Although we’ve visited the snow before, this trip was full of many firsts, including…using tire chains, taking turns snow tubing with a toddler on our laps, and playing bumper cars with a snow berm.  Good times!

But my favorite moment of this trip…seeing my first snowfall!  This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland—the first part of a winter storm was making its way over the mountain.  It was hard to resist watching the fluffy white stuff fall to the ground.  We threw on some jackets and ran outside with our trusty point-and-shoot camera to document the occasion. This is my favorite shot, and quite possibly 2010′s Christmas card picture.

I, on the other hand, never had such experiences as a kid.  The only “camping” I had done consisted of pitching a tent in my parents’ backyard to watch the stars for a middle-school science project.  To this day I still don’t understand what astronomy concept I was suppose to learn, but I digress.

Last August, Keith decided to finally introduce to me to my first real camping trip.  The thought of getting away for a couple days sans e-mail, computers, and photo editing seemed like a welcome break.  So we headed down to our local Big 5 and Target stores to buy the essentials: a tent, sleeping bags, lanterns, propane, and my favorite—glow sticks!  Thanks Target!!!  We also invited a few friends to join us—Greta, Chris, and their adorable two-year-old, Nate.

Would the five of us be able to survive?  At first I didn’t think we’d make it.  Keith and I were the first to arrive at the campsite—the beautiful Serrano Campgrounds in Big Bear, CA.  The tall pine trees covering our camp site were gorgeous but I wasn’t digging the red ants circling our spot.  But once we started to pitch our tents and get dinner going, I forgot about the pesky insects.  And here’s some proof:

Home sweet home.

The campsite was only about a 5- or 10-minute walk to Big Bear Lake.  Not a bad view, huh?

We all took turns collecting twigs for kindling, but Keith took charge of getting the first flames started.

I’m never one to eat hot dogs, but something about being in the mountains actually made this meal appetizing.

You might be wondering what camera we used to get all these shots. For the trip, we brought along our old Digital Rebel XT, the 18-55 kit lens, and our old 50mm/1.8 prime.  We didn’t want to risk bringing our good equipment to an area with a ton a dirt.  But we think the old Rebel did a great job of capturing our low-light shots like this one Keith took of me at dusk.

But I think the Rebel really excelled at night with these shots of Keith adding more wood to the fire and us toasting marshmellows for s’mores.

Remember those glow sticks I mentioned?  The last night of the trip we busted them out for Nate to play with…

…but I think the adults had more fun with them.  We stuck the Rebel on a tripod and decided to slow down the shutter speed to see what kind of fun we’d have twirling those glow sticks under the night sky.  Keith had great form.

But Chris spiced things up with these freestyle moves.

Then the boys teamed up their efforts.

And finally, my favorite shot of me and Keith.  It proves that we survived.  And I’m thinking we may need to head out to try this camping thing again in 2010.