Summer

Because it’s summer and the memories are just waiting to happen. -Unknown

Oh Summer, how I love you!   As much as I love each Season and the different weather, foods, and feeling each has to offer, nothing compares to Summer for me.  The main reason is the time off I have from work and being able to spend quality time with my girls.

Sitting on the beach relaxing...

My toes w/ new pedicure in the warm Lake Tahoe sand :)

A couple years after my separation and subsequent divorce, I started a tradition of going to Lake Tahoe every summer with my girls.  I have probably mentioned before, my Aunt and Uncle own a cute little house on the South shore and allow us to stay at no charge.  It is the perfect get-away for me after a long stressful school year at work.  This yearly trip, which over the years has ranged from a few nights to almost week, depending on what's going on in our lives, has become the only time all year I truly relax.  Even when I'm off work at home, I am still working around my house and yard and dealing with the day to day responsibilities of being a homeowner and single mom.  In Tahoe, I check out of the usual responsibilities and let it all go.  I cook and clean while I'm there, but it's at my leisure and if I don't feel like it, then I don't have to.

My girls in the backyard of "our" little cabin.

Since I love to cook, I don't really mind cooking most of our meals, so we plan ahead and do all of our grocery shopping before we leave, packing it all up and hauling it to "the cabin", as we fondly call it.

This Summer was our 8th visit to the cabin, and over the years we have brought along the girls' friends, boyfriend, and even got my sister and nieces to go with us a couple years ago.  This year, it was just the three of us all week.   I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this time with them.  This is my last summer with both girls living at home, so I truly cherished our time together.  When we are home, there are so many distractions for all of us, work, friends, boyfriend, all the stuff that keeps us so busy and coming and going in different directions.

We found a new shop that had hundreds of different sodas and candy.  Alyssa found her her friend Sheldon, lol.

We stayed up late watching movies, got pedicures, shopped, played cards, went out for sushi, hung out at the beach, drove around the entire lake, and just enjoyed being together without all the usual distractions.

We have decided to make a pact, that as long as we can, we will continue to go to Tahoe together every summer, just the 3 of us for at least a few days alone, even if there are boyfriends, husbands, etc. who enter our lives.  This is a trip I look forward to every year and it's always a little hard to say goodbye when we leave our beloved cabin in Lake Tahoe.