TRAVEL TALES

Young Chang

When it came time to sleep, Kayla Marolt whispered with the other

girls in her cabin as most girls do when the lights go out.

Before bed, they brushed their hair.

They had marshmallow fights, licorice-eating contests and even

tobogganed down Big Bear’s snowy hills.

It was a typical weekend retreat, except that the moms were there. And

for Kayla, 7, this was a good thing.

She and Romaine Marolt, her mother, joined about 140 other local moms

and daughters for the YMCA Indian Maidens Crow Tribe’s February retreat

to the Pinecrest Christian Conference Center at Twin Peaks, Big Bear. The

goal of the retreat was to bring mothers closer to their daughters.

The chapter includes children from Montessori, Prince of Peace, Harbor

View, Mariner’s Christian and Adams elementary schools.

Themed Candy Land Winter Camp 2001, the three-day retreat included

skits and moments by the fireplace, snowball fights and warhead-eating

contests. Warheads are a sour type of candy.

It was a time without husbands, dads and brothers. A time for local

moms to just be one of the girls.

“To me it’s valuable because, in hindsight, I’m thinking my

relationship with my mother was wonderful,” said Francine Howard, a Costa

Mesa mom who went on the retreat with her daughters Libby and Emma. “I

would like my girls to remember good times . . . and for us to be friends

forever.”

Marolt and Kayla said their favorite moment was the marshmallow fight.

Kayla was in a room with all the other daughters, unsuspectingly going

about their afternoon, when the mothers showed up and started bombarding

them with marshmallows.

“The girls had no clue what was going on,” Marolt said. “All of a

sudden these marshmallows come flying out, and they start throwing it to

us, and it was like war.”

They also got affectionate.

During a licorice-eating contest, mother-daughter pairs stood on

opposite ends of a long, thin strand of licorice and raced to see who

could eat more. When their lips met, they had to kiss.

“It was better because my mom was there,” Kayla said. “‘Cause it was

funner.”

Marolt and Howard, both stay-at-home moms, said they feel fortunate

they get to see their children as often as they can. The retreat didn’t

afford them more quality time than usual -- rather, just a different kind

of fun.

“But for the ones who don’t get to spend as much time with the kids,

they so much value their time. You can see it in their eyes,” Howard

said.

* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation

recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line at Travel Tales, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com; or fax to

(949) 646-4170.