Floating the river

One of my favorite things to do here in Sunriver is float the river. Last year was the first time we tried it with the girls. I don't think they enjoy it quite as much as I do, but it's a fun couple of hours of family time. This year we found a great pull-out spot for our lunch break, where we played a rousing game of "telephone" around the picnic table.

Hot hot hot!

I don't think I took a single picture today. Mostly I spent the day trying to stay cool in the blazing heat. Jeff and I played golf this morning at a great course in Redmond north of Bend. We thought we'd beat the heat by starting early, but it was already in the 90's by the time we finished at noon. Grammy & Grampy took the girls to the putting course here at Sunriver and they played a round of putting holes while we were gone. We then spent almost all afternoon at the pool looking for shade while the kids played in the water. We're having another beautiful sunset tonight--here's a picture of last night's.

Happy Trails!

Yee haw! After a few summers of pony rides, the girls were finally big enough to graduate the REAL thing--a trail ride on REAL horses. Caroline rode "Fancy" and Margaret led our whole group on "Slate." I plodded along on "Dolly" and enjoyed watching them have such a good time chatting up our cowgirl guide Emily. We rode for an hour through the fields and forest along the river and had a great time.


Waiting our turn...

Caroline on Fancy

Margaret on Slate

Heading off into the sunset (well, into the hot afternoon sun anyway...)

Our room with a view

The condo we rented this week is definitely the best we've found so far in Sunriver. Check out our view of the lake and bird sanctuary (on the island in the foreground), with Mt. Bachelor in the background!

Our little fishies!

Margaret has come so far this summer in the pool! Check out her new trick, courtesy of another family that was playing this "launch" game.


And speaking of making progress in the pool! In the last few weeks Caroline has gone from still being reluctant to put her face in the water to jumping off the deep end all by herself.



Both girls area also enjoying imitating the Olympic swimmers by trying the breast stroke and crawl stroke, although dog paddle is still their favorite...

Sunriver

Toads, toads toads. Everywhere there are toads around our condos. We got some toads and set them on the side of the bike path and people who were riding past us stopped to look at them. (by Caroline)


There was a coyote out in the horse pasture. We watched it while it was hunting! (by Caroline)



The girls each got to make a dessert for us to enjoy while we're here this week. Caroline made some delicious FUDGE and Margaret made some caramel apple cupcakes. It's a good thing we're doing lots of bike riding and getting lots of exercise while we're here so we can enjoy the desserts.

Painting with Melissa

We are painting with Melissa in this picture!

Scout camp

Saturday was Margaret's Brownie Scout Day Camp. We took six of the girls from her troop to Millersylvania State Park and spent the day doing all kinds of fun scout stuff, like decorating bandanas, going on a nature hike, making baked apples in the dutch oven and cooking lunch and dinner on the camp stove, and learning how to tie knots, carve with knives (plastic that is...), put up tents, and build a campfire. The girls also did a bunch of sports activities. In the end, we were all totally pooped out but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And they are quite proud of the FOUR new badges they earned during our busy day.

Stehekin (aka steak-n-chicken)

While visiting "Stehekin" at the end of Lake Chelan last weekend, we learned it means "the way through," but Margaret and Caroline have nicknamed it "steak-n-chicken" (apparently easier for them to remember...) We had quite an adventure there with our friends the Barrettes. It's a fabulously beautiful place, with lots of fun stuff to do including hiking, kayaking, and just lounging around staring at the surroundings. We tried out as much as we could in the 3 days/2 nights we were there. Too many highlights to report, but here are some of my favorite pictures from our weekend. Although this place is quite a haul to get to (4 hours by car from Oly plus 4 hours up-lake by boat from Chelan), it is totally worth the effort.

Jeff and Andrea on the boatride -- the weather was perfect!

Peter, Anne, Margaret & Caroline playing in the wind & spray from the lake

We took a short hike the first afternoon, just circling around the area near the landing and the National Park office. The kids were drawn into the creek, of course, and had fun scrambling over and through the rocks.

Just hanging out on one of the docks. It was quite windy our first afternoon, and the kids thought it was pretty fun to walk on the rocking docks.

Caroline and Anne enjoying spaghetti dinner on our deck.

Nothing like a movie to unwind after a big day. The place we stayed doesn't have TVs (or phones), so we brought along a laptop for the kid vids.

Jeff and Margaret, and me and Caroline, in the kayak.


On our big hike on the second day (it's a relative term, now that we have kids...), we explored a couple miles of the Stehekin area, checking out the "new" school and the "old" school. Notice the youngsters at the new school and the oldsters at the historic school...


Part of our hike followed the road along the river, and we had lunch at the famous Rainbow Falls, where once again the kids got to enjoy the thrills of playing in the rushing river.


Margaret and Anne took turns with the backpacks on the way back.

On our side trip to a nearby orchard, we got a quick demo of how the irrigation ditch system works. It's still the original ditch from when the orchards were planted early last century.

Enjoying a well-earned ice cream treat at the bakery after finishing our hike.

Caroline taking her Junior Ranger oath after working so hard all weekend to complete the necessary activities from Jr. Ranger activity book. She was SO excited!


Margaret & Jeff, with Anne & Peter; Jeff & Andrea, with Margaret & Caroline as we waited for the boat to take us home.