Sunriver Trip 2012...

Anne Eugenio is a good friend from my ward and who homeschools her kids, and who is John McDonald's sister and president of the co-op that some frineds and I have started...so. Anne. Anne invited the girls and I and the Mondrut family (also from our ward and homeschool friends) to a week stay at a nice condo she has affordable access to in Sunriver, OR. We had a whole week together there, Anne's mom, Laura also came. So there were three moms, a grandma and ten children...and 9 bikes and two bike trailers. The weather was really nice, but the resort was in "slow season" mode, so we didn't have outdoor pool access like we had hoped. Our plan was to bike in the morning, swim/sit by the pool all day and bike in the evening. Instead, we still had a great time, but we explored the area around Sunriver more looking for things to do and places to keep cool.

There were hopes that we could just jump the short condo assn. fence adn enjoy the pool as planned, so here are some pics of Bets in a swimsuit ready to go. There were a few owners who were stalking the pool making sure no one went in there. Annoying! :)

Luke is Anne's youngest little one. He's so cute!!!

Betsey potty trained just before we left, and was obsessed with the potty there. Here she is verifying Micah's success on the potty. :)

This is Paulina Lake, in Deschutes National Forest just south of Sunriver. The lake is a crater, and was a good place to spend the day, though the water wasn't super inviting due to being muddy.

Stephanie and Micah...and others!

Alice testing out the water. 

 One of the days, we found a more desireable place to swim at La Pine State Park. The swimming area was super pretty and the water was COLD, but we had a great time there...enjoying a nice swimming area all by ourselves. Right when we arrived, the kids found this toad to play with.

 

 We went on a nice ride to the bridge in Sunriver one evening. The kids were super troopers and the trails around Sunriver are super great for taking a nice ride.

 My girls...

  We went up to Lava Butte to walk around an old volcano. It was beautiful!!!

 

 Bets and I were among the last to walk around the crater. There were so many rocks to stop and pick up!!

 Here is the end of the trail in the parking lot.

 After the Butte, we drove to the bat caves. They are really cold and dark and wet and scary...for a 2 year old. So Anne and Stephanie took the older kids and Laura and I took the youngers home. Betsey and I walked down to the entrance and I have to say it was REALLY COLD air coming from that vent behind Bets in this pic.

The kids had a lot of fun on the trip. We did a few group homeschool lessons and the kids had an awesome time playing in the yard around the condo. They are all good kids. The adults worked on projects at night, I finished binding Alice's quilt. We also did a lot of question games in our conversations...we'd ask each other questions like, "who was your first love," or "what would you do if you could do anything with your time." Stuff like that. It made for good conversation, and I really admire and enjoy the company of the three women with whom I was priveledged to share this trip.

Last motorcycle rides...

Chris came up with the idea to swap his motorcycle, that he rarely rides these days, for a tent trailor that we could all enjoy as a family. I promise, it was his idea. As much as I dislike the motorcycle hobby, I was hesitant for him to give this bike up because it was bought for us by Trident, and I never intend to buy a bike for him with our own money...so I wanted to be sure. We talked about it for a few months and he was very sure it was what he wanted. Here are the kids on a last ride. We found a great tent trailer and were able to swap straight across for the bike. YAY!

 

 

SSH Lemonade Stand

We had another lemonade stand to kick off our homeschooling year. We usually start school a tad later than the public schools, so it is fun to enjoy the nice weather and greet the Jr. High kids as they walk home from school. I always hope it will discourage their tendency to litter and otherwise damage our property, but alas, they are in Junior High and they are brain dead. It's okay, I was too at their age.

 

 

 

 

 

Back to School 2012...

I did back to school portraits for the homeschool co-op kids this fall. They turned out great. It was the first time ever that Betsey cooperated for a picture to be taken of her. I wanted to keep my lens pointed at her forever, it was so cute...writing this three months later, I have to say she has kept up the happy picture taking. I love it!!

 

 

 

I have no idea why my images that look great on my screen outside of blogger, have the worst zombie color when in blogger. It's not even all of them. I don't know what the deal is. Anyway, I did this class pic on the first day of co-op. I love these kids!

 

Zion's Camp Labor Day Weekend...

I organized a group of 8 or so families to go camping at another great church property close to home. It is about an hour drive, out by Belfair on the peninsula...or in the twists of land and islands between the mainland and the peninsula. It is on a private lake and we rented little cabins as well as the big kitchen for food prep. I did all the grocery shopping and we ate like kings. :) It was nice dividing up meal prep and having somewhere clean to cook food. Having refridgerators, etc. Yay.

I love Alice's quirky facial expressions. I think she was cold.

 

 

This is Ruby, Brooklyn and Alice. Brooklyn is a fun friend in our ward that is Ruby's age.

 

 

 

Rope swings are such fun...and such a liability these days that you can't find them anywhere. My uncle has built some really amazing ones in far flung areas on the lake in McCall, and they always get taken down. This place has several of them and the kids loved swinging out into the lake.

 They have paddle boats and canoes you can use for free. That was a fun outing for kids who weren't into swimming. It wasn't that warm out.

 As with every group we ever camp with, there is always the rides in the back of Chris' trucks. This doesn't represent all of the children that were in our group, but a chunk of them at least.

 This is the little cabin we stayed in. We had our own reserved, but there was a reservation error, and we ended up sharing with our old friends, the Benners.

 The parks around the campground have a lot for the kids to do. They played in sand, adults played volleyball, there was a fun swing area with unusual swings made out of buckets and tires and rope, big fields, etc.

 Alice doing some impressive cartwheels.

The girls had some fun training as gymnasts.

 I loved this little serving area on the side of our kitchen.

 Kids waiting for dinner...recognize Kiley to Ruby's left? They've been buddies since they were six months old!

 Betsey had fun with Molly Conner. Here they are talking on rock phones and having quite the conversation.

There was a platform in the park area with ropes to swing from.

Kelly and Lincoln

 Anna Conner is a french brain magician. She whipped out these "cinnamon bun" braids in no time on Kiley, Ruby and Brooklyn.

  We had a great time and so did the kids!!!