Snow day in the mountains

So a couple of weekends ago, Karen & the boys invited me to join in a day of sledding in the snow. This was the first time the boys had ever seen, let alone played in the snow. We got up bright & early and set off in my car. Just after we left the house, it was discovered Shane had left his gloves at the house. So after a quick stop at the Target at the base of the mountain (where I bought a better pair of gloves myself) we were back on the road. Weather & conditions were great. We made it up the mountain in pretty decent time. However, we drove right past the sledding place - Big Bear Snow Play (http://www.bigbearsnowplay.com/) - without even realizing it. Once we were headed back out of Big Bear Village we figured it out & turned around. This time we did see it & pulled in just after 11:00am.

We ate a quick lunch in the car before heading in. This place is great. The price of admission includes a tube rental. They have a "lift" of sorts to take you to the top of the hill. The wait for a turn was about 20-30 minutes but we treated it like a day at Disneyland and waiting in line. The boys had a great time. We went down the hill several times. Then we played in the snow at the bottom of the hill. The boys made snow angels. Brandon made a small snowman. Shane, with the help of his mom, built a snowball sculpture. I think their first experience in snow was a fun, positive one. We look forward to going back in the future.


Waiting for our turn on the sledding hill!



Cozy in the tube!



Shane's snow angel







Brandon's snow angel












Watching the fun!


The family that plays together, gets wet hands from the snow together!




Enjoying the day in the snow & the tube!





The snowman is watching TV (Spongebob Squarepants) with a cup of water at his side. He is also spitting water from his mouth because of his laughter! [as told by Brandon, age 7]



Snowball sculpture!

New Year's Eve 2009 - What a Night!

This year Karen & I decided to be pro-active and head out into the singles scene on New Year's Eve. Our local area LDS singles was throwing a multi-stake dance with a Hollywood theme. It was suggested formal attire. So we thought we'd doll ourselves up & check it out. Silly us, we were by far the youngest people in attendance. Since it was still early we thought we would stick around in case others our age would show up a bit later. In the mean time, we were hounded by a 55 year old gentleman from North Afghanistan who wanted to be platonic friends but cook us cuisine at his apartment in Costa Mesa. For 30 minutes we were told his life story, a brief history of the Middle East, and a story about a previous girlfriend. All this while the music was loud & people dancing around us.

As soon as we were free of him, we bolted to an adjoining room where they were serving dinner & live music was playing. After another 10 minutes of nothing we decided to try the dance area one more time. We walked in to more leering gazes from older men & left almost immediately. In the hallway on our way out, a guy stopped us & asked a question. He was closer to our age so we started chatting. He asked us why we were here rather than at the "mid-singles" dance in Huntington Beach.

Karen & I were stunned. Why hadn't anyone told us about that dance - why had we been told only about this particular one. Mid-singles (30-ish) would be our exact age group. Mid-singles would be where we belong. Mid-singles were there & not where we were. After chatting for another few minutes, we got out of there. Of course, it was now too late to head to HB, by the time we would have gotten there, the New Year would have been minutes away.

So we left, she to her place, I to mine. I got home, changed into jammies, washed my face, & rang in the New Year by myself - sitting at the computer and listening to the nearby fireworks at Disneyland. It was quite the way to end 2009! Here's to hoping for better luck in 2010!