Oregon/Sunriver Trip
We kickstarted the summer with a week long trip to Oregon where we saw cousins in Portland and went to Sunriver. This is the third year in a row we have went to Sunriver and it is becoming a very much anticipated family tradition.
Saturday: Our goal was to make it out of the house by 7:30 Saturday morning and so when we were on the road at 7:45 so we pretty proud of ourselves. Mike and I had everything ready to go and then woke up the kids and gave them water bottles/sippy cups and pop tarts in the car. The kids were thrilled with the treat of pop tarts, but the three older ones quickly discovered that the pictures of the frosting covered pastries on the bright boxes look a lot more yummy that then actually are. Elliot, however, said “Ohh cookie!” and thought it was pretty delicious.
We met up with the Stokers in Portland about 10:30. We spent some time on the waterfront and the highlight was definitely when each family rented the six person bike. We took it on a two mile loop, which took close to an hour (with a little drink break) to complete. Those things are a beast to pedal! The only kid out of the eight that was big enough to reach the pedals was Carson so basically the adults were doing all the work. It was a beautiful day and everyone really enjoyed it though.
We then walked down the waterfront to a Saturday market to get some lunch. This sounded like a fun, “cityish” thing to do, but it was a little crazy. Abby had twisted her ankle a couple days before and was supposed to be taking it easy so she was in the stroller while Mason took his time and Elliot kept wiggling out of our arms trying to look at the geese and boats (which is great and part of the experience and the joy of being two, but there was a lot of geese, buoys, and boats and it was a mile long stretch and we were hungry…) Isn't it funny what a little time can do for your perspective? As I typed that I remember how we were all hot and hungry and the mile long walk seemed forever, but now that I am not hot and hungry, that memory of Elliot's face lighting up and pulling me to see everything is precious. "Mama! MAMA! Yook! Quack Quacks!" and then pulling me towards the water, "Mama! Yook a boat! Mama! A school bus boat!" (it was a yellow boat). Although it can take forever to do things with a two year old, I am sure treasuring this sweet boy and then fun stage he is at.
The food stands were jam packed and all the yummy food had 15 minute plus lines, so after pushing through the crowds, securing food for eight kiddos and finding that literally the only place to sit was in little corner next to the recycling bins with a couple chairs to sit on (while the rest of us stood, sat on the ground, or in Carson's case sat on top of the recycling bin much to my dismay), adult food was basically chose by which line was the shortest. It wasn’t the tastiest lunch, but it was an adventure.
After lunch, we went to a quiet park and let the kids play for a little bit before heading back on the road.
The kids did a great job in the car (I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that all normal limits on screen times are absolved and we basically let them morph into technology junkies when we travel :). We stopped in Bend to load up on groceries for the week and finally pulled into Sunriver about 8:00.
Our sweet girl. Abby twisted her ankle Wednesday night and we were worried that it would affect her vacation, but this was really the only day that we had to push her in a stroller/carry her a little bit. It felt a little better every day and by Monday her limp was gone. We have had our share of injuries this year and we were all so grateful that it was only a sprain (when we took her into the doctor before leaving, I was so worried she would be sent home in boot).
Cousins are the best.
I love this picture.
The only picture I snapped Sunday was of Abby with a puzzle we did in the afternoon.
Monday:
Monday: Monday the kids were dying to go to the SHARC (a little water park within the community). Mike and I both did a little run in the morning and then we got ready and headed to the SHARC. They have a huge sledding hill outside of the water park that you can go down on tubes that we went down first a couple of times. You have to be four to go on it, so Elliot didn’t qualify and he was heartbroken. We tried to placate him by pulling him around on a tub on the grass at the bottom of the hill, but this just made him scream louder. Eventually, Mike took him to a nearby playground where the older kids and I met them when we were done sledding and we all had a snack lunch together before heading into the park. It’s not a huge water park, but it is perfect size for our family. There is a big outdoor and indoor swimming pool, a lazy river, two bigger water slides (one tube, one single rider), a wading pool, a sand area, and a little water slide for kids under 48 inches. Elliot fell in love with this little water slide. Years ago, I dropped our brand new camera in water and have since been hesitant to take pictures near water, so I have no pictorial evidence to capture this obsession, but I hope to never forget it. Our little boy, in this puddle jumper climbing up the short staircase and then sitting down at the top of the slide. He would wait a minute giggling at the top and then slide down to Mike or I’s waiting arms. Mike had him that first day and he would let him drop into the water and then scoop him up. Elliot would surface, dripping wet and with a smile ear to ear. Almost before he could even wipe the water from his eyes, he would say “again, again.” Mike said he must have went thirty times in a row that first day. The big kids lasted a couple of hours in the water, but the little boys were done and shivering not long after Elliot’s sliding ended. This is where the big sand area came in handy. It was basically a huge sand box with toys and little pumps with water. Every day the little boys would end there water park time here warming up in the sand, with Mason building and Elliot making “food” for whatever grown up was watching them that day.
After
swimming, we headed back to the house and got changed and then headed to Bend
to go out to eat. Mike is in love with
Bend and would probably move there if there was a job for him and his wife was
willing (it is beautiful, but it is too far from family for me and I’m not a
fan of extreme temperatures). We ate at
a Red Robin on the river and as far as atmosphere goes, it was the best Red Robin
we have ever ate at. We ate outside
literally feet away from a path that went along the river. Elliot was good, but after a busy, napless
afternoon he was a little restless and cranky.
Mike and I took turns walking him along the river which kept him
happy.
After dinner, we
all walked down the riverfront and over a cool bridge. It seemed like the whole city was out
walking, running, bike riding, inner tubing, paddle boarding, or rafting. It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed just
walking around with no schedule to worry about.
It was glorious. We stopped at a
couple of shops and Mike got some new biking gloves and we let the kids pick
out some candy from a candy shop that was basically a child’s dream come true.
When we got
back, Elliot went to bed and the three older kids hit the hot tub.
Rock climbing.
The Deschutes River.
Elliot would not get out of this rocking chair camping chair we found. Every time one of the other kids wanted to try it we would scream, "No! Mine!"
Below are our attempts to get a family selfie (which I suppose if it has six people in it would not technically be a selfie, so this our family's attempt to get all six of us to fit in the screen while Mike holds the phone as far away from his body as he can).
Tuesday:
Tuesday: Although it is beautiful, the main reason Mike wants to live in Bend is because it has world class mountain biking. He tried out some trails last year and loved them and was anxious to go again. Tuesday morning, we headed back to Bend and while Mike enjoyed the trails, the kids and I went to see “Inside Out.” It was a really cute movie and what was the most exciting about it was that it was me taking ALL FOUR of my kids to a movie by myself! This is a huge milestone. The thought that I can take all of my kiddos to a movie or that we could go to a family movie is incredibly liberating and exciting! We don’t even go to very many movies, but the point is that now we can. This is exciting stuff here.
Elliot sat
through most of the movie in his own seat and then with me for the last 15 or
so minutes. He loved it and did talk
loudly a few times, but considering it was 11:00 in the morning and the only
other people in the theatre also had children it was fine.
After the
movie, we headed back to the house where Elliot took a nap and the big kids
played around outside of the house.
After naps, it was time for the SHARC where we repeated the fun from the
day before. Basically, every day at the
SHARC Elliot would go down the baby slide while Mason swam around (with his
puddle jumper) and an adult took the big kids on water slides. At some point, we would all end up in the
lazy river which was Mason’s favorite.
He didn’t ever want to get on a tube, but simply let the water carry him
around and around while he floated in his puddle jumper. When the little boys were cold, one of us
would take them to play in the sand while the other stayed with the big kids
until we got hungry and then we would drag all of the children away from the
park home from dinner.
We had told the
big kids they could stay up late Tuesday night, so after getting Mason and
Elliot to bed, I took them on a bike ride.
We went six or seven miles and it was a lot of fun. I often feel pulled in so many different
directions with my kids and worry that I am never giving any of them all the
time/attention that they need. I
especially feel this way with the older ones sometimes, since they are at
school and the younger ones (especially E) can be so demanding and time
consuming. I always treasure the chance
to spend time one on one with any of my kiddos and although this bike ride was
actually 2 on 1 it was a lot of fun to just ride and talk and not worry about
any bike trailers or younger kids. When
we got back, Mike and I and the two of them got in the hot tub and then we let
them stay up and watch a House Hunting show that we found on HGTV. They loved staying up with and
we loved having the time with them.
My big guy at the movies.
Wednesday:
Wednesday morning we told the kids to put on their swimming suits, shorts, and good shoes to go on a hike in. We had heard of these waterfalls that you could slide down. There is a group that does mountain bike tours and they stop and the patrons slide on them. We had heard from more than one person, however, that you did not need to pay for these tours (and Elliot was too young to do the biking anyways ) and that there was a campground that you could park at and hike to a couple of the falls. Both Mike and I scoured the internet and found very little information other than the bike tour stuff. We did find the name of the campground and some general direction, so we set off on a adventure. We parked by what looked like the trail described in a blog we found of somebody who had found these elusive waterfall slides without the biking tour.
We started the hike excited and happy. The longer we walked, the hotter it got, the more the kids whined and the less sure of ourselves we became. We turned back after about 1.5 miles (making it a 3 mile round trip hike) and later ran into some people who said it was about two miles up. The way back was a little hard as Elliot screamed in the backpack and we convinced the older kids that just the hike was a fun way to spend the morning. We did play in a creek at the campsite before leaving which cooled and cheered everybody.
We continued driving to a look out point which was 7,900 feet about sea level. It was one the windy, rocky, no guardrail road on the way up that we discovered that Carson has a real fear of heights. He had to actually close his eyes. While Mike focused on the road and I tried to talk Carson through this fear I didn't even really know he had, Mason's little voice piped up.
"Hmm, well I know what would happen if our car fell off the cliff. We'd die." And then he calmly continued looking out the window. This did nothing to help calm Carson. Even with the bumpy drive and the upset brother, Elliot fell asleep so all the pictures we got at top don't include our little guy.
Mason has a reputation in our family for being a bit of a dawdler, but he did awesome on this hike. Mike was asking him about this recent speed he has acquired and Mason responded, "I found my walking legs and I just snapped them on."
There are two possible captions to the picture.
1: Happy family standing in front of amazing view (who just happen to have their swim suits on complete with goggles around their necks in case they feel like cliff jumping into the glacially cold lake in the background).
2: Parents who promised natural waterfall/waterslide hike and swimming, over an hour hike that didn't deliver that promise, a tired two year old, disappointed older kids, a twenty minute drive up a windy hill to snap a quick picture, and then finally getting to go swimming at the pool five minutes away from the house where we started.
Proof that Elliot was with us on the peak also.
That evening Mike's parents arrived to spend a couple of days with us. Even though our day didn't go exactly as planned and we had some rough moments, it was still fun. The kids pulled themselves together pretty well and everybody ended the day on good notes. Although when you end a day with grandparents, a water park, hot tubbing, and ice cream on a deck past bedtime is there really any way to not end it on a good note?
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