Big Bear...aaaarrrrg!!!

That's the sound Finley makes, every time he sees a bear...or a horse, a cow, an elephant, a frog...!! The only animal he does know the name of is a ffsch, thanks to Sarah who presented Gerard with one of which for Christmas. The ffsch had to be rescued and taken up to their room soon after as Finley got VERY excited every time he saw the ffsch and tried a number of times to shake him out of his bowl!!!
...and this was only one of our many adventures in Big Bear City, California. The excitement really started with flying on standby as we where travelling on Captain Gerard's Buddy Pass (thanks Gerard;-))). All went swimmingly though and we arrived all together and happily in LAX. For me this was the first time I ventured out that far west and I instantly loved the West Coast...it was like coming home!!
A last little trip to the shops (big shops) and off we went up, up and away - into the mountains in the perfect skiing car, the Audi SUV. (I should get paid for advertising)
On a long and winding road we climbed up to Big Bear and set up camp at the newly Wed's mountain retreat, where we spent nowhere nearly as much time as we did at Vons and Kmart;-)) Just kidding, we of course had to stack up provisions for ten days of feasting to our hearts content. After the veggies had been neatly packed away in Finley's plastic Kmart bath tub and stored in the garage, which kept them colder than any fridge could ever have, we got cooking!!
Sarah is the best cook and I am not lying when I say that. An avid pupil of Jamie and Gordon, she makes the perfect, better than any restaurant, Mac and Cheese and cooks a wicked roast with all the trimmings...yummy!
I could go on about our cooking adventures for ever, but I wont, event though the curries for Saturday's party where an absolute delight...
Enough of that, or people will think all we did in CA was eat!!!

There was not much snow on the ground, but they made plenty of REAL snow, like REAL man made snow in the ski resorts and we took our perfect skiing car, filled it with lots of skis and boots and sticks and went skiing.
Finley got dumped in a really lovely day care place which I thought called themselves the Manson family...turned out it was actually the MacDonald's family - much better!!
Anyway the ski resort proved to be a snow board resort, with Steve, Sarah, me and a handful of others being the only skiers amongst thousands of snow boarders.
If I have never mentioned this before, this is the time to do so...I hate snow boarders, particularly the ones who have just learned it and think the slopes are their personal living room where they can just sit around wherever they feel like it.
Luckily (for them) we found some runs where there was literally nobody and that turned out to be most enjoyable apart from the encounter with the murder lift...no further comment!!

Another very memorable event was the Saturday Christmas/Wedding party, which was surprisingly well attended given the fact that people had to travel for hours to get to Big Bear and than sleep on sofas, blow up mattresses and camper vans, which very well organised by the lady of the house turned out to be no problem at all.
The party itself was rocking!!! Well equipped with strobe, disco ball and smoke machine we danced the night away to Sarah and Gerard's groovy music collection and the odd Bon Jovi??!!! track...how did that get into their collection I wonder????
We all looked like we where on drugs, but it was actually the haze from the smoke machine that distorted our faces. In retrospect I am glad I was not on drugs, because there where times when the smoke got so thick it felt like being in some horror flick and that kind of intoxication would have truly scared the s..t out of me!!!
Saturday's dancing into the early morning hours was an exception. The norm was falling asleep in front of a blazing fire at 7.30 pm barley making it through half an episode of Black Adder. We blamed it on jet leg, Sarah and Gerard... I can only guess, probably old age;-))))))))))))

Like with all great things, this one also came to an end much to quick. Probably not for Sarah and Gerard who I am sure where ready to kill having to listen to one more weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhh and ffsch by the end of our holiday;-) Watching TV also has a whole new meaning now that the remote control does not have to be hidden on top of the fridge anymore and a program can be enjoyed from start to finish without having to shout NOOOOOOOOOO a thousand times!!!!
The little sheep can go back to their home next to the open fire place and the little bamboo coasters can rest in peace.

Our ten days in Big Bear where ten days full of adventure, accidents and absolute bliss amongst really wonderful friends and it was so much fun to spend Christmas and New Year with you guys. A big Cheer to you and all the people we met there!!!CHEEEEEERS!!!!!