June Lake #2

Nick and Luke making a sled run

My turn to ride the sled with Luke

Lana's turn to eat some snow.  It's just too tempting...

Bad driver.

The kids with our snow"girl", who they named Crystal.

Team work.

Luke wanted none of it, so we grabbed a chair and watched everyone play.

Aaron fulfilling one of his dreams- to play around on snow shoes and build a snow fort.  Nick's snow shoes were fun for all.

Shelly trying out the snow shoes.

This is what happens when you fall asleep around 2 and 4 year old boys.

We found a great place to play and sled during one of our outings.

Lana and Jack making snowballs.

Word.

And here's Jack throwing a snowball at Shelly, who was trying to take a picture of Aaron and Nick!

Movie time!  Jack was very comfortable...Lana apparently makes a great pillow.

June Lake #1

Last year we started a tradition of heading up to Mammoth after Christmas.  This year the Bird family joined us for four days in the snow!  We found a great cabin in June Lake, which is north of Mammoth by about 15 miles, and much more secluded.  It doesn't have the hustle and bustle of Mammoth, and definitely doesn't have that "LA" feel.  We were surrounded by amazing scenery and tons of snow!  June Lake is definitely more mellow, but we really enjoyed that, and I think we'll make June Lake our new winter retreat.  It's a very easy drive into Mammoth, so it's really a perfect location to take the family.  On our way to June Lake, the weather got bad quick, and Hwy 395 south of Mammoth was closed due to a white out.  We sat on the side of the highway for about an hour and a half before we all got a police escort through the low-visibility area.  As we passed all of the traffic exiting 395 for Mammoth (there were A LOT of people headed to Mammoth), we were very happy with our decision to head on to June Lake. 

Outside of our cabin was a sled ramp and snow banks at least 3 feet deep-  great for playing in the snow!

 Here's Ian trying out the sled.

 Jack had to taste the snow.  We warned him about eating yellow snow (or any colored snow, for that matter!)

 Shelly's turn on the sled.

 Uh oh...Jack has made his first snowball of the season...and I'm his target!

 Lana's sled run

 Aaron "slid" without a sled.

 Amazing views from the road from June Lake to Mammoth.  The weather on day 2 was perfect.  We headed into Mammoth and took the scenic loop.  Once there, we walked around, checked out the shops, and had an awesome gondola ride from the Village to Canyon lodge.

 Hmmm.. poor Lukie can't see.

 Better...but wow does he look miserable.  He hasn't figured out how much fun snow is yet.  He still thinks it's just cold and lame.

The gang- Luke, Ian, Lana and Jack

The Bird Family

 The Gisler Family

 Lana giving Jack a hand up the snow bank.