Big Bear

Good Monday morning!  Today feels like the beginning of the New Year to me.  Our grandkids return to school today after a three week holiday break.  My husband goes back to work today after a week staycation.  I will keep a low key week here at home, while Dusty gets to know us, and we get to know him.

Saturday morning, we loaded up the Yukon and headed up to Big Bear.  It was beautiful up there, as it always is.  I didn't take many photos this time.  When we arrived, there had been a fairly recent snowfall, and the snowplow had created quite a wall of snow that was blocking the driveway.  Greg and Drew got busy with snow shovels and metal spade and removed the berm, and shoveled out the drive enough so that we could pull the car in.  I have 4 wheel drive, so getting in and out of the snow is not a problem.

Looks a little like Dad is doing more directing than shoveling from this photo!!  But, alas, he was shoveling too.

The above picture was taken from the inside of the warm cabin, through the window.  We didn't do too much this weekend.  A lot of this.

 We mostly enjoyed sitting by a roaring fire and relaxing.  Drew is always good for some entertainment.  He is a gifted musician, and we are lucky enough to get to be his first audience while he works on his new music.
My Mom's place is a two story, with the kitchen and living areas of the cabin upstairs, and the sleeping areas downstairs.  The downstairs stays a good 20 degrees colder than the upstairs, and getting ready for bed is always quite comical!  There never seem to be enough hats, socks and blankets to go around!  There is one space heater, and guess who got it?  Yep me!  I sent Diana to bed with a hot water bottle, and Drew layered up on clothing.  Eri was the lucky one, and she slept upstairs on the futon, by the fire.
Morning comes with a race up to the kitchen, where hot coffee awaits, and a fire will soon be built to warm our frosty toes.
We woke up Sunday morning to SNOW!!!!  It had begun at about 3:00 a.m. and everything was so beautiful outside!!!

When I woke up, Greg had already slipped out with both of the doggins' to walk them.  Erika and I were upstairs on our second cup of coffee, watching the snow fall, and listening to the wind  howl and getting worried about where Greg was.

Eventually, he returned, and we watched the snow fall from inside.  Greg made us egg bagel sandwiches for breakfast, and we split  the apple dumplings that we bought at Blanca's the day before.

I spent a good deal of my time up there, making a cozy to go over the hot water bottle.  I have seen some of these on a few of my favorite British friends' blogs.  I love them!  I have been wanting to make one, so I set to work making one with the yarn I had on hand.

I slipped in onto the bottle and filled it up with piping hot water, and sent it to bed with Diana to keep her warm.  I just love the way it turned out, and plan on using it often!
I left the bottom unsewn, and I placed three buttons along the edge for easy removal of the bottle.

Once the filled water bottle is placed inside, you button'er  up, and there you have it.  A nice soft cozy for your hot water bottle!
The snow stopped for a while, and we got the sheets all washed up and prepared for heading home.
My son took this of Greg and I on the back deck.  We were trying to get both of the dogs in the photo with us.  Ha!

I took one of Drew and his sweet Diana.

I think we need to get Drew some snow shoes.  He had cold feet all weekend!!  I took this one of Diana alone.  I love the way she wears her ear warmer that I made for her.

She wears it higher on her head, in a sort of Bohemian style.  Love it!!
Greg and Dusty....doing a little dance.

 We left to go down the hill at about 2:00, and it had just begun to snow again.  The ride home, was long and slow!!   The visibility was awful, and there were many cars spinning out on the ice, and many on the side of the road putting on chains.  When we reached the highway 18 split to Arrowhead, there were flairs and CHP was directing traffic away from Highway 330.  We heard several sirens and saw ambulances, and knew that there had to have been a bad wreck.  We had to take a longer route, down the mountain through highway 18, where traffic crawled along cautiously in the snow and bad weather.  It took us three hours to get home, and our usual drive is just one hour 10 minutes.  I didn't have my camera within my reach, as we were packed in with 5 adults and two dogs!  I took many photos on the way home with my iphone and Greg's camera.  I may post some of those later.  Shortly after getting home, Noah arrived with is Dad.  We were eager to introduce him to Dusty.  And as we had suspected, they became fast friends too.

We have really only had Dusty now for about 3 days, but I feel certain he will be a good fit into our family.  Last night Drew's buddy, and family friend Brian, came by.  And later Drew and Diana came to watch a game, and later Downton Abbey!!  Geeps built us a roaring fire!  Winter has arrived!!

One thing we have noticed from Dusty, is that he was been fed from the table, and wants a bit of a taste whenever someone is eating.  However, he does not beg, or bark, or whine.  He just plants himself in front of you with those beautiful chocolate brown pleading eyes.  Sorry Dust, but we don't feed our dogs from our plates.  He will have to get used to that!

Brian, you won't like this picture of you, but I loved the animated looks on everyone else's faces in this photo.  The boys were getting all excited over the Laker game, and Diana and I were patiently waiting for Downton Abbey to start!!
Did you watch it?  It was really good!  I loved Shirley MacLaine!!!  I do have to rewatch it though, because I may have dozed from time to time towards the end.  It was a two hour premiere, and I was getting tired.  But I loved it.  I love each of the richly woven characters in this beautifully done series, and can't wait for next Sunday to see episode two!
That's it from here.  See you soon.  And Be Sweet, as Nana would say!!
xo  Kris