Family Vacation!

After packing up six suitcases, we boarded American Airlines this morning to take our family on our first full vacation since Logie was born! The kids were EXCITED and couldn't sleep last night! Brad couldn't either! As for me, I was exhausted and had no time to feel any excitement. I was too worried about leaving stuff behind and the weather in Big Bear Lake.

We checked in and our flight left on time. Logie didn't even wait for take off before he fell asleep! Cody lost his tooth on the flight (he said the molar was already loose.) We arrived in Los Angeles to weather in the mid 50s at 3:40 p.m. We headed to Alamo Rental Car where the day started to take a turn for the worst...

We had a full size SUV (Dodge Durango) reserved but when we got to the lot to pick our car there were no SUVS! So, I went back in to customer service and they said they were trying to take care of it. Nearly, two hours later, they said they had a Dodge Journey for us. We went out to the chilly car lot and took one look at it and determined that it wouldn't fit us. So we jumped into a Saturn Outlook which fit perfectly. Well, they gave us the wrong keys and so we ended up with a GMC Arcadia instead.

So at around 7:00 p.m. we headed to Big Bear Lake. All the roads leading to Big Bear required chains and we had to find chains. Since we didn't get a 4WD we had to find chains. Finding chains on Christmas Day is next to impossible! There was some tense moments in the car with Brad and I. The kids were getting restless and starting to think the vacation was a bust! We finally stopped at Jack in the Box and prayed and then went in to eat dinner. The kids didn't have lunch and were HUNGRY!

We decided to just drive up to Big Bear and pray that we could find chains. If not, we were going to find a hotel to stay for the night and find chains in the morning. At the base of the mountain, there was a gas station & a Hampton Inn. The gas station had a huge sign that said "Tire Chains Sold Here." The kids and I prayed again while Brad went to check if they carried our size. Yes, they did! I was preparing to stay at the Hampton Inn across of the gas station!

After a long & winding drive through the San Bernadino mountains, we finally arrived in gorgeous, snowy Big Bear Lake at 11:40 p.m. Our lodge is called the Goldmine Lodge and it is so beautiful. We have a beautiful suite and the owners are just awesome! Jim, the owner, actually stayed up to wait for us to arrive!