Big Bear Weekend Part 1 - Fun Times in the Mt.

Last weekend was my first work overnight trip.  It has been a couple of years since Casa has taken residents on a weekend trip and as the Activities Coordinator I thought it was time to start this up again.  So I planned a weekend in Big Bear.  1 night 2 days go play in the snow, sounds like a great trip.  We got our cabins rented for a great price, had a good number of residents, 11 sign-up, and great activities planned.  Our first concern was that we planned this trip too late in the season and would miss the snow, then as the trip was a couple of weeks away the reports started coming in of late season snow storms, then last week Aaron, my boss and the other staff member going on this trip tells me that Saturday when we were planning on driving there was going to be a snow storm, so we bumped up our leave time to early morning.  Then last Thursday Aaron calls to say that Friday night they were estimating 2 feet of snow fall and that it would reach a record low of 6 degrees.... yup that's right 6 and I don't like to be cold... so we decided that we would go up a day earlier so we would miss having to drive in the craziness and hopefully not have to put the chains on the vans... and we were worried there would be no snow!  Thanks to Shannon, another staff member and friend, we got a bunch of snow gear lent to the residents and me (I don't own snow pants, those things are not cute!) Thursday was a crazy hectic day trying to help everyone process that we were leaving a day earlier and to get them all packed and ready.  Plus plan and purchase enough food for us to snack and make extra meals.  Thankfully we had one wonderful parent who graciously paid for the extra night! What a blessing!!!

Here are a few pics of some residents all loaded up and ready for fun! :)

Friday I arrived at work to find that another staff member unknowingly took the mini van that I had left all the food in from the day before, so we got a bit of a late start.  Thankfully traffic was not bad, we had to pick up one resident on the way out of town and then we were off to the races.  While driving through San Bernandino RCa, who is autistic, stated that it was a very bad part of town and we needed to be careful, in the same breath he then asked, "Wendy are we going to stop here and kick it with the homeboys?" I died laughing and then asked, "RCa what about about the homegirls? Don't you want to kick it with both?" He said, "Oh yeah I don't discriminate."  Hilarious!!!!  Then a few miles down the road he saw a building that said "Public Shooting" and yelled, "Everyone take cover we are under fire!!!" It startled me at first until I saw the sign and then explained it was a shooting range to which in a very serious voice he said, "I know I was trying to be funny, did it work? Oh look its right next to the prison, that was good planning at least if there is a stray bullet they deserve to get hit." To which I said, "Yes RCa that was very funny."  Which the other residents didn't really get it, but it was funny all the same.

We had to make a pit stop because everyone was hungry and needed a snack or bathroom break, the second on this 2 hour drive mind you.  Everything with these guys revolves around food and the bathroom.  While Aaron ran inside I noticed that the window of his van was cracked so I decided I would get out and mess with the other residents in the car and throw snowballs at the window and purposely miss, but still make them fret.  Well as luck would have it on the third throw I threw the snowball directly through the small crack and nailed SC, she screamed and laughed and told me I was going to be in so much trouble when Aaron got back.  I helped get the snow out of her seat and just laughed as she threatened to get me back.  We got back into our vans and continued up the Mt. through some really thick fog but did not quite need the chains.  We made it to the cabins got all unloaded and situated and before the snow really began to fall.  The cabins and the owner were absolutely lovely.  The guys cabin although it was smaller was homey and a better space to hang out in.  Dinner was made and the residents were all happy to be fed.  JS a resident who is from Columbia went back for a third helping, some of the residents made some comments and JS holds his stomach and then says, "I eat so much because I am like Ted Kennedy." FUNNY! How he thought of Ted Kennedy I am not sure but I will forever laugh when I hear that name.  We played boys v. girls charades, which CN totally dominated and guessed for both teams within about 8 seconds every round.  Then Aaron did some tricky point addition that I still don't understand and the boys won.  The best was when LG kept making a motion of a door closing and someone typing and CN yells, "Aaron" which was the right answer and then RG made a Longhorn sign and that was his hint for me to which I yelled, "I am NOT a longhorn!!!! I'm an Aggie!" That only egged it on. :) The night finished with watching Bridewars and the guys making brownies.  Aaron didn't remember about baking in higher altitudes so the brownies were very undercooked but still tasty... although he did cheat and used a box mix instead of from scratch... boys.

Enjoying some dinner

Gotta love it when a pic is taken as you are taking a big bite :) 

The boys cheat baking... box mixes with candy added

Night #1

That night we went to bed and were all getting situated and I see out our front window Aaron crouching below the windo and then RG go under the window. And then I remembered Aaron making threats of scaring the girls at night, so I go charging out of the cabin determined to not let those boys scare us and I open the door and BL comes jumping at me like a flying monkey and I scream, "SHIT!!!!" and then jump backward. BL falls down laughing and Aaron and RG come running back thinking I have hurt myself and then they die laughing that it was BL that scared me. Then it was time to settle down with the usual girl drama... I don't want to share a room with her... I don't want to sleep on this bed... I need more bathroom time... blah blah blah. 7 girls with one bathroom is pretty rough. I had to make about 4 trips back over to the boys cabin to get tylenol... forgotten cameras, phones, and gloves. Aaron filled me in on the guy drama of farting and bathroom issues and I was thankful for my girl drama.

We woke up the next morning to 18 inches of snow!!! It was absolutely beautiful and  the sun was out so it wasn't that cold! I didn't get any sleep that night due to a number of girls snoring, so at about 7am I hear the front door close, I get up and notice that LB is not in bed.  I wrap up in my sleepingbag and went outside to find LB's red booted feet kicking up in the air and her screaming, "Help I'm stuck."  I go over to her and the snow is up past my knees and help her out.  On our way back to the cabin she accidentally stepped on the back of my sleepingbag and I fell face forward into the a huge pile of snow.  It was hillarious, she was mortified and kept apologizing.  Come to find out she wanted to scare the boys by throwing snowballs at their cabin... unfortunately she was confused and got the wrong cabin and had another family come out and tell her to stop.

A look out our back door

Our vans covered with a bit of snow. 

A couple of shots of the Boy's Cabin

The other residents started to wake up and get ready and were very excited about all the snow outside and then became immediately worried that the parking lot and vans were covered with snow, so how were we going to get out for lunch!  We had not even eaten breakfast and they were so worried about LUNCH!  I told them to worry about one thing at a time and to get dressed so that we could go to the boys cabin for breakfast.  I made chocolate chip pancakes and the residents were thrilled to not stick to their normal diets.  Then it was time to go outside and PLAY!! Snowballs were thrown and snowangels made and then time to dig out the cars.  We waited a couple of hours for the plow to come, while answering the million $ question, "Are we going to be able to go out for lunch and shopping?"  Here Aaron and I were worried about if we would make it to go tubing and they were worried about Shopping!!! They are histerical. 

Whipping up some pancakes! 

I'd like some more please

Mmmm Breakfast was yummy.

Snow Angel Time!

Who's gonna get the first snowball?! 

 Just Relaxing

Happy Couples 

Who burried Aaron?! 

We finally got plowed out for lunch and at that point the temperature dropped drastically. It was now bitterly cold.  We didn't put the chains on just yet but once we found a spot to stop and have lunch at I got the residents situated and then went outside to see how these chains worked.  I didn't particually want to put them on myself but figured Aaron might need some help and it would be good for me to at least see what was going on.  Then we quickly ate, and then off to go tubing.  Tubing was fun but let me just say I have never been so COLD in my life. I had my Uggs waterproofed and well that did not hold up, my feet were completely numb.  I went down with SH 3 times and then could no longer fake that I was having a fun anymore.  BL and RCa were having blast and needed a little convincing that they were cold, but after about an hour we left.  Time to shopping, only problem is that it was so cold and had dropped so much snow that most shops were not even open.  I was a bit of a Scrooge and only gave them an hour because at this time my feet were warming up and were really starting to hurt.  They all found some suvouniers and were happy to get out of the snow. 

The only pic I got while tubing... I was so cold I completely forgot about pictures til the end.

Had to try sledding down the snowhill by the cabin

We ordered pizza and made salad and just had a great night watching movies.  I made some chocolate chip cookies and everyone pigged out! :) I couldn't eat anymore so I had a spoonful of the dough and then tapped out.  Time for bed more girl drama and another night of no sleep.  Man those girls can snore.  The next morning we packed up took some parting pics and hit the road.  The snow seemed to be cleared and after a while we took off the chains.  Made the a pitstop telling the residents that we were not stopping again so grab a snack and use the restroom.  We were thinking this would be fine it should max only take 2 hours to get down the moutain we would be back at Casa by 12:30pm.  Little did we know the adventure that lied ahead.

Group Photo of some of my Party Peeps

To be Continued... :)