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...