First Snow - Mammoth for New Year

For Ellie's first New Year, we decided to celebrate it in Mammoth. We stayed at a 3 bedroom condo right across the street from Canyon Lodge. We were able to see the Village Gondola right from the living room window! There was a lot of snow in Mammoth that weekend and it even snowed 3 out of the 5 days we were there! Ellie had a lot of fun playing in the snow. Only issue was that I bundled her up so much that she couldn't even move! I mean, I had to keep her warm! Frank found a quiet, shaded area right in the courtyard where we took her to play. We had to climb up on top of 13 feet of snow! The top was full of fresh powder which was great. Ellie laughed the entire time we were up there playing. She was honestly great during the day the entire time we were in Mammoth, but it was night time that was a bit rough.

Before going, I kept asking myself and Frank if it was wrong for me to subject her to this vacation. I wasn't sure if I was doing it for her, so that she can see snow for the first time, or for me. I was very afraid that she wasn't going to sleep well while we were up there and I was also worried about the car ride there. Ellie has suddenly developed an aversion to her car seat. She can't stand to sit still for long periods of time and the drive to Mammoth is 6+ hours! And of course, packing for her took our entire car. Our car was so loaded that we had to use the space from the empty passenger seats! It's such a huge production to travel with small children! Thankfully, she was ok during the car rides. She got fussy lots of times, but definitely manageable. What made me feel horrible about the trip was the rough nights she was having. She woke up multiple times during the night crying. I know the poor girl was in an unfamiliar place and probably had separation anxiety. She would quiet down as soon as I picked her up and held her. She then would immediately fall asleep again, then I would put her back down, and it would start all over again in an hour. She just couldn't get a good night sleep! The more she woke up and cried, the worse I felt! Only good thing was that, she woke up in the morning happy and smiling. She was ready to play as if she had a great night's rest. So I dreaded night time while we were up there, but still definitely worth it to see her laugh and enjoy the snow. I can't wait until she's a little older so that she can truly appreciate the snow and enjoy life up in the mountains!