Sunriver Family Vacation

Family Vacation

Up to now, our family vacations (just the three of us, not including vacations to visit family) have consisted of camping, so we decided to mix it up a bit, rent a house and enjoy a relaxing vacation in a family friendly environment.  We found all of this, and more, in Sunriver, OR.  Sunriver is an odd little town in the woods near Bend, OR (Eastern part of the state) that is built for tourists.  Most homes are vacation rentals, there are 30+ miles of paved bike/walking trails through the woods (very well signed), the town center is called "The Village" with shops/restaurants/bouncy houses and a little train running around, and there's a HUGE water park called The SHARC (Sunriver Homeowners Association Recreation Center). 

Our "Ranch Cabin" vacation rental, although not spotless (I have high standards) and missing a few light bulbs, had what we needed to enjoy our four day weekend.  Plus, there was a pool just steps away across the little road running through the cabin area, which was perfect for afternoon swimming and cocktails!  Maddy spent a lot of time in the water on this trip, and got very comfortable tooling around the pool in her life jacket.

We took advantage of everything Sunriver had to offer, exploring the Nature Conservatory and hitting up the bird show where we learned about red tailed hawks and other birds that live in the area.  All the birds at the conservatory are injured and there either for recuperation or to live if unable to return to the wild.  The conservatory included a walking trail with interpretive signs including information about planets and the sun leading to a building housing some very powerful telescopes where we viewed sun spots! Very cool stuff.

The town center, called The Village had lots of activities including a train, bouncy houses, restaurants, shops, play structures and even bumper cars (which we didn't get to).  But the biggest hit was our day at the giant water park called SHARC.  There were water slides (I went on both the big ones!), a lazy river, log rolling and plenty of kid areas for Maddy to enjoy.  It was lots of fun!

All in all, a great family vacation.

Road Trip to Sunriver

Walking trail at the Conservatory

Goofing off on the trail

Astronaut Maddy

Maddy and Steve on the trail

Bouncy House in the Village

Village Train

Play Structure in the Village

SHARC Water Park

Sand Pit at SHARC

Our Home Away from Home

Summer Fun - Music, Farm to Table Dinner, Berry Picking

Music at Fernhill Park

Summertime is a time to hang out with friends, enjoy good food and a nice glass of wine.  We certainly have been on track on all points this summer!  The weekend of July 10 Steve headed out of town for our friend Mike Hyland's bachelor party.  Maddy and I spent Friday with Eric, Melissa, Althea, Daynia, Brett, Wyatt, Kieran and Riley at Fernhill park listening to some good music, running up and down the hill (or rolling - for the kids) and enjoying dessert thanks to Melissa. 

Saturday our friend (and Maddy's former teacher) Ashley came to our place to watch Maddy, and I headed out to Stoller Winery with our friends for a fantastic farm to table dinner.  Both Steve and Eric were at Mike's bachelor party weekend, so Emily and I were dates for the night.  : )  The food and wine were both magnificent and we all had a wonderful evening.  We had a van and driver for the night (the winery was over an hour from Portland) and when we returned to Portland, we all called it an early night.

One July weekend we headed to Sauvie Island Farms for berry picking.  The summer has been hot so the berry season was drawing to a close quicker than normal, so we were happy to be able to find LOTS of blueberries, quite a few marrionberries, some raspberries and a few blackberries.  This was our first time picking on Sauvie Island, and even though the day was a rainy one, we had a great time and will definitely return next season.

 

Stoller Winery - Farm to Table Dinner

Cheers!

The Ladies

Sauvie Island Farm - Berry Picking!

All Picked!

Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries and Marionberries

Bon Voyage to Kati

Maddy and Kati

Kati was Maddy's primary teacher during Maddy's first year of pre-school at ChildRoots.  At the end of July we said farewell to Kati as she ventured off to Spain (where her brother owns a farm) to begin a new chapter of her life. 

Maddy adored Kati so much that she would be shy with her nearly every morning, earning her the nickname from Kati "Maddy-Noodle." We'll miss Kati dearly but will also be happy knowing that she's having her own adventures in Spain.

Henry, Karina, Maddy, Finley at Kati's goodbye party

Henry, Maddy, Finely silliness 

Independence Day!

This year we joined Megan, Brendan, Riley and Kieran Flynn for an Independence Day camping weekend in Newport, Oregon.  The weather was perfect. not too hot and beautifully sunny.  It was in the high 90s in Portland, so we were happy to escape the heat wave.  We camped at a big campground but our site was at the very back of the campground, so surprisingly quiet.  There was a playground on site with swings and a play structure, and the beach was about a 1/2 mile walk away.  On the fourth, walking back and forth from the beach and all about, we logged in over 20,000 steps (Megan and I were impressed with this feat).   We enjoyed our beach time and time hanging out with friends.

We headed to the beach and out on the jetty for the fireworks on the 4th but unfortunately fog rolled in just before the fireworks started, so the main event included the noise of the fireworks and pretty colored clouds.  Luckily some folks nearby had their own stash of decent fireworks, so the kids got a bit of a show.  And the Flynns brought sparklers!  The kids LOVED the sparklers - especially Maddy as this was a first experience for her.

On Sunday we headed to the Newport Aquarium, which we all enjoyed.  They have seal shows and bird areas and the exciting tunnel housing many types of fish, rays and sharks!  We all had a great time.

Riley and Maddy

Maddy, Kieran and Megan enjoying beach time

Best seats for the Seal Show at the Newport Aquarium

Riley, Maddy and Kieran at the Aquarium

End of June Fun

ChildRoots Day at the Lake

The last weekend of June was a lot of fun.  We had "A Day at The Lake" which is one of the annual events put on by Maddy's school, ChildRoots.  This year we went to Blue Lake Regional Park where the standard pot-luck meal was enjoyed, teacher Corinne provided Face/Arm painting and the kids all darted around the splash pad.  The Flynn Family also attended, as Kieran now goes to school at a ChildRoots center in NW Portland and this added to the fun.

We hosted a play-with-water/pizza party at our home that afternoon and Maddy, Luella and Althea had a lot of fun playing on the play structure, sliding on the slip and slide and monkeying around with water in general. It was a fun, wet afternoon!

That weekend we also had Bob and Nancy's annual garden party (Bob is Steve's colleague at work).  Our family enjoys the garden party which is a very kid-friendly event.  Bob and Nancy always have an activity planned for the kids - this year it was birdhouse painting.  They had a birdhouse for each child and paints, stencils and brushes of all sizes to stimulate little creative minds.  Maddy created quite the masterpiece!
 

Maddy showing of "Arm Painting" by Corinne

Water Fun at our House

Loving the Slip and Slide

Maddy and Althea douse Luella

Bob and Nancy's Garden Party

Painting the Birdhouse

Summertime in Minnesota Part II: Inver Grove Heights/Gull Lake

Scuba Kids

The first couple of days of our trip to Minnesota were spent with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Mike at their home in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. I worked Monday and Tuesday at my "home" office at U.S. Bank in downtown Minneapolis, and Mike and Jan watched Maddy.  Jan and Maddy went to the Zoo, where Maddy was most interested in the corn dogs and face painting.  It was nice to spend time with Mike and Jan and we also were able to meet up with Ben, Shelly, Anton, Leah and Eli along with Sara, Jeff, Colin and Jana at Ben and Shelly's one night.  Maddy joined the other kids on the trampoline and had a great time jumping (one of her favorite things to do!)

The middle part of our Minnesota trip was spend in Duluth/Knife River/Bayfield per my previous blog.

The last part was spent at Grand Lodge at Gull Lake in celebration of Mike and Jan's 50th Wedding Anniversary.  Mike and Jan, all their kids and grand kids descended upon two cabins at Gull Lake, Minnesota (near Brainerd) where an excellent time was had by all.  The ladies spent a morning at the spa enjoying massages, and some of the men golfed that afternoon.  During two of the days we rented a pontoon boat, which we used for fishing, swimming, tubing and cruising. Steve and I learned the yard game "Kube" which was lots of fun, we enjoyed s'mores, fires and pot-luck dinners that everyone took turns creating.  The kids had a blast swimming, playing with water cannons,squirt guns, pails, shovels, scuba gear and each other.

It was so nice to see everyone, catch up, chat, and just hang out without a schedule.  Sometimes life gets so busy, and it's important to sit back and enjoy the time you have with family and just relax.

Thanks Faust Family for a wonderful vacation, and Happy Anniversary Mike and Jan!

Maddy at the park near Grandma and Grandpa's

Maddy and Grandpa

Maddy Snuggle Time with Grandma

New Twins Cap- Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Fun on the Trampoline at Aunt Shelly and Uncle Ben's

Face Paint with Grandma!

First Sunny!

Anton Fishing

Daddy fishing with Maddy

S'mores with Aunt Shelly

Eli and Leah

The Cabin at Gull Lake

Kube!

Jazz Hands on the Beach

Enjoying Gull Lake

Colin!