On June 23, Bob and Lisa celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary with a special outing. They drove to South Lake Tahoe early in the morning for a special adventure - a once in a lifetime balloon ride over Lake Tahoe. They boarded a specially designed boat and motored to the middle of the lake where the balloon was inflated and launched.
Here is Bob's lovely bride of 30 years all smiles in anticipation of their adventure.
It's been a wonderful 30 years of adventure.
Inflating the huge yellow and red balloon from the deck of the specially designed launch boat.
Fully inflated and ready to go. Lake Tahoe is the only place in the world where a boat launch is possible. The company that does this trip is Lake Tahoe Balloons, and they were just great.
Our turn to launch as the captain, Sheldon Grauberger, heats up the hot air balloon envelope.
High up in a perfectly blue Sierra sky.
Lisa nothing but smiles.
Note the plastic COVID barriers to keep us all safe.
Sailing over South Lake Tahoe with our shadow below.
High over the south side of Lake Tahoe with Lisa pointing to the Desolation Wilderness Area where we had backpacked last summer.
Also note Fallen Leaf Lake mid-picture (also where Lisa is pointing). Fallen Leaf Lake is one of our favorite places to go camping and a spot we frequently visit.
Looking north down the east shore of Lake Tahoe.
After the ride we were honored with a special anniversary champagne toast by the balloon’s captain.
Because the trip started at daylight, we were ready for a real breakfast when it was done. We stopped at a wonderful breakfast spot in South Lake Tahoe called Heidi's and had the same thing we had the morning we got married, crepes for Lisa and Eggs Benedict for Bob.
On June 2nd we picked up our new/used Forest River, Salem Cruise Lite camper. It is a 21-foot camper that our faithful Toyota Tacoma pulls with ease.
Click here for specification.
We had been keeping our eye out for a hard side camper that seemed just right and when we stepped into this one at the dealer, Lisa said, "This is it."
Standing in front of what was to become our new camper at the dealership, Sprad's RV.
The sad part of getting a new camper was saying goodbye to our faithful pop-up camper of sixteen years, but we were glad it went to a young family in Reno.
Saying goodbye to our little Pop-Up camper. It was kind of hard to see it go remembering so, so many good adventures in it.
In May we also made an afternoon drive to see our good friends Jim and Mari Germain at their cabin in Tahoe City. Jim and Mari have been amazing friends over the years.
For Mother's Day we took a wonderful drive around Lake Tahoe. A picnic outside was a great way to spend a COVID safe Mother's Day now that Nevada and California were in full lock-down.
Lisa hiking along with her little partner, Chester.
Beautiful Emerald Bay as seen from the road along Lake Tahoe.
In May, Bob and Lisa joined our church's hiking group for a beautiful 13 mile hike to Marlette Lake and back. It was a wonderful time with very good friends.
Lisa along the trail to Marlette Lake.
In late March we joined friends from our church for a wonderful hike on the Pinyon Trail just outside of Gardnerville.
Hiking down the Pinyon Trail with great views of the Carson Valley and Sierra Nevada mountains beyond.
We had so much fun hiking the Pinyon Trail that we decided to bike it the next weekend. Here Caleb and Lisa are standing behind the new/used Yeti bike Bob purchased from his niece, Michelle Potts. It's a lot of fun!
Bob and Lisa doing one of their favorite outdoor activities, Mountain Biking.
In March we made a special trip to Montana and met up with all of Bob's brothers to celebrate Grandpa Potts' 90th birthday.
Enjoying a special birthday dinner with the all the family together.
Enjoying one of Grandpa's favorite pastimes, a traditional game of Pinochle.
Grandpa and Grandma's new home is right across the street from the Churchill Retirement Home where Bob's Uncle John and Aunt Ret (Henrietta) now live. They were so blessed to have Bob and his three brothers take the time to come over and hang out for a bit.
Grandpa enjoying his funny birthday gift from us: a pair of Dutch Slippers.
On February 16th Bob celebrated his 61st birthday. In the Potts tradition we celebrated with a "birthday breakfast".
No room for 61 candles!
Last fall we installed new laminate flooring in our house and we finished up the bedrooms with new carpet and vinyl in the kitchen. We installed all the laminate ourselves, but we had professionals come in to lay the carpet and vinyl. We are very pleased with how things turned out and now all the floors in our home have new flooring. This is a picture of the carpet we chose in Hannah's bedroom.
The new vinyl we had installed in the kitchen. Lisa prefers the utility of vinyl and we installed the best we could find.
One of the Potts Family projects this year was to build a Missions Map for our church. Hilltop supports tribes in Canada, students in Africa, medical missions in the Philippines and college campuses in the US.
Lisa serves as the lead secretary at Hilltop and the Missions Map was something she really wanted to do well and everyone was very pleased with the final product.
On February 1st Caleb took his first bold move in asking a girl to go on a date. Joining him for Sierra Lutheran's Homecoming Dance was Amelia Ross.
On January 24th Hannah celebrated her 19th birthday. To her Dad's pleasure, Hannah's music preference has been trending to vinyl LP's. Here she is holding up one of her favorite artist duo Lola Marsh.
Hannah's birthday cupcakes.
We are so proud of our 19 year-old daughter. Amazing to think that just yesterday it seemed she was just a little girl.