adventures at the lake

Our first big family trip of the summer took us to Donner Lake.

This time the snow was melted and we were looking forward to a break from the hot weather, lots of family time



 and fishing.

Peter picked out his own fishing pole and had his first experience putting it in the water,

it only lasted about 2 minutes and then he was off to mess with Hannah's pole.

Which, of course, earned a big "NO" reaction from her 

(a much more patient, serious fisherwoman).

life on the dock

 

Our third day there Matt reeled in a Mackinaw Trout

 

 His biggest catch to date - 18.5 inches long and 2 1/2 lbs

 

 

(just for scale - no we definitely did not eat it like this)

Four days into our trip our friends' the Seitz's came up and joined us.

The kids had a blast playing in the cold water,

 watching the Canadian geese swim past them

 A "cheese" smile for the camera.

Roasting marshmallows for S'mores was of course a highlight

This was Joshie's first s'more

I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it!

As did the rest of the little people.

When two families are sharing one cabin and this sweet little face wakes up super early,
 it means a 6:30am coffee date with mommy.

Wild Cherries Coffeehouse in Truckee has great coffee 

and absolutely delicious blueberry scones!

The weather unfortunately turned extremely cold and we exchanged beach life for throwing rocks in the lake.

Peter was pretty excited about it!

 Our friends' went home and we entertained ourselves with Toby's tricks:

Jumping over both kids

and going through a Hannah-Peter tunnel

With the sun out again we were off to explore Stampede Lake - a lake you have to 

off road 1/2 mile to reach

more rocks

splash!

 And yes, I was on this vacation (not just behind the camera)

and I joined in on the rock throwing fun

and if you're wondering about the bump on the front of me - 

yes, next year on our Donner Lake vacation there will be three little Robbins' kids holding on to me!

(I'm pregnant)