First cabin weekend

For a long time I was worried that my kids, as Californians, would grow up not knowing what winter was supposed to be like. I.e., that there should be snow.

The solution to that quandary was not to move somewhere with a real winter, but obviously, to visit winter, a weekend or so a month. This weekend we took Jack and Sadie up to the cabin on Donner Lake that we've rented with a bunch of friends for the winter. Danny has been in a cabin with many of these folks off and on since 2000 (when it was known as C2K, in reference to everyone freaking about the world ending at the turn of the millennium), and over the years it has transformed from a bachelor pad with rotating girlfriends to a couples retreat to FAMILY CABIN! Family cabin is like a weekend-long playdate and I love it. You don't have to rush home to accommodate your various sleep schedules, you just put the baby to bed upstairs and come back downstairs to rejoin the party. Jack was in heaven.



It is pathetic how little we have seen our college friends since they've all had kids, and comical that it's easier for us all to travel 200 miles than for one of us to make it the 40 miles to the other's house. Kind of like how the most I would see my Minnesotan cousins growing up was when we all made the trek out to California. You just need a rallying point, I guess.  And what a rallying point it is! There were five couples and five children up there this first weekend of the season (our two kiddos balancing out Liz's no kiddos), and Jack was delighted to meet or re-meet so many new friends. One friend in particular caught his attention.



Little Anna was rather captivating, and once Jack figured out that her name was Anna and not Abby (I'm not sure if he was genuinely confusing her with his other favorite fair-haired girlfriend or if the names were just too similar), she was willing to be courted. I know there's nothing really romantic going on here, but little boys just play differently with little girls than with other little boys. It's interesting to watch. I don't know if they're picking up cues from us or the behavior is innate-- can chivalry be instinctive? Or maybe it's just Jack, and he is destined to be a ladies man. :)

We love you, Tahoe! It's good to be back.