A Bit of Big Bear

A weekend in the mountains has been something we've been wanting to do since our last visit. So, this past weekend we decided to slip away to Big Bear, and bring my mom along for the ride.

The irony was not lost upon us that my mom left Iowa, in the middle of February, where it's usually freezing cold, to come to cold weather. What's even more ironic is that it was warmer in Iowa than what it was in California during her entire stay. Whoops. Sorry, Mom!

I digress....

Thursday afternoon we took off, and before dinner that evening we were unpacked in our cozy cabin and ready for a weekend of snowy fun. Rumor had it we were in for a "massive snow storm," which had me all sorts of excited. Neither of the kids has ever woken to a fresh blanket of snow, so we were ready.

Friday brought us a beautiful, sunny day. It was relatively warm and first thing on our agenda was snow tubing.

A good hour of sliding down the tube slopes was nothing short of thrilling for the kids. Though you can't tell by the look on Julia's face, each run down the hill brought "oohs," and squeals of delight. Marcus liked going between Grandma and Scott and myself to see who could take him down the hill fastest and furthest.

We were all solidly spent from tubing and retreated to the cabin. Julia napped while the rest of us played games to pass the time.

The cabin we've been so fortunate to utilize is a co-worker of Scott's. It's a no frills little place, but absolutely perfect for what we need. There is no tv and spotty internet, so games and reading are how we spend our downtime.

I figured while we had some time to kill I'd call to book reservations to get Marcus private snowboard lessons. Turns out, holiday weekend mixed with a prediction of massive snowfall meant that there were no lessons available all weekend. Last year Marcus fully enjoyed his snowboard experience, so I was so bummed for him. But, we forged on!

After a little rest and quiet we headed into the village to check out the shops, snag some dinner, and pop into our favorite candy store. I was beside myself with excitement when we walked past a massive mural along the side of one of the shop buildings. Naturally I made the kids get in front of it. I might have asked Grandma to join them, too...

As evening drew, we snuggled up to the fire and read books, played games, and completed puzzles. I kept checking the weather with religious fervor to see what the snowfall would be like when we woke on Saturday morning. Initially we heard reports of 18-24 inches. However, as the night progressed, the amount steadily kept dropping. When it was time to head to bed no snow had fallen.

We woke Saturday morning to a fresh, yet extremely light blanket of snow. I'm not sure the total quite reached three inches. I was disappointed more hadn't fallen, but, Marcus was totally ecstatic when he woke to see the new snow fall. He kept saying, "There's so much snow!"

Before 8:00am the kids were bundled up, making snowballs and building a snowman.

Once we'd had our fill of playing in the yard we figured we'd head back to the tubing hills since snowboarding was out of the equation.

After a good hour of tubing the kids were both demanding snacks.

Naps were in the future, so we called tubing good and headed back to the cabin.

Scott and I kept going back and forth on what we would do with our time if we stayed on the mountain. We knew both kids had had their fill of tubing, and snowboarding and skiing were no-goes. We decided to pack up shop and head home, a full day early.

Typically I would have been sad to leave so early. However, we were able to bring Grandma to the mountains, get in some snow time, and be back home to enjoy two more days of a long holiday weekend. We've certainly been in worse situations.

I'm now trying to figure out when we can slip away again, how we can convince Grandma to join us again, and to mentally note to book private snowboard lessons well in advance.