Beautiful Lake Tahoe

Our 2nd vacation of August was to Lake Tahoe where Casey's mom and stepdad have a house and spend about half the year there.  Casey and I went their as part of our honeymoon but hadn't been back since.  So as kind of a 10th anniversary gift, we decided to make the trip cross country.  IT WAS SO WORTH IT!

First, the weather was AMZING!  The high was in the mid 70's but b/c the altitude is so high there (about 6500 ft) it feels much warmer than that.  Second, the mountains and lake are breathtaking.  Third, GAMBLING!  :)

Our goal was to relax and have a good time.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! 

This is (literally) the backyard of the house.  It is a giant hill that if you climb to the very top, you have a pretty view of the Lake.  Austin LOVED just running up and down, getting REALLY dirty, and collecting giant pine cones.  Heaven!

We celebrated an early birthday for Austin.  He was in a bit of a "mood" in the beginning but warmed up fairly quickly.

This video is hilarious!  Grandma got Austin a music card that plays the theme song to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Every time the song ended Austin would close the card and then reopen it to start the song over again.  Can you say REPETITIVE BEHAVIOR?  

One of Austin's gifts.

This was Austin's FAVORITE pine cone.  He wouldn't let it out of his hands while outside.  Then once it was time to go in he would set it by the front steps of the house for safe keeping.  :)

Casey and I took a gondola ride up the mountain to the summit where you can hike around.  The views were spectacular!  We went from 6500 ft up to 9500 ft.

Leaving the station.

On our way up.

You can see the path up the mountain.

The view of the lake as we are going up.

1st stop is at a view point where you can fully take in the lake.

Then you get on a ski lift to take you up the rest of the way to the summit.

View of the mountains into Nevada.

OK...Casey and I are SERIOUSLY considering getting a hot tub after seeing how much Austin LOVED it!  It was hilarious!  The next day a truly WONDERFUL thing happened too!  As everyone knows, Austin struggles TREMENDOUSLY with speech.  He is classified as non-verbal though he does have "some" limited speech that consists of labeling, scripting/repeating cartoons, and then non-verbal communication.  We (just recently) have had some small progress with expressive speech and have really been pushing Austin to use his words and prompting him on how to respond to our questions or how to tell us what he wants.  Well...without any prompting what so ever from us, Austin walks up to Casey and says, "Get up!"  He then takes Casey's hand and pulls him toward the door and says, "I want door."(a phrase we have been working on for over a year!).  They walk outside onto the deck and Austin starts climbing onto the hot tub and says, "I want bath."  OMG!  Austin just used 3 complete sentences!  THANK YOU GOD!  :)