By Guest Blogger, Kenny Martin, Volunstar and Board Member
DAY 2 of the incredible week here in Tahoe started out with kayaking and bike riding!  Families split up and attended either one of their choosing!  Thanks to Willard’s Sport Shop for creating a wonderful biking experience!

I was a part of the kayaking and let me tell you…the day was absolutely beautiful!  We had people that had never kayaked before and were fairly “anxious”. Thanks to Tahoe City Kayak and our wonderful instructors, Greg and Freddy, our families had nothing to worry about!  The amazing smiles that were on these families faces were so awesome to see!  They were racing family against family, brother against sister and so on!!  A couple of things happened in the midst of being in the water.   One survivor paddled way out into the water just to breathe and soak up God’s landscaping!  A chance to reflect and meditate!  Just put the paddle down, float and reflect!  Another survivor followed the same route and shared a profound statement “whoever stated that cancer can’t be beautiful, hasn’t sat right here!” The power of  being ridiculously present at that moment in time!  So I guess in the middle of hardships and trials, there are still things in life that can be beautiful!  It’s all in what you see!

We enjoyed a wonderul lunch provided by First Baptist Church of Tahoe City and hosted by the Tahoe Yacht Club! 

Later in the evening, we met for some good ole southern bar-b-que. We met at Moe’s BBQ on the waterfront. The spread consisted of everything that means “comfort food”!  Bbq, mac-n-cheese, roasted chicken, salad, sweet potato casserole AND the best cornbread around!  Finger lickin’ good!  The people in Tahoe really know how to cook!

After dinner, we had family game night for the entire families!  Everyone participates and no one sat down!  Survivors and their care providers played a game of feeding the other and both were BLINDFOLDED!  What a mess!!!  Laughter filled the room and kids were taking pictures of this shenanigans!  We had panty hose that were filled up with eight balloons on each leg and placed on the care providers to mimic reindeer antlers!  What a HOOT!  Then, all kids had a cupcake eating contest that they had to eat a cupcake on the table with their hands behind their backs!  This was by far my favorite!

During all of this, one thing that was missing in our minds was simply CANCER!  Just for a moment it was gone from our minds and we just had old fashioned fun!
To end this night, I can’t get out of my mind, a statement made from our littlest volunstar- While we took a ride on the lake he just looked at me and yelled to the top of his lungs, “It’s a great day to be alive”!  Well these families and all volunstars feel the same way…IT’S A GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE!!!!