Big Bear!

For President's Day weekend, we went to Big Bear with a big group of friends- it was by far one of the most fun and memorable trips we have ever taken!  It was just dreamy.  The drive up was easy and fast, the view from our house was AMAZING, and the kids got to experience a snow storm!!

We all keep laughing because our kids, many of whom had never stayed in the snow, are spoiled now thinking that you get all this fresh powder and get to play outside as snowflakes are falling on you- that is so rare!!  Usually the snow is so icy or there is very little on the ground.  I have to admit, I had a pretty good time playing in the fresh powder too. ;)

We left really early Friday morning so when we got to BB, we all met up for coffee and breakfast in the village...

When we got to our house, the kids of course wanted to go in the hot tub surrounded by snow!

But they got so cold when they got out that they had to take a hot bath!

Our house had the absolute best views- we could see the lake, as well as Bear Mountain AND Snow Summit- we could sit and watch the skiers from our windows!  It was so cool!

On Friday night, we went to dinner at a house some friends were sharing...

Look at how their balcony had just a little bit of snow on it...it looked VERY different when we left that night!

So apparently, the storm that was to hit on Friday night through Saturday was supposed to be one of the biggest storms in 10 years!  When we left their house around 7pm, it was a full on snow storm- they were only about a mile from our house, but when we turned the corner to go up a not even steep hill, our tires started spinning- we couldn't make it up!!  So we had to stop the car, get the chains out and put on chains in a huge blizzard and pitch black!!  I was holding the flashlight while Gary put on the chains- he said he couldn't even feel his fingers- it was SO cold!  Luckily, our friends were right behind us so we had their headlights shining on our car.  I was so scared- I had visions of us being stranded and buried in the snow!  But both daddies successfully put chains on the trucks, and we made it home.  Our 2 minute drive took 45 minutes!

This is what our view looked like when we arrived...

And this is what it looked like when we woke up on Saturday morning!

Is that gorgeous or what?!

We couldn't make it up our driveway on Friday night so we had to park at the bottom, and the guys had to shovel the cars out of the snow!

The kids spent most of Saturday playing in the snow, having snowball fights, making snowmen and cuddling up in the warm house...

The snow let up for a bit so we decided to have lunch at the Bear Mountain lodge...but when we left, it was snowing full force again!

So we decided to relax at home with a few cocktails. ;)

The last picture at the top of our driveway before we had to say goodbye to Big Bear...

But before we left, we stopped by our friends' house in Fawnskin for some super fun sledding- the kids had a blast!!