Unplugged :)

The view from the front of the house.

Gabriel was helping Papa start a fire in the fireplace.

Life can get so busy. Even a domestic goddess, such as myself, needs time to "unplug" every now and then. To walk away from Facebook and blogging and cell phones and all of that. We get so caught up in the hectic pace of daily life! I love that our family makes time every year for our annual Family Getaway. The funny part is that as soon as we get home, we start talking about next year's trip :) Normally we go to Lake Arrowhead, but because of the mountain terrain it's almost impossible to find a house to rent that has a large flat yard for the boys to play in. So they end up spending most of their time indoors. My daughter in law, April, suggested that this year we should try Julian. I found this amazing home to rent on Homeaway.com. It'is a truly magical place to take the family. I felt like a child myself when I went inside this beautiful home and saw the backyard through the large windows. There is a tire swing and a zip line! The backyard is massive! Every child's dream yard! The perfect place for the boys to use their new adventure belts! The beds in every room have wonderful plush mattresses with gorgeous bedding!

Our 4 grandsons :)

I felt like we were staying at a friend's home and not a rental. The owner was so wonderful to deal with and she told us about Don's Market in town where they make their own sausage (which we had 2 varieties for 2 different meals....yummo!) and I also tried bacon ends for the first time. Thick chunks of bacon...oh my! Hopefully this home will be available for rent and we will be able to come back for years to come! In Lake Arrowhead, of course, the highlight for the little ones is snow. We were hopeful that we may get some snow in Julian. As it turned out, we were blessed that on Saturday we got our wish. The snow was falling and the boys (OK...I'll admit that I was pretty excited too) were beyond excited! I just wished we could have stayed longer! Our Family Getaway of 2011 is now in the history books and Caleb told his Mommy the next morning that he wished the "brown cabin" could be our home and David woke up from his nap yesterday and told his Mommy that he wanted to go back. Sounds like a good time was had by all :)

The boys found some cowboy hats to play with.

The zip line was a big hit!

Seriously.....who doesn't love a tire swing?

The view from the back of the house.

More zipping!

The boys on one of their many adventures in the backyard!

Checking out the huge front yard!

Elijah was making notes in his adventure journal.

Elijah and Papa adventuring!

Oma and Caleb playing Candy Land :)

Barkley with his jacket and boots in the snow :)

David catching snowflakes in his mouth :)

Elijah making snow balls!

Elijah and Caleb playing in the falling snow!