Snow Day-Trip

We have been getting a lot of rain recently which is great news for the drought in California, but kind of a bummer for a cooped up 2 year old boy and his stir crazy momma. 

We are running out of craft ideas and getting bored with the same ole toys. A small price to pay for some much needed precipitation though and we are happy to do our part and be miserable while the state of California begins to blossom again. 

Green!

One definite perk of all the rain is that about 2 hours west of us, that rain turns into snow. Lots and lots of snow. We have a nice ski trip planned to Tahoe in a few weeks but Jonathan was antsy and couldn’t wait quite that long to see some powder. We decided 2/2.5 hours isn’t quite so far and we’d make a day trip out of it. Since we were already planning to go to Tahoe, we searched for a different destination so that we might explore a different area of the state. We chose Stanislaus National Forest near Bear Valley ski resort. 

There were a few snow parks nearby that were supposedly great for family snow play. We loaded up our new sled and snow gear and headed out early Sunday morning. We didn’t ever manage to locate the snow park we were looking for but saw several people parked near one of the entrances to Stanislaus National Forest and having a good time in the snow so we decided to just stop there. 

Forest hasn’t really been around snow in his life so we didn’t know what to expect. We assumed he’d like it since he a bit of an adventurer (which is a bit of an understatement).  Once we all got good and bundled up, we released Forest into the snow. He fell almost   instantly and scraped up a good portion of his face. 

That soured his attitude immediately and he wanted to just pack up and leave. We persisted in trying to get him excited about the snow and after about 20 minutes he finally started to cheer up, though it took sledding down a hill on mommy’s lap a few times to get a smile out of him. 

After that he was game for a bit of sledding but was still over it pretty quickly.

He did enjoy pulling his 'boat' around though, of course. 

It's like the snow equivalent of a wagon and you know he's all about wagons.
 

All in all it was a fun outing but, in my opinion, way too far of a drive for too little enjoyment.Especially since Forest seems incapable of taking a substantial nap in the car anymore. He fell asleep easily enough but after 20 minutes was awake and cranky and remained grumpy for the rest of the 2 hour road trip and straight on until bedtime. For someone who loves/needs sleep as much as he does, he sure does stink at it. It makes day trips where he has to nap on the go quite a conundrum.

I think our 3 night stay in Tahoe will be much more relaxing and fun since we will be staying at the Northstar Village with plenty of activities and amenities within walking distance from our condo. Plus we will be able to put Forest down for proper naps in our room so that he can last all day. Hopefully the snow keeps falling until then! It’s forecasted to rain/snow all week in Northern California so we are feeling optimistic!