April 2021 - Easter and the Beginning of the Big Bear Renovation

 As as his custom, the Easter Bunny went a little overboard in 2021. Clothes all around. 

We did an Easter egg hunt with Cikaneks and some of the Westenhavers (who lived kitty corner from us at the time). Reba (Rebecca Cikanek) is really nice about filling eggs for us. 

Tiny and Nathan got really cozy on the swing one day. It made me a little uncomfortable but was also super adorable. 

The cabin renovation began. It's pretty insane that we bought another house in need of a ton of work. April 8 - the Thursday after we closed - Jim filled the van with tools and supplies and headed up. He took a bunch of Fridays off, and some longer chunks, to work on the cabin over the next several months. He ended up recruiting friends to help (Derrick Karner, Pete Bunnell, Sam Hawkins) and barely getting it done in time to rent it out for Thanksgiving.  

The girls had their first swim of the season in Cikaneks' pool. It was still a little chilly. 

Berry gave herself a really interesting hairdo. 

The next weekend (mid-April), we all went up to the cabin. I took pictures of lots of furnishings and posted them for sale. 

All the shabby chic had to go. So bad. 

Sam brought his girls up and helped Jim demo the main-floor shared bathroom:

The old kitchen, which would be torn out later: 

The place contained so many knick-knacks and junk. I spent all my time just clearing stuff out. 

Sam was super thoughtful and brought some games as a housewarming gift. The girls played Apples to Apples. 

We got in one little walk. The girls started playing some imaginative game and ran all about collecting things.

The following weekend, the Hawkinses came to the cabin again so Sam could continue helping Jim with the demo. The girls had fun in the hot tub, even though the Hawkins girls look bitter in this picture.  

Jim and Sam took the shower of the main-floor shared bathroom down to the studs.

They also took out the tub/shower and the vanity from the chabby-chic master bathroom. 

More hot tub time:

I found this note in Berry's notebook. So funny. But also sad. 

Tiny got her first (or second?) bee sting and hated it. 

Berry did some testing through school (Coastal Academy). It's adaptive, so the math got harder and harder and ended up giving her multiplication. Although she was only in kindergarten, she understood the concept; she just didn't have any multiplication facts memorized. So she sat there and filled a page with tick marks to find the answer. I kept telling her not to do it and just to get the problem wrong; otherwise the program would think she had learned multiplication. But she was not to be deterred. 

She's so determined, conscientious, and hardworking. I love it (and her) so much. 

P.S. A month later, I got her test results. No surprise, she was in the the 99th percentile across the board again. 

March 2021 - Mostly Big Bear, Skiing, and Wrenzy's Sixth Birthday

 Wrenzy talked about The Cat in the Hat at school.

Her answer for this project about what makes her grouchy: "when my mom doesn't let me do something." Wren Bear hates me so often. 

We had an amazing rainbow right over our house. 

We went to Big Bear and skied. Ever luxuriated on the ground while Wrenzy got pumped.

Tiny likes playing in the snow.  

During a Ticket to Ride night, we were quoting Home Alone when the girl says, "Kevin, you're what the French call 'les incompetents.'" It turned into a fun chant.

We recorded Ever playing a piece for an international music competition that Miss Violetta wanted her to enter. 

We had to submit a picture for her online profile. 

Ever tied with a few other people for fourth place, so that was exciting.

Berry has a made-up song she likes to sing really loudly in the car. It's almost angry-sounding, but she's happy. 

Wrenzy has loved, and been very sweet with, the bunny with the sewn-on crown she requested for Christmas. Usually she gently tucks the bunny into her own bed, but sometimes they cuddle.

On Saturday, March 20, we celebrated Berry's birthday. Jim got caramel apples, but Wrenzy doesn't like them and was very sad. (Ever, in contrast, is a big fan.) 

We did yellow cake with chocolate frosting with the Cikanek boys that night. I'm still trying to find a homemade yellow cake recipe that is better than a box. 

Sunday morning she opened her presents. Her sisters gave her nice cards and gifts. 

That very afternoon, they busted into the new craft kit Coco sent.

Wrenzy at six... She has the most tender heart. She is just like me in so many ways. She is very sensitive and takes a while to recover when she gets her feelings hurt. (My genes.) She is very loud when she wants to be, talks to herself a lot (including in a British accent), and does an incredible joker face (all me). She is the tiniest human. She is silly and funny. She's a total perfectionist (me); usually when she finishes something, she says, "It's horrible!" She has a hard time being social; big groups and new people are tough. ((Maybe she gets that from both parents?) She is super smart - great at math and a most stellar reader. She says her favorite nickname is "Sweet Cakes," which I call her sometimes, but she's OK with the plethora. Besides all the Bear-related names (including Berry, Berrington (Steele), Berrykins [which is in use now, as I write this, and was not really around in March 2021], and the like), she is Wrenzozah, Zozah, Zozie, and much more.  

Tiny started a dance class, and I find little people in leotards way too adorable. 

Ever did some sidewalk art to express her dislike of Thomas Edison.

Goosey also told the sidewalk-art readers that we were going to Big Bear at the end of March/beginning of April.

This time we got a fun cabin that had a game console the girls loved.  

We took a walk.

We visited the Alpine Zoo, where a bear napped right next to the window.

Berry took pictures of every single animal.

The girls enjoyed the play area.

I thoroughly enjoyed the snowy-mountains background. 'Tis a lovely setting for a zoo. 

At one point, all the animals in the zoo that howl started howling in concert. It went on a long time and was the coolest thing. I loved it so much.

The girls were all super into the snowy owl, even though it doesn't like to let us get a good look at it. 

We went on a walk on a trail, and the girls found and ate snow.

You can't really see it in this picture, but Tiny held out a handful of snow for a really long time as we walked because she hoped it would attract a snowy owl. Her hand was cold, but she persevered. Sweet Tines.

Berry had not brought a jacket, so she hijacked mine.

I took a lot of videos of the girls skiing because I was impressed at how well they were doing after only a couple of times. Paul and Susan's fam and Gary Oddou must have been skiing with us this day because apparently I tried to run into Gary while filming this video. 

Jim and Tiny finishing a run:

Wrenzy on the left in pink, and Ever on the right in red and black:

We watched a movie at the cabin.

While we were there, Jim and I signed the closing docs for our very own Big Bear cabin and met with Hunter of Big Bear's Concierge about helping us manage our property. Pretty exciting.