Trip to Reno/Tahoe - Day 1

Oh my--life has been crazy lately! We are in the midst of buying a new house and selling our old one, which as a Realtor, means a lot more work for me. It's been crazy and fun, but we've also been traveling a lot, so the blog has taken a backseat. I'm doing my best to keep track of everything though so I can share all the details of our fun summer!

We got back a couple weeks ago from a very fun-filled 5 days in Reno and we were all exhausted! I seriously felt like I could sleep another full 12 hours and still not be caught up. But we had SO much fun. Mark's boys live in Carson City, NV (about 30 minutes from Reno) and we spent the week with all 4 kids. See previous sentiment about being exhausted. Haha!

Unfortunately, the trip started out a little scary. I mentioned in a previous post that Mark had pneumonia when we went to Florida and while his lungs seem to be clear, he's had a lingering cough that just won't go away. Well, as we were pulling into the hotel valet line, he started coughing and couldn't stop. It was the worst coughing fit I've heard him have, and I remember being a little surprised. But then he couldn't stop, and I looked over to him shaking, drooling, and passed out, and we ended up rear-ending the car parked in front of us (luckily only going about 3 mph). I was screaming at him, and the girls were scared. He finally came to, and looked very confused at me, and just said, "What?" I yelled at him to put his foot on the brake, I pushed the car in park, and I said, "I think you just had a seizure." We checked into the hotel and I immediately drove him straight to the ER. Turns out, they don't think it was a seizure, but that he fainted from coughing so hard, based on how quickly he woke up. It was so scary, especially considering he was driving with both girls in the backseat. Luckily, we were going slow, and he really felt completely fine after about an hour. He's planning to go see a few more doctors though, because this also could be related to some nerve damage in his neck from a car accident a couple months ago. Anyway, it was a crazy start to the trip, but he's doing much better now, and the rest of the visit was a lot of fun!

Wednesday morning, we went and picked up the boys, and headed back to the hotel and took the kids to Circus Circus in the casino, which has a whole bunch of carnival games to play where you can win stuffed animals. It ended up being a lot of fun and the kids scored a whole bag of stuff.

The kids were all smiles as soon as we picked up the boys. They really all do have fun together!

Louisa follows Colton everywhere--he doesn't seem to mind.

Lily getting a piggy back ride from Logan

About to go into the circus

Colton showed Lily how to play the first game

He gave everything he won to Louisa--it was so cute!

Lily then scored a prize too!

The first of many (crappy) stuffed toys

Louisa was so excited!

Louisa lugging the big bag of toys

Colton won that huge bear for Louisa by throwing a dart onto a target. He's really good at all these games!!

One big happy blended family! This makes my heart so happy!

After the circus we headed to the pool for an afternoon swim. The kids seriously had a blast!

Colton is so good with both girls, but especially Louisa.

I tried to get the kids to pose. It took a few tries but we ended up with a pretty cute one!

Colton used his phone to make the photo black and white. Pretty cool!

After the swim we went back to the room and rested for awhile. I should say rooms--that's what happens when you have 4 kids! But I will say, I'm SO glad we had 2 connecting rooms. The kids had their own space, their own tv, their own bathroom, and we weren't all cramped. It was definitely worth it!

Colton and Louisa laid down to watch a movie and she fell right asleep curled up with him. They were both in heaven!

Later that night all 3 of them slept in one bed while Lily was by herself in the other bed. They admitted they didn't sleep well with her moving around all night, but it was cute that she wanted to sleep with her big bros.

That night for dinner we took the kids to a Japanese steakhouse. Mark is half Japanese, so the boys have grown up eating sushi and Japanese food, but the girls (especially Lily) are not quite as adventurous. But, I'm happy to report that we took them to a few different Asian restaurants on the trip and they loved them!

This was such an awesome experience though! The girls had never been to this type of place and they all loved watching our chef. He was so much fun with the kids. They especially loved having shirley temples squirted in their mouths. We seriously could not stop laughing!

Lily wasn't sure what to think at first

They were all captivated

Colton showing them how it's done!

Louisa gave it a try!

Colton was a pro!

We were all giggling!

These boys have done this a time or two!

No cell phones or iPads at this table! I'd say that's a win!

Onion volcano!

Lily backed away from the fire!

They all loved the food (although we got WAY too much)

After dinner they sang Lily happy birthday and brought her dessert!

She hated it! Haha!

Proof that we were there...although it's clear we don't know where to look when taking a selfie! Haha. I think I held the camera upside down from usual or something.