Weekend Get-Away

My husband's family has a fun tradition. Every other year they plan an adult get-away: no kids, lots of fun, free time to RELAX. It's great! Every other year we do a fun trip with kids. (It is always fun too, but I personally look forward to the trips without kids...where the adults get to act like kids and not watch any.)


This year we considered several destinations and decided for many reasons that our get-away needed to be close to home. Somehow the idea came up to have a get-away at home....that of all the activities we really wanted to do, we could do most right here! So, two weekends ago we ran away, to my husband's parents home!


All the cousins (except the small babies) babysat each other at various homes and all the adults were free!!



Foremost on our list of activities to do was card-playing. Hearts is a game of strategy and finesse, and if you haven't figured it out, watch out!! Your points total will add up quickly.



Fine cuisine was also a must. We enjoyed one evening with bbq steak, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, salad, fruit, bread, and wow! It was gourmet. The other evening we went out on the town and enjoyed a tasty meal at a local restaurant.



Another activity high on the list was: NAPPING. Naps might sound boring, but they are a coveted luxury! Yes, I'm pretty sure everyone enjoyed a nap or two. We also slept in...and still had a nap. It was great!



High on this couples' priority list was trying to see how many people they could scare with this innocent looking green toy pig. Don't let their serious demeanors in this picture fool you, they will scare you any chance they get....just when you think you are safe, or that no one is watching you: OOIIINK! Yep, you will jump out of your skin!



This poor feller was the brunt of many of their scaring traps. He doesn't scream like a girl or anything embarrassing like that...he just freezes and has been known to fall down and collapse...but that's kind of a family secret, so shhh!!




Several couples went out 4-wheeling up the canyon. They saw deer and turkeys and enjoyed the sweet smell of a recent rainstorm. Afterwards they enjoyed some down time on the shady deck.



Rook is our family's other card game of choice. We played many rounds of that one!




Oh, and junk food with good movies is another must! We watched several and ate many. It was seriously the perfect weekend and we had a blast. Who knew that you could have so much fun at home!!??

The Last Splashes of Summer

School starts one week from today. The kids are excited for school to start: our oldest is starting Junior High and the others can't wait to meet new teachers and old friends. But they are also mourning the end of summer.



What better place to spend the last days of summer than in the pool?





Speeding down the waterslide;




jumping off the diving board;



doing backflips until you can't remember which way is up.



So long summer!

Campout/Gold County Swim Meet

We cut our trip to Oregon a couple days shorter than originally planned. One reason was that our 11-year old desperately wanted to be home in time for his very first overnight campout with the boy scouts. The other reason was for the Gold county swim meet. I sent our 11-year old with a camera, to capture all his fun and exciting scout adventures. He got to learn how to sharpen a pocket-knife, how to navigate using a compass, they got to cook several meals, and they also went on a hike followed by a cool down in some mountain water falls.


When he arrived home, he excitedly told us about all the fun he had.




There were five pictures on his camera...all of breakfast. So there you have it: the food is always the highlight!!





The other reason we cut our trip to Oregon short was to be back in time for the end of season swim meet that the boys both qualified for. The gold meet has the fastest times and the toughest competition. We arrived bright and early for warm-up and check-in.




Our oldest competed on two relay teams. He swam the breaststroke on his team's medley relay. They finished second. He was the anchor leg on his team's freestyle relay. They also finished second.




Our second oldest qualified in the freestyle and the breaststroke. He is super fast in breaststroke, but not quite as dominant in freestyle. He decided that he would try really hard to improve his time in free. He swam a great race and improved his time by over a second. He was really pleased with his performance: 17th place!





Our oldest qualified in freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke. In freestyle he finished second overall.


Next was backstroke. It is our oldest's weakest stroke and he was also determined to really improve his time. He was seeded sixth, but after a blazing fast race, he improved his time by 4 and a half seconds and took second place!



Our second oldest swam a really fast breaststroke race!




The competition was all really close. He took third overall.




Breaststroke was last for our oldest. He was seeded third with some tough competitors. Halfway through he was in second place,




but with the last few strokes he surged ahead and won!


It was pretty fun and he was happy with the results.

The awards banquet was last weekend.

We can't wait for swim team next year. We're trying to convince our daughter to join the boys next season.

Oregon Trip: Highlights from Bend

We had so much fun in Bend with my family. A few activities that we particularly enjoyed were:






Washing the car with Grandpa. He got it clean inside and out...and even vacuumed out all the sand that came back with us from the coast.





Visiting with our awesome aunt in the backyard.




Getting our hair done by our awesome aunt.





And getting foot massages from our awesome aunt after our long hike!




We especially enjoined Grandma's cooking...homemade lasagna and fresh garden veggies!



We spent one morning helping Grandma pick raspberries.



There were tons of them!





We picked plenty (and ate plenty too).

Sleeping in was wonderful!

Our aunt took the oldest boys out to see a cute movie...

in 3-D!

She also took all the girls out for ice-cream!

We met my good friend in the park and got to meet her cute kids.

We also got to catch up over lunch. Wish we lived closer!!

We also went swimming with another good friend and her cute kids!

We went swimming in their pool...during a big rainstorm. It was an adventure!

It was great to see them again...it had been awhile!

We managed to squeeze in a little school clothes shopping.

I especially enjoyed the Central Oregon sunsets every evening.

They are gorgeous!!

We had the perfect vacation! It was hard to have it come to an end, but I am so grateful that we were able to go.