Peeking in on the Pearsalls: Trekking to new heights

Last weekend we took our first weekend trip with Ellie to Lake Tahoe!! Our good friends Brandon and Evie invited our life group to stay at their family cabin in West Shore Tahoe in Tahoma for the weekend. I have to admit, I was a little (okay, a LOT) apprehensive of taking Ellie on a trip so soon, mostly because it would be a new environment, we would be staying in someone else's place, and it would be our first time away from home and our normal routine. (And me being a control freak didn't help this worry) But after careful consideration and lots of indecisive moments we made our packing list and decided to go for it. And boy are we glad we did!! We had such a wonderful time with our friends the Pierces and the Purintons and they were the perfect friends to spend our first weekend away with because they are so supportive and also have little ones of their own. Baloo and Koby were going to spend the weekend with NaMa and NamPa so we didn't have to worry about them. I don't know who was more excited about that, the dogs or my parents. :)

We all drove up to the cabin on Friday afternoon. We left after Ellie ate so she would sleep the whole way there and she did great! Not even a peep from her the entire time. I wish I could say the drive there went as smoothly for us. About 15 minutes into our drive, right after I was finally feeling at ease about going on this adventure, we all of a sudden wondered if Ellie would be okay in the higher altitude. We honestly hadn't even thought of it being an issue until that moment and I admit I was pretty worried and freaked out (after all, that's what I do best!). We stopped off on the side of the road for about half and hour while we called the advice nurse from the doctor's office who told us that Ellie should be totally fine with the altitude and not to worry. She told us about signs of altitude sickness that we should look out for just in case and reassured us that she should be just fine. I tried to make sure she kept her pacifier in as we were climbing up the pass to help her ears adjust but she just kept spitting it out. :)

Ellie is ready to go!!!

We all made it up safe and sound without much traffic and by the time we were all unpacked (we all brought pretty much everything from our houses LoL) we were pretty hungry so we took a walk to a nearby pizza place. We stopped off at a neighborhood park while we were waiting for the pizza to be ready and had fun watching the kids play on the playground. Russell and Ashleigh were stationed to help the kids make it up to the slide while Brandon and Clete caught them as they came out of the slide and Evie took pictures. (I was resting on a bench with Ellie enjoying watching everyone.)

Aubrey and Zach held hands the entire walk! :) So cute!

Playing in a nearby park while waiting for the pizza to be ready

When we finally got the pizza we walked down to the water and had a makeshift picnic. After we ate the guys couldn't wait to jump in the water and we had a great time watching them jump in off the dock.

Russell, Brandon and Clete couldn't wait to jump in the cold water

The guys teaching Aubrey and Zach to skip stones

Zach and Aubrey bonding in the double stroller

Saturday morning we all woke up and had a nice hot breakfast. Russell did an amazing job whipping up scrambled eggs and bacon while I made pancakes. We were all impressed by Russell's mad cooking skills!! Brandon took Russell, Clete, and Ashleigh out on the quads while Evie and I stayed at the cabin with the kids and enjoyed a nice, relaxing day. Well, mostly relaxing. Ellie randomly threw up big time which really worried me. I know, I know...newborns throw up all the time right? Well, Ellie usually doesn't so knowing that vomiting was a sign of altitude sickness I did get worried that something was wrong with her. BUT....I was really proud of myself because I didn't freak out like I expected. I stayed calm, cleaned her up and called our doctors office who reassured me again that she was fine and just to keep an eye on her if anything changed or worsened.

Later that evening after Russell and Ashleigh were back (Brandon and Clete were out on the quads) we went for a nice walk around the neighborhood. It felt great to get outside and there was a really nice breeze out because a big storm was coming through that night. come to find out later it was a huge thunder and lightening storm that decided to hit right when we were going to bed and kept us up for about 20 minutes. I don't think I've ever heard thunder that loud but the lightening was really cool to see.

Aubrey being adorable, as usual :)

Going for a walk around the neighborhood

Ellie in the Baby Bjorn with daddy

On Sunday morning we woke up and had a yummy breakfast prepared by Evie and we got our things ready to hit the road. We all couldn't believe that Ellie was already 4 weeks old and that we had survived our first family vacation!!

Family picture...Ellie was 4 weeks old this day!

We remembered and managed to take a group picture together. It is so wonderful that we all have kids now and that we can go on vacations together and it is so fun to think about all of the adventures that are ahead of us! We are so grateful to Brandon and Evie for having us at their cabin and hope to plan another trip soon!