El Dorado Nature Center

Photos by Auntie Kohl!

Snow!

We went up to Big Bear for the weekend and there was a ton of snow! Rachel was happy just to play in it all day. The main road up the front of the mountain had been closed for most of the week. They opened it two hours before we left, but we decided to take the old, slower route. It took us about 3 1/2 hours to get to the house we rented. It was a very nice home and it fit 8 people comfortably. Thank goodness we decided to bring food to cook that first night. When we got there, we were tired and hungry. We made a scrumptios spaghetti dinner and Kathy made some cookies.



Rachel was actually not feeling too well and I put her to bed. We then watched the last episode of Conan. The next morning Kathy and Natalie were already in the kitchen and I took a quick shower. Natalie made pancakes -- yum, yum -- and then we decided to look for hill in the neighborhood to go sledding.



Rod found one around the corner from our place and we headed over there. However, the snow was just too deep for us adults to traipse up and down. Nathan took off to the top of the hill and he made a few runs before we decided to go to the snow park. So off we went. As we were standing in line for tickets, though, Rachel said she'd rather just sit and watch, so we grabbed a snack and a seat. We passed the time chatting with a mom from Orange County and then Rod came to pick us up.



We went back to the cabin and decided to build the kids their own snow hill. Rod and George worked on that while the rest of us tested their handiwork. Then Rachel and I built a snowman -- my first, too!



Finally, it was time for dinner. We went into town for ribs and surprisingly I couldn't finish mine. Highly unusual. :-) After dinner, we did a little browsing in the shops.



At the cabin, we made s'mores. We let the kids stay up late until Rachel asked me to put her to bed. I actually had planned to get up again to watch a movie, but I guess I was sound asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.



Sunday morning, it started to sprinkle, so we decided we'd pack up asap. We stopped for a hamburger on the way home and that was our weekend. :-)

SoCal in the Winter!

We went to the Great Park in Irvine. It is still a work in progress, but for the next month they will have free ice skating. You need to go early as the tickets go quickly. You get a ticket for a 45-minute session. We got there at 11:30am and got tickets for 3pm. They had crafts set up for the kids and there is a free balloon ride. Actually, FREE was the word for the day. While we were in line for the skating tickets, we got free mittens. A booth raffling off orange bikes was giving away frisbees. The sample chai tea from Starbucks was free as the hot chocolate. Peete's Coffee even gave away regular size cups of coffee for free. The Anaheim Ducks were there with hockey games for the kids. You can even spin a wheel to win prizes: drink holder, cap, or hockey puck. We ended up going to the Irvine Spectrum for lunch and came back in time for skating. While skating, two of the Duck cheerleaders came onto the ice and the Ducks mascot skated, as well. We ended up staying till 5pm. A lovely, lovely day.