Sunriver—Part 1

We had so much fun last year with the Sunderland’s and Crum’s on our school is out Sunriver vacation that we decided to make it a tradition and do it again.  Just like last year our family went down first and stayed by ourselves for a night.  It was such a great time to get away and just be together for a little while.  We went the Mt. Hood route on the way down this time specifically so we could stop at Huckleberry Inn.  Lee had heard that they have the best and biggest maple bars ever.  They were huge!  This picture does not do them justice.  (We found out later that not only does Huckleberry Inn have huge maple bars, but it was also scene of an important part of family history as it is where my mom walked to when she was left on Mt. Hood as a teenager.)

We relaxed that evening when we got to the house, and the next morning we slept in, lazed around and just played.

Then we hiked to Benham Falls.  It was a perfect hike, just the right length and beautiful.

We made it to the falls and had a snack before heading back.

When we got back to the house we went on a bike ride.  Riding bikes is our favorite thing to do in Sunriver.  The bike trails are so nice and it so relaxing to just cruise around. 

We ended up at the park.

That day was my birthday so we decided to go to Bend to celebrate.  We ate dinner at a Hawaiian restaurant.  It was good but not great and the kids weren’t too impressed with it.  After dinner we went to beautiful Drake Park. 

We were there years ago when Emma was about 18 months old and we remember feeding the ducks and geese which there are a ton of at that park.  We brought bread with us so we could do the same.  After throwing lots of bread we realized it was against the law to feed the ducks!  Oops!

Then we walked the streets of downtown Bend and went to Goody’s for ice cream cones (those cones were huge and expensive, Lee and I just shared with the kids).

When we got back to the house the Crum’s were already there.  We introduced them to Wackee 6 and had a great time.  We were ready for more adventures the next day!

School’s Out!

The end of the school year is full of all sorts of busyness, but there is also fun.  The last week of school was spirit week for the twins.  Of course crazy hair day had to fall on the day I was helping in their classroom.  Mrs. Schmidt made it clear to me (nicely) that I had to participate.  Oh boy.

Isaac really wanted Lego hair, and Grace wanted cupcake hair.

Grace was thrilled that Seoul had cupcake hair too! 

A few days later I got to help at Field Day.  I was too busy running my station to take pictures of Isaac and Grace, but Joo Lin was more on top of things at her station and took pictures of them for me.  Thank you!  They loved Field Day and had so much fun.

The next day was the last day of school.  I can’t believe how fast the school year went!  It was such a transition year with the twins starting kindergarten and Emma starting high school.  Everything went smoothly though and all three kids were happy and did well.  I’m proud of them.  They woke up to some fun (mostly orange) summer surprises.  Orange you glad it’s summer?

One of my favorite parts of the day was walking Isaac and Grace to school.  We live so close and I loved that time to chat with them before they started their day.  It was especially nice on the crazy mornings when I might have been rushing them out the door and forcing encouraging them to get things done.  Walking with them gave us a few moments to not be so rushed and for me to remind them that I love them.  :)

We were sad to say goodbye to Mrs. Schmidt.  She was the perfect kindergarten teacher for Isaac and Grace.  This was her last kindergarten class as she was retiring after a long teaching career.  Isaac and Grace were bummed that they wouldn’t be able to give her a hug before school next year like all her other former students did, but she promised to substitute in the first grade classes.

I didn’t get any pictures of Emma on her last day of school.  The last week of school for high schoolers is not nearly as exciting.  I think she was just happy to survive finals!  She went out with friends before and after school to celebrate, thankfully her friend’s mom sent me this picture. 

She still joined us later for our traditional last day of school Slurpees and signing up for the summer reading program at the library.

Then we went home and had a water balloon fight.  I had bought the Balloon Bonanza water balloons.  They were amazingly easy to blow up.  They didn’t all blow up which was annoying, and they were harder to break, but it made having a water balloon fight much easier!

Don’t let Emma hiding in the garage fool you.  She got into that fight!

Let summer begin!!