A perfect ski day

It was a beautiful crystal clear skies kind of morning with a warm southern California sun shinning on us. Cameron took off early to ski and make first tracks. The girls and I awoke a little slower and moved slowly through the morning routine. Bad roads made for no school and great powder made for no work. Cameron got lots of first tracks in the morning and then spent the afternoon teaching the girls to ski.

It was basically Ashling's first time skiing although we had tried a little last year with no success. Both girls did great. Ashling skied some on her own and Ali tried to remember everything she had learned last year. I walked up the bunny hill with both girls enough times to get my exercise and helped them remember to put their hands on their knees and to make pizzas. All the while I was wishing that I could be skiing too. There is nothing wrong with an eight and a half month pregnant woman skiing- is there?

It's still snowing.... We now have about 3 feet or slightly more than that.

Another Winter Storm Warning!

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SAN DIEGO HAS ISSUED A WINTER
STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOWFALL...WHICH IS IN EFFECT
FROM 4 AM TO 10 PM PST WEDNESDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO
LONGER IN EFFECT.

SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP TONIGHT...POSSIBLY BECOMING
HEAVY AT TIMES WEDNESDAY. SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TO DECREASE
WEDNESDAY NIGHT. SNOWFALL OF 6 TO 14 INCHES IS POSSIBLE ABOVE 4000
FEET...MAINLY EAST OF THE CAJON PASS WITH AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES
POSSIBLE BELOW 4000 FEET. LOCALLY GREATER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE IN
HEAVY SHOWERS. AS THE STORM PROGRESSES...SNOW LEVELS COULD FALL
BELOW 3000 FEET WITH ACCUMULATIONS OF UP TO 3 INCHES IN HEAVIER
SHOWERS. VISIBILITIES COULD BE REDUCED TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES IN
BLOWING SNOW.

RESIDENTS AND TRAVELERS INTO THE MOUNTAINS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR
HAZARDOUS WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS AND POSSIBLE ROAD CLOSURES.
IF POSSIBLE...CARRY CHAINS AND TAKE EXTRA FOOD AND CLOTHING.

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW...
SLEET...AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO
POSSIBLE.  THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

The Reason to Live in the San Bernardino Mountains

I finished my Christmas shopping today. If you don't get a Christmas card until after Christmas it is because that is part of my plan.... But I have to tell you there is a reason to love living in the Southern California Mountains. Cameron spent well over an hour snow blowing a giant burm that the snow plow gifted us in the night before we left. We had to drive slow and use our four-wheel drive for the first 15 minutes of our drive. Then the pavement became clear and we drove as fast as we wanted the rest of the way down the hill. I did my shopping without a coat-in sixty degree weather- without fighting the icy conditions. I enjoyed sunny weather and beautiful fall leaves on my drive and when I was done I headed home to my very own white Christmas. Oh the blessings of Southern California Snow!

Pictures of the snow

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We are snowed in.... There is at least 10 inches on my driveway and a 1 1/2 foot burm at the end of the driveway. Snow is coming down so hard it looks like rain. And of course it is a day with no school. The school was so polite as to call us at 3:30 a.m. to tell us that after we had just drifted off to sleep from the midnight visitor-the flu. (Not that we couldn't tell just by looking outside that there would be no school. Our local plow man will make our street clearer than the ones in town even the major highway. Right now he is plowing pushing piles of snow at least 3 feet tall just like sand down our hill. That pile of snow will be here until April!

So we will be having a relaxing day. Hopefully the flu has visited enough and no one else will catch it, the girls are preparing to go out in the blizzard, I will build a fire, clean a little, prepare hot chocolate, maybe make cinnamon rolls, play barbies, and maybe read a good story. It is the perfect day in the mountains. Next weekend the ski resorts will open and the holiday traffic may overwhelm us but for the now we have this winter wonderland all to ourselves.

We went to Disneyland one last time before our passes expire on Friday evening. We met our friends, the Holmes, there and enjoyed their company more than the rides. It was very crowded with thousands of others who wanted to use their pass one last time before the holidays. None the less it was fun. We tried a few new things, the Golden Horseshoe restaurant and watching Fantasmic, and of course went on some of our favorites, Thunder mountain and Splash Mountain for Cam and kids, and winnie the pooh, haunted mansion, pirates, the jungle cruise and its a small world for the rest of us. Ashling and I even made it on the rockets which is still her favorite ride. It snowed a little at Disneyland (bubbles) and was fairly cold. The funniest thing was that Ali and Ashling bought roses that glow up with their dimes from Grandma Sue. (50 dimes each that had to be counted out one by one.) We got home very late at night and everyone slept in for a long time in the morning. We didn't even have breakfast until after 10:00.

Later Ali and I worked on her Christmas tree decorating project. (The teacher likes to send home projects for the family to work on together-like we don't have enough to do already.) It was fun to help her on the project though and her tree looks awesome. Hopefully this time the kids will clap for hers because last time only one person clapped (and I didn't help at all that time.)

Then the girls left for an afternoon with Grandma Sue and Papa. This was wonderful. It wasn't that we did anything particularly fun but it was nice to have the house to ourselves and for Ali and Ashling to have the special attention. Most of the grandkids went to paint pottery at a ceramics store for their Christmas present. They loved it once again and are already talking about what they will do for next year.

While they were gone we finally rearranged the playroom/guest room and made a third use for it as the baby's room. The crib is set up, there are sheets on the bed, curtains on the window and the girls added stuffed animals so she would be happy. I am feeling a little more ready for the baby to come now although I have a list of 20 things I need to buy still.

The most important thing about today is that it is snowing right now. The ground is white and covered and the girls were very excited. All the way up the mountain Ali was checking the temperature gage on Grandma Sue's car and waiting for it to hit 32 degrees when it would be snow instead of rain. As it started to snow the girls kept opening and closing the slider (Cameron kept telling them to go look,) and checking to see if it was covering the ground yet. We love the snow and we are hoping for a very snowy week. Hopefully later this week I will be posting lots of pictures of girls sledding in feet of snow. Now Cameron is out walking in the snow with Sierra and I am content to sit by the fire and wait... for Cameron to come home and for Christmas and for a little girl to arrive....

The nutcracker

Ali was in this year's production of the Nutcracker ballet of Lake Arrowhead School of Dance. I loved it. I loved helping the little girls dress in the back, I loved putting make up on my six year old, I loved her wearing a little leotard and sweats to keep warm just like a real ballerina, I loved talking with the other moms backstage and I absolutely loved watching the show Friday night and seeing my little girl complete her parts perfectly. She was a gingerbread and then later a lady bug. On Friday night Cameron, Ashling, Sue, Mike, Torrey and Ali were all able to go and see her perform. I never knew what all the obsession was with the nutcracker but after a week of being immersed in it I love it! Ashling was also very cute all night. She enjoyed watching the dancers, was dressed really cute in her red velvet Christmas dress and then she fell asleep in daddy's arms while watching. I thought my little girls were the cutest there and was very proud of both of them. It's moments like this when I love being a mom!

Waiting....

Our family is in a pattern of patience and waiting. First of all we are waiting for snow. We want snow, we dream of snow, we look anxiously at the National Weather Service page dreaming of snow. Snow is our life. Last night we discussed a possible upcoming storm for the weekend. At first we wanted 3-5 feet of snow. (Not that unusual for the mountains but we are still dreaming pretty big.) Then that turned into 15 feet. Then the girls could jump off the upper deck into the snow and Daddy would make a slide of snow. Also Cameron would be bringing the snowblower through the house to shovel the snow off the deck. We would have to get firewood from the covered front porch and we would not be going anywhere for a very long time. Still okay with us. The girls then contemplated what a 100 feet of snow would look like, but Cameron and I decided that was a little much for us.

Our ski resort is waiting for snow too. And cold enough weather to even blow snow.... Cameron is waiting to ski and Ali really wants to ski too. We have the skis in the garage and the girls want to learn more. The snow mittens, pants and hats are waiting in the closet. Please, Please, Please let it snow this weekend. I want tons of white, fluffy stuff that covers everything and makes it so we can't go anywhere.

We are also waiting for the pants fairy to come. The kids have worn out all the pants I bought at the beginning of the school year. They were supposed to last all year so I am waiting for the pants fairy to replace them. Until then poor Ali is going to 1st grade with holey jeans. Hey they are all the rage right now anyways right?

And of course we are waiting for our baby to come. . . . and Christmas too. Although we are really excited for things in that order. Even the kids are having to have patience more for snow and the baby coming than Christmas.

So I will keep you waiting for posts of the nutcracker and Ali and of our trip to see Santa Claus this weekend.

Spoiled

Stacey and Mom came at Thanksgiving time and kept bringing in package after package wrapped in pink and purple. They had been buying baby clothes for our little girl to come and on Wednesday night they had a little baby shower for us. There were a ton of 0-3 month items, and lots of 3-6 month stuff and even some 6-9 month stuff. I think we are all set for newborn clothes now we just need diapers and wipes... Thanks for spoiling us rotten Mom and Stacey!

Hiking

Cameron has this new place that he loves to go hiking. I have not been privledged to hike there yet but the pictures are amazing. They went for a hike here on Saturday while I went shopping around Lake Arrowhead with mom. I wish for hiking but will be waiting at least 7 more weeks before doing any....

Christmas Tree hunting

Getting a Christmas tree this year and then decorating it was a little problematic. First... we called the farm where we wanted to get the tree and they refused to answer the phone. So we were left with the dilemma- were they open this year? Did they want us to come and purchase a tree? Should we drive all the way over there? These dilemmas led us to go on the drive to the San Gabrielle mountains for the day.

So in the car on the way home we called again. There was no answer again. So we were faced with buying a very over priced tree that had been cut down in Oregon and shipped to California or cutting down a Monterey Pine. (I do not like the Monterey Pine at all and refused to bring one into my house. Every year Cameron's parents get one and every year it is dead by Christmas. Although they do smell wonderful I like a tree that looks alive.) Finally we consulted with my sister and Tony via 2 way radio and they said to just drive there and see if he was there- so we did. (It is the first time in history I actually listened to my little sister.)

We arrived at Gunther Tree Farm and they were there and indeed open. The farm is amazing. It is on the backside of the mountains and it is 32 acres that this one old man and woman run. It is a little hokey and run down but they have planted trees for years and you can go and pick whichever one you want and cut it down. (This is the only place I know of in the mountains around here where you can do this.) Many trees are overgrown and much too large around for a house. He doesn't trim them the way they should and so they have the wild, natural look.

After walking until I was almost exhausted around the farm, Cameron found a tree that looked tall and very thin. It was the right height for us and so I said it was fine because I was done hunting. We cut the tree down, tied it up, paid our money and headed for home anxious to decorate the tree.

At home we got our Christmas tree stand out, Cameron cut the tree so it would soak up water, and we tried to set the tree up. After about ten minutes of trying we realized the tree stand was broken and also leaking all over the floor. Cameron called his mom to see if we could borrow her tree stand and then get her a new one later. It was fine and he went to find that tree stand. He couldn't find it and came home with nothing. (No stores are open after six on the mountain.) So he tried to fix our stand.

The next afternoon we tried to use the newly fixed stand and it broke again. So Cameron went to the local hardware store and bought a new stand. (It was kind of cheap but it was the only one they had.) After he had it up and the lights were being put on this stand broke too! Now Cameron was really mad and close to swearing. He called his mom and asked her if since she was down the hill she would pick up a Christmas tree stand and bring it home for us. They were very nice and did this for us without complaining.

We finally picked up the tree stand that did work came home and decorated the tree. The tree looks wonderful and is not too skinny at all. I will try and post a picture later but I can't find the cord right now to transfer anymore pictures. The moral to this story is check the Christmas tree stand before getting the Christmas tree and make sure it is not broken. Or get a fake tree....

A Drive to the San Gabriel Mountains

We decided to take a drive to Wrightwood and the San Gabrielle Mountains and see what there was to see on Friday morning. It was a beautiful day with long views, new snow on the high mountains, and crystal blue sky above us.

We stopped to look at the foggy sky below and took some pictures from highway 330.


















The high point of the drive for me was coming to a view point of Mt. Baldy on one side and Mt. Baden Powell on the other side. I saw lots of cool hiking trails and plan on coming back in the summer when I am in a little better shape for hiking.