“It's your life. Live it with people who are alive. It tends to be contagious.”

Back in December, we #1 had a few requests for her birthday (Jan. 2nd).
1. Go to Big Bear
2. Go to a ramen restaurant, and
3. Fro Yo

Right.

So, we compromised and agreed to do ramen and Fro Yo for her birthday, and Big Bear for The H's birthday.
Magically, insane storms dumped like a gazillion feet of fresh snow in Big Bear in the week prior. Good for the snow, bad for the traffic. And the people heading for the ski resorts. Snork's Pretty Neighbor's husband told us to go around the other side of the lake from where we normally go, and it turned out to be perfect. No traffic, pretty open spaces, less people, and great hills.

We actually came prepared this time, to play in the snow... and I cannot express what a difference it makes to play in snow boots and snow pants, vs. sneakers and jeans. Seriously. We actually enjoyed it this time, and didn't almost die from frostbite.

Snork was awesome enough to have picked up some snow pants for #2 in some thriftshop, and thankfully, they fit! Win!

The H originally bought just one 2-person sled thing, and looked at me all side-eyeish when I suggested we ought to buy more. Despite his protests, I picked up a second single person plastic dish thing. Which turned out to be a good thing, 'cause... dude. Hiking up hills covered in snow is not easy. So two sleds, and all.that.stuff.... it was a lot of stuff.

This was Baby's first real trip to the snow, so we weren't sure how she was going to take it. Seems like she loves it! And, really. Could anything be cuter than a Baby all decked out in snow gear?! Doubtful. I'm not sure why I refuse to follow other peoples footprints, because this is the scenario that takes place every.single.time:
Oh, look, footprints. They look pretty deep. Wow, that's about up to my knee. I ought step around and try 6 inches to the right. Shoot, now I'm thigh deep in snow. Awesome.
The girls had a game plan, apparently, and took to crawling up the mountain. Baby, as usual, had to exert no effort at all. I'm not sure how she has this power over people.

Anyway. The Snorks joined us up in the mountains. Mr. Snork is apparently, somehow, also completely whipped by my Baby. At one point, I caught him carrying her UP the hill, because "she put her arms up". Yep. Okay.
We determined Snork and I on a sled = fail. Alone = win. Mostly. Until Snork's sled kicked her off.
Snowball fights, sledding, snow angels. It was a pretty successful couple of hours.



We left after a stupid, overpriced, crappy lunch in the Village... next time, I'll stay on the other side of the lake. Traffic sucked coming back down again, but then there's this...
And by 6 pm, we were back home, in the palm trees, and tee and jeans.

So Cal :)