Week of Less #3 – Surprise Vacation

This post is out of order, our surprise vacation was in mid-June.

My husband is no longer working at two jobs. It’s a long and complicated story with a bottom line of – God provides! We started doing our “weeks of less” to give him some breathing room and prevent burnout since he was working so much.

For our most recent “week of less”, this June (2025) we went on a celebratory vacation (only one job now!) and we didn’t tell the children what we were doing or where we were going. We made a packing list, loaded everybody and everything into the Sequoia, plugged in an audiobook (“The Fellowship of the Ring”) and headed off to parts unknown (well, unknown to the children at least).

My husband and I struggled to keep the surprise a surprise ever since we booked the activity and accommodations months beforehand. But, we also loved that we weren’t being constantly peppered with questions/concerns/suggestions from our opinionated offspring and we’ll be planning more surprise vacations in the future! Especially if it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, like this one was.

After considering all the accommodation options: RV, Hotel, VRBO we chose the latter. We wanted to enjoy the main activity and have a comfortable and spacious place to relax beforehand and afterwards. Plus we wanted to have the ability to grocery shop and cook our own food as much as possible.

Day 1: Left home at 9:45 am after cat proofing the house and hiring a “chicken sitter”. We couldn’t check in early to the VRBO, and we had a few extra minutes so we skipped rocks on the beach next to some Canada geese.

Then we headed to the marina to change into swim suits and meet captain Sully for 5 days of family sailing camp!

Lake Tahoe Sailing

Unfortunately, there was no wind. And we sat becalmed for several hours learning about parts of the boat. Until, we heard thunder and saw lightning so we had to turn on the motor and head back to the mooring before we got hit by lightning. We checked in to our VRBO bungalow and got changed for dinner.

We got pizza at White Caps Pizza which was delicious! After grocery shopping for a few days at Safeway we headed back to check out the pool. The pool was heated but not hot and there was a hot tub for mama! We stayed until the bats came out and started buzzing past the children to drink from the pool. We couldn’t walk back to the bungalow because a bear was blocking us at the dumpsters! Seriously. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. We finally make it safely inside after taking a roundabout route through the landscaping but only after staring down that black bear and seeing the whites of its eyes! We took some deep breaths of relief, ate some much deserved ice cream, took showers, and headed to bed barely before midnight.

Day 2: After breakfast we headed to Kings Beach State Recreation Area – Lake Tahoe, California for some water play time.

After lunch we were back in Aero for our 2nd sailing lesson and we had some good wind! My daughter announced that she wasn’t sure if she liked sailing.

After our first day pool experience we’d decided that the pool would be best enjoyed well before dark. We planned the rest of the week accordingly.

Day 3: We went on a tour at the UC Davis Tahoe Science Center which lasted about an hour and a half. It was very interesting and educational.

About an hour into our 3rd sailing lesson, my daughter had decided that without a shadow of a doubt, she absolutely does not like sailing! Captain Sully took her and I back to shore and the boys continued the lesson.

Day 4: We played disc golf at North Tahoe Disc Golf Course.

My mom took my daughter to play mini golf and we brought my dad onto the sailboat with the rest of us. Everyone had a good time!

Day 5: We went on a lovely shoreline stroll. My oldest son found several vintage Christian rock records at the thrift store for $1 each.

My mom took my daughter to play mini golf while my dad recuperated from yesterday’s sailing adventure. My husband and I enjoyed one last lesson with our two sons & Captain Sully. It was very windy the last day and sailing Lake Tahoe looked a bit like sailing the open sea. We were grateful to have an experienced captain guiding us.

Day 6: Grabbed a quick breakfast, packed up our stuff, tidied up the VRBO and drove home!

☀️ We hope you are having a brilliant summer!

💛 heavenstobetty