We couldn't go to the Good Friday service at church because Ben apparently picked up a cold last weekend at church. Boo. But eventually Sunday rolled around and we had a lovely Easter (but that's not this post). After spending some time with my family we hit the road and headed up to Big Bear. THAT'S where our story begins.
We drove up during Ben's nap, as we usually do. He doesn't sleep super great in the car (or anywhere but his bed), but driving during his nap is better than driving during his playtime, because if we did that he would scream the whole way. This way he only screams for maybe half of it. He actually didn't fare too poorly this time. He woke up about an hour into the drive. Since he'd woken and Matt had forgotten to bring anything to read, we stopped at a book store. That gave Ben some time to stretch his legs, ravage the store, and poop. He seems to always poop when he's at a Barnes and Noble. Not sure what that's about.
Serious side note: the drive up and across the mountain was hard. Fires have ravaged the area every year for a while now, and I hardly recognize my beloved home. It's hard to explain what that does to me...it's like an actual piece of me has been burned away.
Our wonderful friends, the Pools, own and rent out cabins on the lake which they so graciously gave us a deal on. The cabins are cozy and beautiful, complete with a fireplace and a spa-tub. When Matt and I went for our anniversary last summer we soaked in the spa tub and watched a movie. This time not so much. It's tough to get all romantic, take a bubble bath together, and watch a movie when you're sharing a room with a toddler. Who's a very sensitive sleeper. But we'll get there soon enough.
It had snowed recently, so while it was a relatively warm day (i.e. 37 degrees rather than 20) there were still patches of snow on the ground here and there. It was crusty, dirty, old snow, but it was the first snow Ben had ever seen. So we gloved him up and let him play a bit. We told him it was snow, and asked him if it was cold. He then said, "no code!" (Snow cold). Thus began one of many themes of the weekend...learn as many words as possible. I'm pretty certain his vocabulary almost doubled in two days. Some words a welcome addition, some not so much. He chanted cold, snow, and hot all day long (well, and car, but he's been able to say that one for a while). He also picked up play-dough, flower, scarf, and many others. Among the less desirable acquisitions? coffee and bite (as in "give me a bite of your food. no? fine. watch me freak out.") We took him to a nearby park where there was a patch of dirty snow and a slide. He he went down the slide once, landed on his face, and promptly ended the park trip.
Anyway, we played in the snow for a bit then spent some time in the cabin. I swear there were chunks of time during the weekend that were straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Ben running his cars along the side of the tub and the bed singing The Killers, Matt reading his book, and me knitting. Idyllic, I tell you. We went to dinner that first evening, and Ben flashed his winning smile and bright blue eyes at all who passed. He said "Bye!" and waved when we left. We gave him the best toddler bubble bath ever in the giant spa tub (no jets, though), put him in his jammies, then snuggled up in our big bed to read the Easter story from his new Easter book. Isn't it just the sweetest picture?
That's where things get dicey. So I put Ben in his pack and play. He laid down, then when he realized that we were in a one-room cabin and that I was still there, he popped right back up. He whined for a minute, I was sitting on the couch reading. I told him to go to sleep. Then he said Mommy. Not mama; mommy. For the first time. So he's standing in his pack and play on the other side of the room saying mommy, mommy, mommy, and it's taking everything within me to ignore him so that he goes to sleep (it's getting pretty late and he did only take 1/3 of a nap). Within a few minutes he stopped and laid back down. But when Matt came home from the market (he'd gone to get a couple of things he'd forgotten) we sat on the floor behind the kitchenette counter barely breathing because we knew he was still awake and if he heard us we'd have to start all over. So we sat on the floor reading and knitting by the light of Matt's iTouch. Eventually, when Ben was finally sound asleep, we quietly crawled up on the little couch and watched TV until 9:30, which was when we were too tired to even do that anymore and went to bed.
The next morning when we woke up (at about 6:15 when Ben rolled over and realized we were in the same room with him) it was snowing. This was exciting because then Ben could see actual snow. It was also really windy and very cold (like mid-20s plus the wind...yikes!).
After we played in the snow for a bit the wind started to really pick up. Like a lot. Like so windy I was afraid Ben would blow away. My brother came up and we went to breakfast at our favorite (I say favorite, when I've been there twice) Big Bear breakfast eatery, the Grizzly Bear Cafe. Jared and I had the Sissy Boy special and Matt had a pancake (no judging--the pancakes are HUGE).
But the wind was getting crazy, so we went back to the cabin, Jared went home, and we holed up for the rest of the morning.
And here we get dicey again. Obviously we had loads of fun together. But then we needed to eat. We were terrible packers. We forgot to bring the portable booster seat for Ben, and we forgot to pack the refrigerated food. So we needed to either go to the store or a restaurant. Ben was getting crabby on account of the waking up before God, and we were getting a little stir-crazy. Matt and I have never been very good at picking places to eat, so that conversation always takes forever. Matt really wanted soup, so we went in search of soup. We went to Kmart, which did not have an adequate soup selection. We moved onto Vons, which did, but in all the time it was taking Matt to decide what he wanted I was plotting his murder. See, when Ben is tired, hungry, and cranky, he's not interested in sitting in a grocery cart or walking; he wants to be held. But only by me. So while Matt was wandering the aisles of every store in Big Bear I was holding a squirming, whining, little cub that weighs a solid 27 pounds.
Eventually we picked some soup, went back to the cabin, and took turns microwaving it while Ben stood at the coffee table and ate his ravioli. And when I say stood and ate I mean ran around brandishing his spoon and dipping it (and the tomato sauce on it) in our soup bowls. Finally it was nap time.
This time we tried the same tack. We cuddled him in bed and read him a story, then put him in his pack and play. Only this time he was overtired and not having it. He punched the crib and screamed. Eventually I got him to lay down, where he kicked and screamed. Matt laid still on the bed and I sat on the floor behind it waiting for him to fall asleep so we could move to the other side of the room and read on the floor by the bathroom. It took a good 30 minutes. Then Matt slowly slid off the bed and army crawled to the floor behind the kitchenette counter. I crawled behind him. Ben whimpered on and off for a while and finally drifted off. Matt and I got off the floor and read/knit on the couch for about 45 minutes, at which point Ben woke up crying and the jig was up. So Ben was up, definitely cranky from having hardly slept at all, and we still couldn't go outside because of what was now nearly a blizzard. Eventually it calmed down, rained a bit, and the snow mostly washed away or melted. So we tried to play in the code no (that's cold snow in Ben) again. We taught him to throw "snowballs" (chunks of crusty snow).
We ventured out and went to dinner at a nice restaurant which Ben decorated with spaghetti.
When we got back to the cabin we played for a bit. We all had hot chocolate (including Ben--it was his first).
Then it was time for a bath. Matt put his swim trunks on and we filled the bath a little bit extra. Matt and Ben climbed in. Matt said it was full enough to turn on the jets, so I did. Water started spraying out of the jets all over the room. I was yelling "no it's not! no it's not!" trying to turn off the jets. I eventually got them off, Matt was practically drowning he was laughing so hard, Ben was gaping at the now silent jet nozzles, and I was heaving with laughter and stripping off my sopping wet clothes. Fortunately I'm an excellent packer (um, no), so I had no spare pants. So I sat in my underpants and t-shirt while the boys swam in the tub and I waited for my pants to dry in front of the fire.
Bed time: third verse, same as the first. book, bed, mommy mommy, asleep, this time within 10 minutes and before 8:00. Success. We curled up on the sofa bed and watched 24.
On Tuesday we had a leisurely morning (starting at, of course, 6:30am).
It was, of course, beautiful outside and all the snow had melted. So we played in the patches of crusty, dirty snow one last time then headed out to a nice viewpoint on the lake to take a family picture. But Ben was not interested in any family picture. So that didn't happen.
But we journeyed down to Lake Arrowhead where we walked, looked at the ducks, ate at a terrible new restaurant, and went to visit my brother at his house. Ben almost got his face licked clean off by Jared's dog, and he managed to find every piece of furniture that hadn't been dusted. So I'm looking forward to whatever those germs produce.
Sigh. then we drove home. Even though we were sick of each other, our return prompted a big, fat love fest. Ben grinned from ear to ear, saying mommy mommy mommy, then reached his arms out for a hug, which I happily gave. Then he signed and said more please, stretched out his arms, and grinned. Lather, rinse, repeat.
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