Tahoe Bound

In June we took a weekend trip to Lake Tahoe.  Our original plan had been to spend the weekend with Shin and Heather in Yellowstone, but with Shin's health not doing so well, we amended plans to Tahoe.  Shin and Heather stayed at Heather's mom's while we stayed at my dad's. 

Somewhere along I-80 in Nevada.  It was so serene that I couldn't resist getting a picture.

We left Utah pretty early in the morning, and made it to Fernley by noon.  We made a pit stop and visited Jaimie, one of my best friends from high school.  We spent a couple hours at a park, letting the kids and dog play as we caught up.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures (what was I thinking?), but it was so good to spend the little time we were able.

River kept getting hurt and was whining quite a bit from being overtired.  She rarely sleeps in the car and that trip was no exception.  At one point she was running and ran straight into the bench we were sitting on.  She fell down, gave a cry and then didn't breathe.  It was as though she couldn't catch her breath.  It was way scary and she got really pale, her eyes rolled back and she did a little convulsion before she inhaled.  After that she started breathing normally and once calmed down seemed fine.  We debated whether to take her in, but since she seemed to snap out of it, we decided not to.  From that point on, however, I was distracted and worried about River, so we ended up cutting our time with Jaimie short.

It really is too bad, because about a week later, another similar incident happened.  River and the dog had a collision while playing and she stopped breathing.  I had time to grab Kai's resuscitation bag and call for J (who was outside) for help before she pulled in a breath on her own.  Luckily I didn't need the bag and she didn't convulse that time.  Having had two incidents so close together, we contacted her doctor, who said that it is something that occurs quite often with kids her age--as long as it is due to some trauma and not just happening out of the blue.  He said to sprinkle a little cold water on her or blow in her face and that will kick start her breathing again.  Sure enough, it happened a few weeks later while playing with her cousins and a quick blow in her face caused her to inhale.  Scary stuff!

We got into Tahoe just as my dad was getting off work, so it was good timing.  We spent some time at my dad's house before heading over to the church for a ward function.  J had started to not feel well on the drive to Tahoe, so he ended up staying at my dad's while the rest of us went.  We met up with Shin and Heather at the church as well.

The next morning, Saturday, we walked over to the beach by my dad's house and spent a little time playing in the water.  It was somewhat chilly, not even 70 yet, so we hadn't really planned on getting into the water, but as my dad said, kids and water are magnets, and evidently dogs too.  Pepper had as much, if not more fun in the water than the kids did.  She leaped through the water like a dolphin, and we all just laughed watching her play.