How does it feel to be among 100 thousand fans wearing burnt orange and chanting "The Eyes of Texas"? Well Ty knows the answer to that question now. He joined Dad for his first official Longhorn football game on a recent Saturday here in Austin.
It gets loud. After settling in to the chants of "Texas Fight" and the cannon blasts after every kickoff and score, Ty finally started to enjoy himself.
This is the view from our seats. You can see the huge jumbo-tron screen and the picturesque skyline of the ever growing Austin in the distance.
This was his first game, but certainly not his last. And in the words of his fellow fans, "Hook 'em Horns!"
Ty officially turned six on Saturday. We held a big birthday bash for him at a local bowling alley and a great group of his classmates and friends showed up. He was also excited to have all his grandparents and even some great-grandparents in attendance.
The party began with some games and cake in the party room. Then after opening presents we moved out to the bowling lanes. With the help of bumpers and a ramp occasionally, the kids had fun and posted some decent scores (well that's debatable but who cares)
The last part of the event took them to the arcade room where they could spend tokens on games to win tickets as well as spending a few minutes firing balls at each other in an outer-space themed room.
Thanks to all who attended and everyone who called or sent cards to wish our super boy a happy birthday.
Earlier this week Dad's coworkers had a gathering at a local restaurant for some team bonding and sports trivia. I brought Ty along because he was with me that night and my boss said it was OK.
We joined a group of seven others playing the sports trivia on the computer gaming network that shows in a lot of bars. Ty manned the controls while I fed him the answers that I knew (or guesses).
After the first round we were tied for fourth place but each round saw us climb higher in the rankings. Finally during the last round, we answered a few key questions for lots of points and vaulted to victory.
One of my coworkers snapped these shots of us playing and the eventual screen showing Ty as the victor. At the end I turned to all of them and said "Are you smarter than a Kindergartner? Looks like you are not!"
Here stands Ty where thousands of celebrities and legends partied the night away many decades ago. This is the famous Indian Room inside the Cal Neva Casino owned by the late Frank Sinatra. The fireplace behind him was built straddling the state lines of California and Nevada.
We played games hopping around the room running between the two states. It's a big room and was quite eerie with all these animal heads around it and almost no one else there except us.
This is our last post from our Tahoe trip this summer. We plan on returning each August to beat the Texas heat.
But Dad, I thought you said this railroad had a steam engine?
Keep pumping Ty, there's a big hill coming up.
Nope, Ty didn't crash the boat or steal the lost treasure of the Sierra Nevadas. He just found himself behind bars in the old silver mining town of Virginia City, Nevada.
We ventured away from the lake, through Carson City (two state capitals on this trip!) and up the mountain again to this once famous and prosperous town made popular by the TV series Bonanza.
The town also has an old railroad still working that takes you around some of the mines. And that is where our blog will pick up next time.
I'm on a boat!
Ty and I took a cruise on the lake aboard on old Mississippi river style paddle wheel boat called the Tahoe Queen. It was quite entertaining with a narrator dressed as Mark Twain providing background commentary about the history of the region.
During the ride, we visited the wheel house and Ty actually drove the ship. Luckily there were no accidents and we did not stray too far off course. As a reward for his efforts, the captain gave him one of the signal flags that had been hanging up on the ship which was very cool.
For some additional scenic photos of the lake that Dad shot from the boat and elsewhere, see my flickr set here.
We went swimming in Lake Tahoe at two different beaches during the trip. The first was at Baldwin Beach on the California south shore side. This was a very large park with an amazing orange colored sand that stretched across for maybe half a mile. The lake was very calm, but very cold. Neither of us managed to go all the way in. But Ty enjoyed digging in the sand and playing at the edge of the water.
Ty and I visited Squaw Valley resort, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. It was a beautiful clear day and we took the cable car to the summit. And what do they have up there now? A pool!
We swam and soaked in the hot tub at over 9000 feet above sea level. It was so cool. Then we walked around and checked out the ice skating pavilion before heading down to the base and doing some shopping in the village.
Here is Ty doing his great impression of being underwater and holding his breath. This cool little room sits along a trail in one of the parks along the California side of Lake Tahoe. We hiked for a few hundred yards among the trees and wildlife which was just awesome.
Kind of like an aquarium, the trail dips below a stream and this glass wall exposes the underwater life of real nature. Apparently in the Fall you can watch the salmon as they swim upstream to spawn. It was very cool.
Shots of Ty from near the summit and at the observation deck level. We really had some amazing views up here. Surprisingly it also wasn't that cold at the top. However, at almost 10,000 feet above sea level, we could definitely feel the affects of the altitude.
Another cool fact that Ty enjoyed from the top was that if you walked down one side of the mountain you were in Nevada, and where we stood was California. Later in the trip we had some more fun with the state lines.
Going up? Our hotel in Tahoe was situated at the base of the Heavenly ski resort gondola. On the first full day, Ty wanted to go see the top of the mountain. So we took the gondola up part way, got off at an observation deck, and then proceeded up to base camp.
The next post will show the views from there and then further up another chairlift to the summit.
And the photo above at the lake level of the gondola is not a stock shot or postcard scan. Dad took that. And it really is that beautiful.
