Big Bear for Christmas

We dropped the RV off at an RV Service Center, and drove the CR-V up to Big Bear.  There is no way we would have been able to get the RV up there!  maybe during the summer, but the snow showed up at about 5,000 ft, and we were staying at about 7,500 ft!  By the time we drove up the street where the house was, the road was covered.  The kids had  a great time sledding, thankfully the house had a good selection of sleds.

 

 On the day after Christmas we got 4" of fresh powder, that made everything look so peaceful!

The house was really great, it had a very cozy living room.  We were able to find a tree, and I brought some ornaments with us, so we were all set as far as that goes.

 

Genny gets a fresh baked Ginger Cookie - yummy! Mario is convinced we need to get a wood stove like the one here.  It kept the entire house comfy cozy warm.

 

 Christmas morning before the opening of presents, don't they look so excited - not like they're tired at all, getting me up before 7am!!










Michael with his new train, this was before he set it up under the tree! 

The trip back down the mountain, beautiful snow in the trees.

From here we went to Anaheim, where we spent nearly three weeks.  We had a great time there, and the kids really got comfortable riding around.  I'll have more about the Rose Parade and Disneyland next time!

Pismo Beach

In Pismo Beach we stayed at an RV park that was right on the beach.  It was a really nice campground, and the sunsets were amazing!  

The kids once again found all the good places to bike to.  They've all been biking a lot, and are getting more comfortable finding their own way around.  Of course, they always wear helmets, go in groups and have a cell phone with them.

For Hanukkah, on two of the nights, they got gift cards to Starbucks and Subway, and they really enjoyed the opportunity to go out for lunch on their own!

Thanks so much to the Phillips family for our RV menorah, a little bit more secure with the flames contained!

From Pismo Beach we moved on to Bakersfield, to a campground that we had stayed at on our 2008 trip.  It has a restaurant that is well known in the Bakersfield community, and one of very few where there are regulars that come to it from outside the campground.  Mario and I had a great dinner out there, and spent a few cocktail hours chatting with the locals.  Mario also really enjoyed the hot tub they had there after his run! 

We moved to Malibu Beach after Bakersfield, and had a site overlooking the ocean,

...which led to some more beautiful sunsets.

While we were there we also got to see a group of dolphins swimming by. 

Malibu had some great shopping, which was good since Christmas was fast approaching.  We left Malibu on  Sunday, the 23rd to go up to Big Bear, more on that soon...

Watsonville and Monterey

Okay, so I've been bad again...I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post, but the holidays got in my way (I know, it's no excuse)

When I last posted, we were in Watsonville, at a charming little town campground.  Pinto Lake Park had  a nice lake, a playground, and a baseball diamond.  We had a couple of fun games while we were there.

Baseball was fun, and on Saturday (Dec 8th), we went into Monterey and wandered around.  There's a large park in the center that was created by Dennis the Menace creator, Hank Ketcham.

The Dolphin statue was down by the bay, the lion water fountain was in the park.

On Sunday, we wandered down highway 1, along the coast of California.  It was a beautiful drive, and we even saw a pod of whales off the coast as we were driving.  Some beautiful coast photos, with seals too.

 The whales were a bit hard to see, but the spouts were unmistakable.

We also got a nice glimpse of Hearst Castle.

Next up is Pismo Beach, and Hanukkah, I'll try to get that in tomorrow...