Goodbye, Nevada!

Moving Day!!! The truck came on Friday the 8th! They only had two guys come, and they were able to get it done from 9-5. I flew out to Atlanta with the boys last night (the 9th), so we're safe in our hotel room, trying to figure out how to best adjust to the 3 hour time difference (and hoping our truck arrives sooner than later)! :)

So so SOOOOOOOOO happy they ship our car!!! It's a 39 hour drive to Atlanta!

4th

We were still in Nevada for the 4th this year, so we headed to Lake Tahoe to see the amazing fireworks we heard so much about (top 5 in the nation, is what a news report said...). :) They shoot them off at three different locations around the lake. We set up camp by the main ones in South Lake Tahoe. We got there early to make sure & have a great spot, so the kids had time to splash in the water. The fireworks were definitely worth it, so we were so happy that we got to see them once!

Soaring Minden!

Joe and Sawyer went on a glider ride! They'd been seeing the signs the whole time we lived here, and it was just one of those things where they'd better do it before they leave, or they'd regret it.


Lift off!

Over the mountain to Lake Tahoe!

Kemper Family Reunion!

Joe's mom's side of the family had their big family reunion in Sonora, California June 15-18. We had a lot of fun together (aside from everyone geetting sick...)! Our first day we went to Columbia, CA, which is their small touristy mining town.



Joe's aunt had a great hook-up in the town: the candy shop. A whole bunch of us got to go inside for a candy making demonstration. I stayed out with Hunter, but Joe and Sawyer went in & got help make ribbon candy.

Mining for gold/gems:

Meeting & having a sit on Clementine, the miniature donkey.

In-Law Visit!

Joe's family came into town to visit from June 12th-15th. It was awesome, except for everyone getting sick! Monday we took them out to Virginia City to see the old mining town, but I didn't bring my camera. Tuesday we took them out to Emerald Bay to see (what I think is) the most spectacular spot of Lake Tahoe. Here's Kelsey (Joe's little sister) with our nephew Jared, and then Hunter and Grandpa Kindt climbing around the rocks at the view point:


Sawyer with his Uncle Peter, whom he basically worships:


We hiked down the mile trail from the Emerald Bay viewpoint. It turned out to be a very hot day, so the kiddos played in the icy water:

Also, that's not Spiderman ^^^. It's aunt Ruth. :) But she's just as cool as Spiderman.

For the LAST TIME...

...we are MOVING! Joe's GE rotations are COMPLETE and we are settling down to raise our family in ATLANTA!!! We're SO excited, we love it there SO MUCH!

We'll probably move at the beginning of July, but we need to wait for the company to set up the movers, so we don't have a ton of control over it.

See you guys in a month!!! :)

Top of the Mountain!

On Saturday we drove up into the Pine Nut Mountains, which are east of us (instead of West of us, to the huge, snow covered Sierra Nevadas). We parked at the bottom of one & hiked up it. It was pretty neat, because I don't think I'd done that before (started at the bottom & gone to the summit)!

Needless to say, Sawyer had a great time being a tough mountain man. Hunter, on the other hand, freaked out about everything and just wanted to be on Joe's shoulders. We kept giving him opportunities to hike, but he'd stumble on everything & then just stop and cry. Hopefully we can get him toughened up!
At the top! The Sierra Nevadas are behind us, probably about 15 miles away (their tops are hidden in the clouds on this dreary cold day, though).

Little League!

Wild Wild West

We headed out for a fun day in Virginia City (the cowboy town), and had a great time! We finally got one of the cheesy "Old West" pictures done, and it was so cute to dress up our little cowboys and give them guns...

We went on a train ride first, and the boys were in HEAVEN!

I was amazed by this view: the white capped mountains in the distance are the ones that are right outside our front window of our house! In Virginia City we were nearly an hour away, so I was shocked that we could still see them- and that they were still the most spectacular mountains in the scenery!

The Suicide Table is approriately named, because there are stories of three different men who committed suicide after games at this 'cursed' poker table.

So many old time mining equipment and buildings are left all over the place. It's really amazing to see, and hear all the stories of the city that used to thrive there.


(Above): We went to a cowboy show. with lots of fake gun shots! Sawyer was into it, but Hunter wasn't very amused. The only thing he really did was yell "No no no!" at the bad cowboy, and then wander around bored.

Joy School

Since January, Sawyer has been doing a small 'joy school' class once a week with other pre-k boys we know. Our very simple version of 'joy school' is having a 1.5 hour class & play time doing simple preschool style activities. We rotate between moms/homes each Wednesday, and they always have a great time! I've never been interested in sending my kids off to preschool since I'm already lucky enough to be able to stay home with them, but this has been fun socially to get together with a few other boys his age. I've also enjoyed the 'teaching' experience, seeing them so excited over experiments we do together, or watching my wedding ring splatter rainbows onto the wall. :)