The Bradfords in Big Bear {part 2}

Welcome to Bear Heaven! We stayed in this beautiful 3 story house. There were tons of bedrooms, a beautiful designer kitchen, a pool table, a ping-pong table on the deck, and Jack's favorite, a chess table.  I always love the morning time, but I especially love the kids in their jammies, welcoming the new day with giggles, puzzles, and of course a show.

Daddy helping Jack shoot pool :-)

my little chess master

One of the mornings a group of us went out and took the ski lift up to the top of the mountain.  It was strange seeing the mountain covered in dirt and brush and rocks instead of fluffy white snow, but the view from the top was beautiful. Jack had fun running around, jumping on big rocks and tree stumps. I was a little nervous taking Claire on the lift, so I strapped her into the Bejorn :-) 

On the lift on the way down

 Later that day, some of the guys went out fishing, so Grandma and I took Jack and Claire to meet up with the Moons at the Big Bear Zoo! It was more of an animal rescue, but it was neat to see some of the mountain animals.  It was not like our zoo here, of course, we are spoiled in San Diego, but the animals were so close, like literally on the other side of the chain link fence.  It was a little crazy. We are used to seeing them from a safe distance in their exhibits. There was a large pack of huge, beautiful wolves...definitely reminded me of the Twilight movies, and bears {even a three-legged bear}, and other smaller mountain animals.  My camera battery died while we were there, so I didn't get too many shots while we were there. 

Jack & Ellya ROARRRRRRing like Bears!

Do not feed the animals....your fingers.

Claire was bored....haha. Yawn.

When we got back to the house, Sean called and said there was room on the boat if we wanted to come meet them at the docking marina.  At this point, I tired to get Jack to nap...unsuccessfully, so I figured it would be more fun to be out on the water than sitting at the house waiting for them to get back! So we went! 

Once we were out in the middle of the lake, mostly just floating, or trolling, Jack got to take the wheel for a little bit! He loved being the Captain!

Poor Sean. There were several fish caught that day, but my poor hubby twice had a fish on his line and both times they got away. This is the face he made when the fish escaped. 

We ended up being out for several hours, and my little buddy was so tired (and needed to go potty at one point).  He was getting a little restless at one point so he snuggled up with me and asked me to tell him a story about the little Squirrel Forrest.  This time the squirrels were out on the high seas, escaping from pirate badgers. By the time the story was over, I could see Jacky was fading. He asked me to tell it again, so I did, and he fell asleep. He is such a precious little boy.  I loved having him snuggle up with me. I wish he'd stay little for a while. Time is just flying by too fast!

We had such a wonderful time, and Jack especially loved playing with Ellya all week.  She is Sean's cousin's daughter, and they are only about 4 months apart in age.  They had so much fun running around and exploring the yard around our house. There was a little stream and a bridge they would run across, and a little bench nestled in the back.  It reminded me of Secret Garden. It was so beautiful.  I had fun capturing the two of them together. Such sweet little friends.

Thank you Bradfords, Graystones & Moons for a fun week!