Emerald Bay - Lake Tahoe

Early this past week we took a day trip to Emerald Bay in Lake Tahoe. We hit one of the last days of fall as winter weather and snow came a day or two later!

Behind us is Fanette Island with a little castle structure known as Tea House where a women who lived on the shore (picture later) and her guests would row out to enjoy tea. It is just a shell now.

The mile hike down to the shore was beautiful.

Geoff tried out a wide picture-taking feature on our phone camera

This beautiful home known as Vikingsholm sits right on Emerald Bay. It was built in 1929 using Scandinavian architecture and furnishings. It was closed for the season but even the outside was gorgeous. A Mrs. Knight lived owned this property, as well as Tea Island.

Halloween

I love Halloween. Most of it anyway.

You can look at last year and probably see the same set of photos, but here they are again...

Pumpkin pancakes

Mr. Bones came for lunch

Mr. Bones had candy teeth, courtesy of Adele's pre-Halloween candy collection

I stumbled across a cute little book at the library called Squeals & Squiggles & Ghostly Giggles. During breakfast I read a few of its "spooky" stories (during breakfast was the only time I can attempt such stories since a few of our girls are nightmare prone), and the girls put on a comedy which was provided in the book. There were more fun games and tricks we didn't get to. Maybe next year. Here are a few photos of the comedy, which ended a little prematurely due to some serious off-stage drama...

Tennie played "Dr. Diabolical" and this was her medicine table

Here she is treating some of her patients

Ceci as a ghost patient

Adele: hippy, Tennie: Rock star, Ceci: wicked witch, Geoff: motorcycle Santa, and I'm a gypsy

The Trade

Since our kids can only eat their candy after dinner on Halloween night, and then it goes in the trash, they don't waste time. This year they got early stomach aches and called it quits before too much consumption. But we still had hyper energy to burn off so we finished off the day with the annual Burn-the-Candy Dance Party.



Fun times.

Machu Picchu

A few of the board members extended the trip to see Machu Picchu. From Cusco it was a 2-hour van ride to the train station, followed by a two-hour train ride to the base of the mountains, and then a 1/2 hour bus ride up the mountain side.

This is the old Inca Trail. The Incas communicated throughout their empire with a system like the Pony Express, only it was on foot. One can hike the Inca trail with porters carrying their bags, setting up camp, and having food ready at each meal. We've added this to our rather long mental list of things to do when the girls get a little older.

Geoff said he expected it to be spectacular, and he was still overwhelmed by the incredible setting.








From here it was a 31-hour (total) trip home, with a layover in Lima where Geoff and another board member (who traveled most of the way home together) fit in one last surfing adventure.

Doesn't this picture look like one of those fake boards where you put your face in the space to look like it's really you?

Cusco, Peru

After official Kiva meetings were over a small group stayed a few extra days to go to Machu Picchu. They first flew in to Cusco. At 12,000 feet, Cusco takes a little adjustment, only there wasn't any time to relax and adjust so Geoff had a massive headache, and was dizzy for his brief visit. He still enjoyed this beautiful Colonial town and its history and treasures.

The Spanish took over (and pretty much destroyed) the Inca Empire. Geoff stayed in a Spanish Monastery with gorgeous architectural detail, and this picture over his bed...

The girls loved imagining this woman who is Adele's size. Isn't she amazing?!

Remains of an Inca building. They didn't use mortar between those perfect stones!

All sacred buildings were covered in an inch of gold (That explains the Spaniard's motives!) This block of gold was an inch thick and the size of two closet doors.

Next stop: Machu Picchu

Lima, Peru

Geoff is on the board of an organization called Kiva, and Kiva took their board to Peru to see some of their microfinance partners.

While there he made his way to the Lima Peru Temple.

A view from where he had lunch (it is Spring in Peru)

Geoff with a woman who has a loan through Kiva

The summer between Geoff's graduate school years, when Tennie was 3-6 months old, we lived in a little Colonial town in Southern Mexico, San Cristobol de Las Casas, for the summer. Geoff was consulting with a microfinance program there, and I helped out by interviewing women to see if and how their lives were impacted by getting a loan. It was a very cool and life changing experience. The hillside where the poorest of the poor in the town lived was called "Ormigas" which means "ants". This hill just outside Lima reminds me of Ormigas. I was really wishing the girls and I were there with Geoff.


Geoff and a few of the others did some surfing during a little free time.


If you haven't ever heard of Kiva they are worth an explore. We have a little jar of growing spare change in the laundry room and the girls are excited to give a $25 loan as soon as they have enough.

Geoff is back from his traveling adventures, and since we were lacking adventure (and a camera) while he was gone I'll skip our day-to-day activities and just share a few pictures of his trip. First stop: Abu Dhabi. Only a few pictures, and not exciting ones at that, but here they are anyway.

Nothing but desert and super jazzed up, have-so-much-money-and-don't-know-what-to-do-with-it buildings.
The view from Geoff's hotel room.

This is Ferrari World where Geoff rode go-carts that went upwards of 35MPH,
and there is a roller-coaster that goes 200MPH!

There was serious hummus

And this hotel where Geoff had meetings sits over a Formula One race track

His meetings kept him in only one area so he didn't see much of Abu Dhabi, but overall it wasn't nearly as enjoyable as his next destination: Peru.

We often do role-playing in our morning devotionals. One day we made some family figures from a few old pictures Geoff's mom had on hand. Although we used these figures in our role-playing, making them turned out to be the most fun! I'm sure we'll be making them again.