Sunriver Vacation

We got back last weekend from a wonderful vacation in Sunriver, Oregon. I have been working on writing about our trip this entire past week but one of my little guys was sick and that always changes everything around here. This is one of those posts where it is really hard to summarize a week in words and pictures... but I will try my best to capture the spirit of our time there.

Happy Bubbas at breakfast time

I posted that the night before we left for Sunriver that we had our first night away together from the kids.  Ideally we would have hit the road by 9:00 at the latest but we did not end up leaving until about 11:00.  Then we got the brilliant idea that we would change the boys' seats to facing forward so that they would be more well behaved.  Epic parenting fail.  The boys' morning nap was interrupted so that we could leave and the forward facing thing over-stimulated them to the point that they did not want to nap in the car at all.  I think I could write a whole post about what we learned from road tripping with toddlers.  Perhaps I will...if I ever get around to it.  We finally rolled into the driveway of the rental house at about 9:00 pm after surviving some major whining.  We got settled in and went straight to bed.  I was so tired that I fell asleep right away.  It was amazing and I slept better that week on vacation than I have in a really long time.

"Woo-hoo's" from Abraham.  It was great at first but not when we wanted them to nap.

Winston liked facing forward as well.

Last fall when Eric's brother Adam got married, we talked to his cousins about the potential of all of us spending a week in Sunriver for a cousins' reunion.  When Eric was growing up, members of his immediate and extended family would go to Sunriver for vacation.  Some families went every year and some more sporadically.  At the time when this all came up, I loved the idea of all of us going on vacation together but Eric had just lost his job the week before.  Our future was uncertain and I was trying to mentally prepare myself for continuing to work full time to support our family.  The idea of planning a vacation a year down the road seemed very unrealistic to me.  Fast forward a year later and Eric has almost been at his current job for a year.  I was even able to quit working a couple months after Eric started working again.  God was very, very gracious to us. It still amazes us to see what God has done in our lives in the last year and how He has been so faithful to provide for us. We had vacation time provided through Eric's job and started planning the trip with his cousins.  Eric's cousin Jason and his wife Rachel headed up the hunt for a house for all of us to rent together and they did a great job.  We ended up staying in a 5 bedroom/5 bathroom house and it had four suites.  This meant that all of us married couples had our own bathroom within our room.  The kitchen was huge and we were all able to cook at the same time and not get into each other's way too much.  Everyone was gracious enough to allow us to have the biggest bedroom, the one with the walk-in closet, so that we could have the boys sleep in there.  

Home sweet home for the week.

We would open the pocket door to the closet in the morning and this is what we would see.

What I loved about the week was that it was very relaxed and casual. There were no itineraries or schedules. We stayed in the same rental house all week so there was no driving here and there and everywhere. This trip was our first vacation for the sake of just having a vacation.  Every trip we have gone on has been tied to a holiday, wedding or a funeral so it has been busy and not always very relaxing.  The week was really what the doctor ordered.  The boys loved seeing Eric every day and getting to do lots of activities.  We went on bike rides, went to the swim center (SHARC), went for walks in the local outdoor mall and in general spent lots of quality time with family.

Winston running around at the SHARC.

Peekaboo

Our family of four

Abraham catching a little break.

Jason and Rachel--we love them lots.

Winston and Lorelai had lots of fun playing in the sand area.

Cousin love.  Winston goes in for a smooch.

Getting ready for a bike ride.  Rene with Abraham, Mama with Winston, Aunt Cindy and Jonathan.

The bubbas taking a stroll at The Village.

What is this bike trailer thing and why do we always have to wear our hats?

Before the long ride. We gave up on the hats.

After

One of the highlights of the week was that we had a big potluck with all the families.  There were cousins, great aunts and uncles, great great aunts and uncles and great grandparents.  The downstairs area of our rental house accommodated everyone quite nicely.

Like father, like son.

We learned that Abraham figured out how to get more dessert.  He would go around saying "bite" and Aunt Cindy was one of the people happy to oblige.  He is a smart little stinker.

The kiddos had fun doing laps around the pool table.

These kids were deliriously tired by this point.

Uncle Tracy and his little granddaughter Lorelai.

Tickle time!

Great Uncle Denny and Uncle Tracy with Winston checking out the TV.

Grandma Guddat and Grandma Holmes

Mama and Winston

We are already looking forward to going again and are hoping to make it a biennial event with all the cousins.  One thing I wish I had was group photo of all of us that were in the house but I was trying to be relaxed about the picture taking--being more in the moment rather than trying to orchestrate the perfect picture opportunities.  The blessing is that our family is rapidly expanding with additional family members getting married and having children of their own.  Doing this trip again is definitely an event to look forward to.

Getting ready for a bike ride!

Climbing hills at The Village

Winston and Great Grandma Guddat

Our drive home went much, much better.  We left at a decent hour and the boys took both a morning and afternoon nap.  We took a longer lunch break in Klamath Falls and then stopped again in Susanville.  We found a nice little park and let the boys run around for a while.  The boys played on the swings for the first time and they loved it.  We got home right a round dinner time and it was easy getting the guys back into their normal routine.

Eric was wearing his 'iDad 2.0' shirt--perfect!

Sweet Abraham

Precious Winston

Another of Mama and Winston

It was a great trip and I was so thankful to spend time with extended family and get a break from our everyday routine.  I am ready to go back already!