Tor Does Tahoe

Demolishing a French omelette before even saying "Guten Appetit!"

Only 3.5 weeks after these events occurred, I'm finally posting the last of my holiday installments. I have many excellent excuses, but you're here for the goods. Highlights of our time in Tahoe included late Christmas/timely birthday present opening (which filled the whole week), snow play for Tor, two ski dates for Lars and me while Ah-Bee graciously watched Tor, Ah-Bee/Mama/Tor outings ranging from shopping sprees to the Tahoe Tot Spot, cozy evenings chatting and watching movies after Tor went to bed, and, as always, great food.

Realizing his lifelong dream of owning a pizzeria

He may have to grow into CubeBot

Fledgling Jacques Pepin

"Snow. Snow! Snow! Snow! SNOOOOOOW"

We hustled him out the door before he could change his mind

"No need to carry an ice scraper, Mother; I'm on the job."

We captured Tor's sledding initiation on film just before Pakka tweaked his back dragging around thirty pounds on a two-foot snow shovel. Totally worth it, right, Pakka?

Cocoa time rolled around 25 minutes after Tor initially left the house.

We all drank out of the same mugs, but the rest of ours contained egg nog and Grand Marnier

Nope, he never changed out of his PJs that day

We forged ahead with the snowman the next day. And by "we" I mean Pakka and DaDa--Tor helped until he figured out the snow resisted packing, and then he focused on sledding. He was willing to decorate and pose for a photo with the finished product, though, and for the next few days he became highly agitated whenever its cork teeth fell out.

"So, why do you guys have all these corks?"

Faceless yet . . .

. . . but once decorated, it resembled Gaia

When Tor's attention began to slip from sledding and the snowwoman, we broke out the skis. Oh yes: the skis. Ah-Bee found them at a secondhand store for $4, and the bang-to-buck ratio was unbeatable.

Thundercats GOOOO!!

On to poles already: obviously a prodigy

The Grand Marnier lurks temptingly

Working the magic

Clip imp

One more trip where his head didn't get stuck = success!

Chilling at Sam's

The Tahoe Tot Spot, as it turned out, was willing to part with its floor model of a cunning wooden play kitchen, so we spirited that back home along with all the new presents. It was a full car, but now our house is a way better place to play.

Shortly before I removed him for madly bailing balls over the side

"Where have you been all my life?" (Note kitchen in background.)

This post would be incomplete without a farewell salute to a longtime part of the family.

Lars's Beard: A Tribute

The night before we departed for home, Lars bowed to the pressure of his upcoming Oxford interview and hacked his overgrowth down to a distinguished goatee. As these things should be, it was a family affair. Lars had no shaving equipment to his name, so his dad supplied the necessities while the women heckled and Tor tried to do whatever DaDa was doing at any moment.

Obviously a solemn occasion

Then we got punchy

Toy razors: why so hard to find?

Presumably, we can thank this episode for earning Lars the job offer! Stay tuned for an agonizing decision-making process along with more snippets of our daily Newark lives.