In September we took a family trip to Carson City, Nevada, where Ryan was born and grew up. We stayed with Ryan's aunt and uncle in a town close by. We were lucky enough to have Ryan's parents there as well. It was a much needed vacation. Seth still talks about Aunt Terresa and Uncle David so I'm assuming he had a good time too.

So we took off on September 9th. The drive wasn't so bad. Maybe really never made a peep the whole trip and Seth did pretty good as well. He had a hard time about half way there, but it didn't last too long. We didn't get into town until about 11:00 that night. A trip that normally only takes about 8 hours took us 11. Stops just take longer with kids. Totally worth it though.

One of the reasons we wanted to go back to Nevada for our vacation was to take the kiddos to Lake Tahoe so Thursday we woke up and headed to the lake. It was so beautiful. We stayed until they kicked us off the beach because it was closing.

Look at how clear the water is!! These were taken under water (it was suppose to be their tootsies, oops). Seth made friends with this other family. He ran up to them and just made himself at home. At one point he walks up to that dad and put his hand on his shoulder. It was pretty funny.
Friday we went to a place in California called Apple Hill. It's this place that is filled with apple orchards. Some people say it's a super cool place to visit and others said they'd never go back. I have to say, the drive out there was beautiful, I had the best apple cider I'd ever had, but I'd be okay if we didn't go back.

Breakfast The babies were done being in the car, but we had to stop and look at the view.
We purposely planned our trip so we would be in Reno on Saturday, the day of the Great Reno Balloon Races. It starts at 5:30 am (which means we left the house at 4:00 am) with something they call Dawn Patrol. It's not very often you get to see hot air balloons in the dark.

There were probably a hundred balloons we got to see fill up and take off.
I think we look pretty good for getting up at 3:30 am.
The rest of Saturday was spent resting and relaxing at the aunt and uncle's. Cousin Davey made some awesome ribs, me and Ryan took a spin in the Miata, and everyone slept beautifully that night.
Sunday it was time to go home. I think everyone was a little sad to leave because it was just so nice being all together and we all had such a good time. The trip back seemed to take an extra long time. We didn't make it home until 12:30 am. Maybe was sick the whole trip with some sort of intestinal infection, but she was a trooper (and so was Aunt Terresa being understanding when Maybe pooped on her beautiful bedding). Seth threw up on the way home once and Ryan had some intestinal problems of his own. What's a family vacation without a little drama? I had 391 pictures to choose from so I did my best journaling about this vacation. What a blessing computers are that I can so easily journal about our family experiences and have them be shared with you.