Sunriver

The second weekend in May, the kids had no school on Thursday and Friday for parent teacher conferences.  When my friend Dayl asked if we wanted to go somewhere with our families for the weekend, we were in!  They have access to a house in Sunriver, so we all headed there Thursday afternoon once our conferences were over.  Shane was able to work away from the office on Friday, so he left with us on Thursday too. 

We got there in the evening Thursday, so we just got unloaded, had some pizza for dinner, and got to bed.  Friday morning, Dayl and I rode bikes with the kids over to Rock Creek Park.  Shane stayed back at the house to work all day.  The favorite attraction at the park was the big cone-shaped merry-go-round.  The kids all were on it and played for quite awhile on that.  They also had fun with the tetherball and on the slides. 

   

That afternoon, Dayl and I took the kids on a short hike to Benham Falls.  Dayl had been there before, so I just followed her to the starting point.  Google Maps took her to a different starting point than she had been before, which included nine miles of dirt roads to get there.  Needless to say, our cars were pretty dirty by the time we got home.  Asher kept saying, “Mom, car bumpy!” as we drove along.  We had fun looking at the falls and walking along the river’s edge, although we were a little nervous at a few points that we might lose a kid in the swift current. 

   

We barbecued hamburgers for dinner that night, then we all (husbands this time too) rode our bikes to “The Village” in Sunriver to get treats at Goody’s.  Landon and Davis were excited to buy these toilet shaped candies, where you would lick a plunder-shaped sucker and stick it in a “toilet” filled with sour sugar.  Davis kindly offered me a taste a few times and seemed quite shocked that I kept politely declining.  Asher picked out some gummy worms, while James decided on a vanilla ice cream cone.  Shane and I shared a delicious Oreo milkshake.

View on the trail in the morning, then the view of the sunset that evening on our bike ride home from Goody’s (plus a picture of the toilet candy)

 

Saturday morning, we all drove over to the lava lands, and drove to the top of the Lava Butte, one of the largest cinder cones of the Newberry shield volcano. We walked along the rim of the volcano, and enjoyed the great views of the surrounding area, including Mt. Bachelor and the Sisters mountains. 

           

We then headed over to Benham Falls again, this time to the hike Dayl thought we were going to the last time.  We hiked the half-mile into the falls, enjoying many stops along the way to throw rocks and sticks into the river, to walk across fallen logs, and to scratch names into tree trunks.  I think the kids could stand and throw rocks and/or sticks into the river for hours if we would let them.

     

That afternoon, we went to the Sharc swim center in Sunriver.  It had a fun indoor pool, with a great shallow area for the little kids.  Landon, Davis, and Halle spent almost the whole time we were there floating in circles around the whirlpool.  Asher and Carter are just about a week apart in age, and they are great buddies (most of the time).  We caught them several times throughout the weekend giving each other hugs.  Asher found the boys goggles after we went swimming and wanted to put them on with Shane.  He thought it was pretty cool.  The kids finished out the evening with a loud game of foosball after eating their dinner.

   

It was a great trip!  James was already planning our trip back as we drove home this morning.