Mammoth Memories...

Well we are back from Mammoth and pretty sad to be back to normal life. I never really aspired to live in an area up North with cold weather and snow, but I can now see why it appeals to many people. Mammoth was beautiful. Gorgeous mountains with so much untouched white snow and beautiful majestic trees.

The drive up was easier than I thought. All highway, no need for chains at all. No twisting mountain roads or carsickness! We found the condo easy enough and it was right by the main street of Mammoth. It was beautiful and pretty spacious. We got settled and did some shopping and spent the night in our temporary home.

Saturday, we spent the day playing in the snow. We found a big hill and did some sledding. We made a snow Shrek. We took a hike and explored the area. The girls had a blast!

Sunday was our ski day. It was chaotic but still lots of fun. The girls and I had an all day ski lesson and Carlos took off on his own to get in some quality ski time. I never really was able to see what Sofia's ski lesson was like since my lesson was held in a different location. However, I did run into Emma on one of my runs down the hill.

Monday, we had some adult time with some snowmobiling and I was a little terrified but it turned out to be fantastic. The scenery was gorgeous and speeding through the snow was exciting. I did need some time to warm up and I know Carlos was thinking, "How can she go so slow?"

Tuesday, we were supposed to go dog sledding, but the man who ran the dogsleds injured his back, so we ended up taking the girls out on the snowmobiles. It was clear that both my girls are built for speed. Neither had a bit of fear and both would have been happy to spend the day speeding through the snow.

Sadly, after our snowmobile adventure, we had to run back to the condo and pack up and head out of town back to home. Back to reality and laundry!

2 days to Mammoth!!

I am getting excited about our trip to mammoth this weekend. The girls and I are all booked for a ski lesson. Our friends have arranged for us all to go dog sledding. Carlos and I will also be going snowmobiling one day. My main concern is that we have too many things scheduled and besides going broke, we will be running around all weekend. I hope not. I just want to have fun with my family in the snow.

I am trying to keep a positive attitude about the skiing. I have limited experience with downhill skiing and it is all bad! I vaguely remember one ski lesson as a child. No negative or positive memories really, just the knowledge that I had some sort of group lesson. My only other experience skiing was at Big Bear, I think, with an ex-boyfriend. I had no real ski gear and had to wear jeans. My ex offered to teach me to ski, and boy was that a mistake. He was not helpful and I think he disappeared after a while leaving me to navigate down the mountain with limited knowledge on stopping. I just remember making my way down the hill using calculated falls to stop me when I began to go to fast and felt out of control. I just remember making it to the bottom of the hill, with soaking wet jeans on, and spending an hour in the bathroom in my attempts to peel off the wet jeans and then get them back on my body. Needless to say, that trip was a clue to the end of that relationship. Lesson learned, never have a boyfriend or relative teach you anything important! (A lesson I should have learned after having my parents attempt to teach me to drive a car!)