as annuals.  I'm thrilled to have found a plant that doesn't immediately shrivel and die in my presence.  

Um, Fi?  You look like an Ikea assembly gone wrong.

I was feeling wild & crazy, so I did a black & white dinner.  Black beans and white beans, soaked overnight, then thrown in the instant pot with chicken pieces and beef pieces, served with black & white rice.  Upon opening the rice cooker, we had purple rice.  The instant pot's finished product was basically brown.  But it was yummy.  

Back at the library.  Our local mask order lifts TODAY!  I'm pretty excited about that.  

We brought home a few books.  Katie couldn't figure out what she wanted, so she grabbed the entire state section.  

Grumman so loves to be outdoors.  

It makes him roll with joy.

Hannah and I picked up Josiah's birthday gift (a gaming chair) after her piano lesson this week.  

My birthday boy!  See the cake?  Miss M made that from scratch.  Custard and glaze and all.  It was very impressive.  

Remember a while back there was a minor brouhaha over half a dozen Dr. Seuss books that would no longer be published because ol' Theo was a bit racist in his early years?  Well, we have a lot of really OLD books at the school, so I got curious and pulled our To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.  We have one stand alone, and it's also in a 6 book anthology.  At some point, the copy changed from boy to man and the ponytail and yellow skin disappeared.  Not really sure how I feel about this yet.  

While we're on the subject of altering books, I have some dino crazy students, so I purchased a couple new dinosaur books.  Being at a school that believes in creation and young earth, I felt a little white out was in order for the "millions of years" part of the text.