happy new year 2011!! *edited since blogger didn't save my entire post

Decided to ring in the new year at one of our favorite places, Big Bear!! A recent storm left Big Bear with a fresh blanket of snow so we were really excited. I'm not a big fan of freezing my rear off but I still love it up there. NYE was pretty low key since we had the kids. We made tacos and headed to the ski lodge to watch the torch light parade down the mountain. Guess they have skiers and snowboarders carry lit torches down the hill. It was kinda anticlimactic after waiting in the frigid weather. I think it would have been better if we had been watching from the street and not so close. We hung out in the cabin for the rest of the night and watched the countdown to the new year on tv. We toasted the new year with our free bottle of sparkling cider that is left in every cabin. Saturday started with a french toast breakfast and a walk to the village to see a movie. We took pizza home for dinner and then it was night tubing time!! It is so much fun!

Big Bear in the distance!! We had to take another route up there since the main road is closed. It took almost 2 hours and KK got car sick. Blech!

We must have a billion of these shots.

Keeping themselves entertained on the drive up. Drew didn't go with us, of course. He had a NYE party to go to but unfortunately it got cancelled. Instead, he played 3rd wheel to his friend and his girlfriend at our house. They played Scrabble and watched tv. At least that was the version I got. The hubs made sure to count his beers before we left. LOL

Snow!! Kaelyn needed some alone time so she stayed back at the cabin while we took a walk around the property. It's beautiful out there.

Cool icicles. We saw some killer ones on our walk to the village.

The hubby's lame joke-"look, it's a snow cone!!" Groan.

The creek between the cabins and the motel was completely frozen.

Here we are all bundled up to go tubing. I was afraid I wouldn't make it since I froze watching the parade but with tubing you are walking around a lot and it's quite a workout so we were never cold. I kinda felt like little Randy from A Christmas Story.

These next photos are from my new point and shoot. Love this one.

So glad the hubs made me buy this warm hat. There's no way I would have bought myself a $30 beanie.

Trying not to freeze to death waiting for the torch light parade to start.

Texting with bare fingers....no wonder he complained he was cold!!

At this point, I needed a ski mask. But we had a great time!

Once again, we were sad to leave the cabin. We had breakfast at Boo Bear's Den before we made the almost 2 hour trip home. Until next time Big Bear....

snow much fun, mt. baldy style

Like I said, posts are out of order. Anywho, me and the fam decided to invite ourselves up to Mt. Baldy with my brother and his family for some fun in the snow. My niece hadn't been to the snow before and since there is no snow in Florida, they had to see the snow while on vacay in California. The ride up was, uh, fun. We were leading the way and kept losing my brother somehow. Thought maybe we were driving too fast but it turns out poor little Spencer had a blowout in the car. Poor guy puked all over the place. We were just gonna go home but decided that the kids shouldn't miss out on the snow so we headed back up. Guess who we found playing in the snow?? You're right, my brother and his fam!! Playing in the snow was exactly what we needed after that tense ride up the mountain.

Wylie's first trip down the mountain...I have to say, I was scared shitless when the hubby sent her down by herself, but she loved it!! It was hysterical watching her have so much fun!

Brandon's first run

the girls

Spencer and his momma

he looks a little apprehensive here

Wylie and her Uncle R sledding down the hill...she made him go again and again

Spencer and his dad

he's not amused

Wylie and her dad sledding

heading back up

love how this person is gonna catch Brandon

Wylie was yelling at her dad that he was high enough

crash and burn

good thing diapers are waterproof...his little booty might freeze off!

he liked eating snow

the little daredevil

I think this is about the time when he decided he had enough snow...his little mouth was probably frozen

Wylie had enough at this point too...she started whining that her hands hurt

lookout!!!

I actually went down...only 1 time though...I was terrified...yes, I'm a wimp

either Brandon is trying to stop me or he's yelling "SAFE!!"

dorks

the moon that night was soooo big and bright orange...tried to get a pic of it but it didn't turn out

We stopped by In N Out for dinner and hung out at Gawa's house before Bran and Hay had to go back to their mom's. Playing in the snow really works up an appetite.