California

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Dear Holly: Throwing Water Balloons at the 4th of July Parade

7 years, 2 months.

Dear Holly,

Last week for July 4th, our family was visiting Grandma in California. We had never been there before on that holiday to see their Walnut Grove community parade.

We were invited to hang out with some of Grandma’s friends in their yard for the festivities.

I was very surprised and confused to see Grandma’s neighbors pull out a bucket of water balloons and water guns to attack the participants in the parade.

You and your brother were encouraged to proactively attack the people in the parade floats as they drove by the house.

Granted, they were prepared for battle as well. The fire trucks even used their hose to soak everyone!

It was a one of a kind experience!

 

Love,

Daddy

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Our Family Spot at King’s Beach on the California Side of Lake Tahoe

When our family is ready to hang out at the beach, why drive 6 and a half hours from our home near Nashville, Tennessee to Destin, Florida when we could fly all the way to the other side of the country to Lake Tahoe in California?

As far as my kids are concerned, they have just as much fun either way. When you’re a kid, it’s sand and waves- and that’s all that matters… even if the water is much chillier on a lake that is more than a mile higher than sea level.

Our tradition is to hang out at King’s Beach, which is at the very northern part of Lake Tahoe. I love being able to see the snow-capped mountains all the way across the other side; which is 22 miles away.

For years now, my son has enjoyed making sand fortresses. He’ll get in the water a little bit, but mainly just to wash off the extra sand in between his toes.

I was amazed this year by what heavy stones he was able to find and carry over to his construction sight.

For all I know, there are much better spots at Lake Tahoe. However, King’s Beach is the most convenient for our family, since we are always ultimately en route to Sacramento from there anyway.

There’s a really nice pier there that is fun to walk out across and take a family photo or two.

Not to mention, there is a playground, easily accessible restrooms, and even a grocery store in walking distance; so you can easily buy everything you need to have a picnic there on the beach.

King’s Beach is our spot on Lake Tahoe. Granted, I’m fully aware that thousands of other people feel the same way, but it still feels like a well kept secret to us.

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Accidentally Family Glamping in Squaw Valley, California: Home of the 1960 Winter Olympics

It was the closest to camping my wife will ever be and she wanted to go home right then.

I admit I’m borrowing from the memorable 1998 hit song “Iris” from Goo Goo Dolls here.

(“You’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be and I don’t want to go home right now.”)

In hindsight, I understand now that we accidentally ended up glamping for a few days of our family vacation last week in California.

For the first three nights, we stayed in Squaw Valley; home of the 1960 Winter Olympics. Imagine the scene:

My kids shared a fold-out couch on one side of the rustic motel, while my wife and I shared an actual bed. The thing is, it’s typically so cold in this part of California, where it is more than a mile above sea level. Therefore, the building is not equipped with air conditioning.

So instead, there were fans in the windows and ceiling fans above us to pull in some cooler feeling air. But during the middle of the summer with the temperature being the highest, it’s not the most comfortable way to fall asleep.

Our bed was right next to the window connected to the outside hallway, so that other fellow guests could basically see through our window while we slept, since we had to keep the curtain open in an effort to prevent blocking the fan.

I should mention the shower, too.

It was basically a giant tray on the floor of the bathroom in which I had to spray my kids with a hose. It was like giving a cat a bath.

But fortunately, we were able to overlook all that and appreciate the beauty of our surroundings during the daytime.

I’m pretty sure this was the closest my wife will ever get to camping. As for me, I grew up in the mountains of Alabama, so it’s what I know.

Here’s to family glamping!

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My 3 Year-Old Daughter’s Bigtruck Hat Souvenir and Our Consequent Tour of the Bigtruck Factory Store and Custom Hat Bar in Truckee, California

Upon arrival in Truckee, after the short drive from Reno where our flight landed, we began our summer vacation by visiting the first souvenir shop the kids saw.

While my kids’ agenda was to immediately spend their $20 souvenir stipends, my wife was more concerned with finding a hat to cover our fair-skinned 3 year-old daughter from the California sun in Lake Tahoe.

My daughter wasn’t quite sold on the simple and practical sunhat my wife found. Instead, my daughter was lured by the irresistibly trendy Bigtruck trucker’s hat with a yellow flower on it.

She still had a leftover gift card from her birthday back in April; to extend beyond her souvenir budget.

It turns out she loved this “flower hat” so much, that she chose to deplete the rest of her gift card money on it!

I will admit: I’m glad she did.

What an awesome hat for a cute little girl spending a week of summer vacation in the Lake Tahoe area.

She totally rocked that hat and she knew it.

Of all coincidences, by the end of our week-long vacation, we just happened to stop for lunch at a deli right across the street from the Bigtruck Factory Store and Custom Hat Bar there in Truckee!

After lunch, my wife stayed in the truck with our daughter who quickly fell asleep for her afternoon nap.

Meanwhile, my son and I invited ourselves in for a tour; where we met Triston Sceirine, the company’s Production Manager, who was happy to show us around the place.

We had a great time checking out how they make the hats, and even learned they have a “hat bar” where customers can customize their own hats.

I have a feeling the next time our family is in Truckee again, we’ll be heading back there to make some cool hats!

And thanks to my daughter’s hat choice, we have brought a piece of Truckee back to Nashville, Tennessee.

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2019 Family Reunion in Lake Tahoe: Celebrating the Life of My Wife’s Father and Grandfather

In case you somehow didn’t know this by now, my wife is #9 of 10 kids. So every year, our official family summer vacation is going to visit as much of her family that can show up in the Sacramento, California area; which is where they all grew up and some still live.

And in case you’re not so familiar with the geography of Sacramento, it is in northern California; just a little over 2 hours away from Lake Tahoe, which also borders the neighboring state of Nevada.

This summer, Lake Tahoe served as the central meeting place for the family; this time to especially celebrate the life of my wife’s father (who passed away a couple months after we were married in 2008); as well as her grandfather Gus, who passed away last fall.

Everyone was given the opportunity to share memories and stories of both men. Being that I married into the family, I wasn’t planning on saying anything.

But when I was asked if I wanted to share something, after I had the opportunity to hear what everyone else said, I decided to speak.

I explained that my takeaway from what they all said about these two very important men in their family was this:

It was undeniable that these men sacrificed much for the sake of their family; even if they weren’t able to be appreciated or feel appreciated at the time.

That is often the theme of being a parent: that you often are unable to be truly appreciated as you give the most of your time, energy, and soul to the people you care for so much.

I appreciated being somewhat of a grafted-in outsider that day. I feel that it took that kind of perspective to understand myself better; coincidentally during Father’s Day weekend.

It was a truly good day.