Big Bear - Our First Family Vacation

so far the best family pic in that we are all kind of looking at the camera...

bryson so excited to get to go on his own!

look...5 faces again!

the bridge across big bear lake

snowball fight with the only real snow in all of big bear

my gang of boys

this was bryan's jacket when he was little :)

getting a jacket on this boy was almost as hard as getting him to be still for a photo

he was saying, "CHEESE"

well...this was our first family vacation...alone...just our family, with no other objective than to hang out somewhere different as a family.

some thoughts on the matter...

you know...when bryan and i were first married...we were kinda young (22) and it all seemed so silly that we were married...whenever we called each other "husband" or "wife" or "Mrs. Barnes" it all seemed giggly and funny...i think until we were married 3 or 4 years...or maybe when we had Bryson even.  Then we had our first child...but i didn't feel like a parent until he was around 3 and i had to PARENT him...when there was that definitive shift from the physicality of parenting (changing diapers, feeding, bathing) to the emotional/mental realm (punishing, potty training, etc)...and then we completed our family, but i guess it took a trip like this to really feel like our own family...our own little unit...and it felt good. so good.

i think traveling has been this headache because we generally stay with other people...have things on the agenda to do, but this time was different - we could totally do our thing and not worry about stepping on toes or obligations, or...anything!

i know this all seems like, duh! maybe...but this was big to me. i love our families...i mean love...but i did get this realization on this trip that sometimes it is important to remember that we deserve some time together too. time to just play with our kids and not have to be at some sporting event...time to be silly and spontaneous and not have to go in the office...time to be together - all of us- for an entire weekend...so good! i love this little family of mine.

the kids did awesome and even though there wasn't much snow, the little they did see was SOOO exciting. every time we got in the car, bodie would chant, "snow, snow, snow". we took them tubing on saturday and it was a big thrill for the boys...well...the big boys at least. bryan and i took turns taking bobby on the little hill, while the other went down the big one with bodie...bryson got to ride solo and boy was he happy about that! he must have gone down 12 times...and this is a big hill people...and fast...every time we went down with bobby he gripped us like he was about to die and chanted, "no, no, NO!" but then would laugh every time going down the hill. the anticipation i guess. so we only made him do it like 18 times. hopefully he isnt scarred or anything...

like i had mentioned...there was not a lot of snow, but i wasn't complaining too much because as my family all knows, i am a big baby when it comes to the cold. but this trip i FINALLY got me some snow pants and snow boots...i know...makes it a little easier to play in the snow when you have those two things. i still dont have a jacket, but i can make do until i find one on sale :)

there were all these things i wanted to do on our trip and for some reason our scheduling all worked out kinda perfect to be able to do it all...i guess that is what happens when its just you too...you get to do what you want :) i made sure to have a fire every night, hot cocoa and popcorn, perfect pancakes and some reading time even got snuck in too since bobby took an epic nap. it was truly lovely and i hope that we take the time (and money) to do this every year in some way...