Trip to Big Bear - Part 2

The boys are more than ready to hit the slopes today!  We decided not to go to a resort though.  A friend of ours recommended a hill behind a post office in the next small town over. But before that, here's a photo of the stained glass in the master bathroom.  I think it's so old school but yet awesome!

"Burnt toast anyone??!"

I'm loving the owl coffee mug but it's rather small compared to those mega-sized mug that I use at home.  Although, these bowls are the perfect size for my granola and soy milk:

Oh right, it's Friday and the boys have to log into school first in the morning.  At least the scenery is a bit different from the usual:

Almost seems like an internet cafe here.  Ha ha!

Time for some more snowball making during the school break!

Charlie is always so competitive - even in snowball making:

Those snowball makers are efficient!  

Nothing like some hot chocolate and marshmallow after.  Who is so spoiled? Oh yeah, we brought those too :-)

Okay, school is finally out!  Time to head to the slopes.  Lovely view of Big Bear lake during our drive:

Parked... and the boys are off!  Glad there's still some snow on the ground:

And while the boys are busy climbing up the hill to find the perfect spot to sled down from, Daddy is busy on the phone with work.  I guess someone still has to "bring home the bacon".  Daddy do. Yay!!!

Looks like Graham and Charlie found a good hill.  Can you see them?

Oops... Charlie didn't quite make it all the way down the slope.  He is such a person with flair for the dramatic!

Graham is doing better.  Looks like they laying down on their sleds and coming down face first.  Hmm..., should I make them wear their bicycle helmets???

Well, if anything - they are looking pretty cool in all their gear, especially Charlie in his fancy sunglasses.  I did just mention "flair", right? ;-)

Here are some videos:

As you can see, Charlie is struggling quite a bit:

But at least he wasn't going to give up!

Looks like Charlie will just take a break after a few more failed attempts, under the tree that's right in the middle of this slope.  I'm so glad no one slammed into it!

By the way, here is so big and tall this tree is!

After a quick rest, both boys then tried to go down the hill together:

I sat down in the same sled as Graham too, but we couldn't control where we were going so we scraped that idea pretty quickly.  

I thought I'd try some snowboarding instead.  The last time I snowboarded was a trip after college with some friends in Arizona i.e. a long time ago!

Okay, no laughing!

And actually, this happened first.  Now, you can laugh.  Ha ha!!!

I think Graham had the best day today.  Check out the air he got on his sled down this slope for his last run of the day:

Well, that's enough for one day.  Time for lunch!

And oh yeah, time to dry everything up.  All their gear were soaked!  Boys were soaked from head to toe.  Actually, Charlie was quite cold so we had him take his shirt off when he got into the car.  He is wearing my big orange jacket.

How are these snow boots when the liner is completely soaked and dripping wet after a trip to the slopes???!

It's a good thing there's still some sun out to dry everything:

And looks like Daddy got some sun. He was obviously the only one that did not put any sunscreen on: 

After a nice warm shower, it's snuggle time on the couch while Daddy goes out and picks up some food.  Can you spot Graham???

Looks like the boys' snowballs have been neglected and slowly melting away:

So glad all the gear dried up nicely.  Thank goodness for this wall heater unit!

The next day, we are back at the same slope and Charlie is more than ready to try it all again!

Graham is trying out a different route:

Maybe he should have kept on the same normal sledding route.  Just glad he didn't hit the other tree!

And Charlie finally gets a good ride on his sled! Hooray!!!

After that, it was time for a snowball fight!  Looks like the sled makes a good shield too!

Did you see the snowball that Bobby threw towards Graham and his sled?  If not, you can definitely hear it! 

So glad Daddy was able to join us today and not on his phone:

After the snowball fight, it was time for a family we-fie:

Oh wait, need to include the snow :-)

One last video - this one of Bobby going down the hill.  I love his technique of not slipping on the icy snow.  OMG, this is the guy I married.  LOL!!!

Another trip to McDonalds for lunch and another day of totally soaked and wet gear!  The boys took their shoes off in the car, so Daddy carried them into the house.  Graham and Charlie are getting so big:

We have another adventure planned for later in the evening.  Stay tuned! :-D

Trip to Big Bear - Part 1

With all the rain we were getting here a couple of weeks ago, we decided to take advantage of the snow in Big Bear! It was nice to finally get away for a little bit this past week (March 18). But first, we had to get some gear for the trip:

Skis... check! Well, baby/training skis to be exact:

Snowboard... check!

Although this one is categorized as a "toy" snowboard and is not permitted at snow resorts.  The boys got to use markers to color it in.  Charlie even put his initial on it.  Too cute!

And oh, one more... sleds.  Check! 

After hearing about all the snow Big Bear was getting, we also bought snow chains for the minivan - just in case. Bobby obviously thinks I've gone overboard but isn't better to be safer now than sorry later??

Okay, after loading up the car as if we are going on vacation for 2 weeks (actually only 4 days), we hit traffic.  Oh yeah, good ol' LA traffic:

Big Bear is only about 120 miles away, but it took us over 3.5 hours to get there!  

Charlie said that he was going to take a nap so the drive will go faster. I'd say that's pretty smart!

Once most of the traffic was gone, we hit the mountains.  It's so green!

And thankfully the road is not as winding as it looks on the GPS:

We finally see some snow, but it doesn't seem like a lot :-/

But Charlie is now awake and ready to go!

Thankfully there is still some daylight when we arrive at our rented home for the next few days.  The boys are quick to grab their snowball makers (oh yeah, another purchase!):

I'm just glad there were no broken windows or dents on the minivan!  Graham and Charlie then discovered some snow in the back deck.  Time to shovel and make more snowballs:

Oh wait,... let's play on the foosball table first:

After a game or two, it's time to play with more snow.  Charlie finally got his chance to make his snow angel. He's so funny :-D

And Graham is getting his artillery of snowball ready for the next day!

Looks like these boys are already making themselves feel at home on the couch, watching TV:

We definitely didn't make it too difficult to move in temporarily.  The pantry almost looks like we've been here for days.  Ha ha!

I actually almost like this piece of furniture.  It seems really handy to have all the food out like that! Hmm... not sure where I can put something like that in our kitchen/dining area.

Alrighty, time for bed.  The boys are in a bunk bed again (like the last time we were in Big Bear, summer of last year) but unfortunately, the top bunk doesn't have a rail!  Thankfully both of them are able to squeeze in on the bottom bunk:

There was lots of chatting but finally they both winded down and fell asleep.  And Daddy was on security duty.  I love his security tactics - the classic "chair against door":

Graham and Charlie are so excited to hit the snow tomorrow!  To be continued...

Random photos

Just a collection of random photos from the last few weeks.  

We haven't been out too much recently but looks like the time to hit the beach is on a cold windy day:

It's nice when the beach is not too crowded.  I still can't believe we live in such a pretty place near the ocean. We are definitely spoiled here and I don't think the boys really know that yet:

I made Shepperd's pie a couple of weeks ago and it tasted extra yummy as Bobby got me some the "secret" ingredient - Guinness beer. Of course I had to take a few sips to make sure it tasted just right :-)

The apple tree in the backyard finally succumbed to my cutting sheers:

Doesn't look too bad, I think??!  Ha, well - the apple tree didn't really bear any fruits last season so maybe this pruning will help.  Just maybe???

We took a trip down to Manhattan Beach the weekend before last and went to get some gelato. This is how we are having to eat our ice-cream now - on the side of the street, by the parking meter.  Not sure if that's really a problem with Charlie anyway:

There's a new artwork on the wall not far from the gelato store.  We tried to make it look like we were holding the balloons:

It's a BIG collection of balloons!!!

Our broccoli plant is still producing.  Who knew this is how it worked even after the main stem has been chopped off:

Definitely more than enough to feed us for one meal:

Charlie kept sneaking my computer mouse away so I finally decided to just buy a new one.  Yes, one that still has a wire. I don't like the wireless ones - the one I used many years ago took a while to respond to if you didn't move it after a while.  So, that was that! This new mouse even has some fancy interchangeable lights and a soft-click. So fancy and I'm so happy :-D

Urgh... the thumb story - so I'm guessing another 3-4 more months before this horizontal crack on  my thumb will finally disappear??!

We finally have our 2nd Monarch butterfly!!! I'm so glad the dental floss hanging on the safety pin worked out and the chrysalis did not fall while the butterfly was emerging:

We were actually away in Big Bear this past weekend and I had dropped off our butterfly cage to our neighbor.  Thank goodness I did that because one of the chrysalis hatched.  And tt's a girl!!!

I'm so glad our neighbor and their kids got to let this butterfly go as they were not around when we let our first "baby" out 3 weeks ago now.  One more chrysalis left, and it looks like the chrysalis color is getting darker by the day - which means it should hatch any time now. Fingers crossed!

And we are winding down this post with a video of Bobby.  Sometimes I'm not sure if he actually buys the toys for Graham and Charlie or for himself.  He is such a kid!

https://youtu.be/asMle3hNVh8

We just got back from Big Bear, for a change of scenery with snow. Will be posting photos from that trip soon :-)