Sunriver Couples Trip II {May 19-23}

We started planning our 2017 couples trip before our first ever couples trip in 2016 ended.  Originally we’d tossed around the idea of Hawaii, but we had to scale down to fit it into the Reynolds travel budget, which was already maxed out with other trips they had planned.  Since their family owns a home in Sunriver we only have to pay the cleaning fee to stay there and not a one of us would ever be disappointed with time in Sunriver.  The LeeMaster’s moved to Atlanta last summer and didn’t join us this year.  So it was just us, the Reynolds and the Barlow’s (now living in Dallas).

Benjamin had a work conference in Minnesota that week so we had to tweak our dates a little from the original plan.  He flew into Bend and the Barlows flew into Portland.  So it was just Sommer, Justin and me on the drive down. We stopped at Miners in Yakima for lunch.  I should have taken a picture of the HUGE burgers Justin and Sommer got – the size of my Reece’s PB Cup shake may give you an idea of the portion sizes.

The Barlows were already at the house when we arrived so after giving them hello hugs we jumped on the bikes for the inaugural welcome to Sunriver bike ride.

We ate dinner at the Grill in the Village that evening and then enjoyed a leisurely bike ride back to the house to await Benjamin’s arrival and bunker down for some reality TV time.

Saturday morning the Twin Towers (Justin and Ben) went running with Sommer and the leftover spouses from each family went on a power walk.

Then we all geared up for a 18-mile bike ride out to Lava Lands.  Justin took this picture while we were riding which pretty much sums up how we rode all weekend.  The three ladies up front chatting and the three boys messing around in the rear.

Switched things up this year with a group picture in front of the bridge instead of on the bridge :)

View from Lava Butte

The SHARC opened this weekend, a weekend earlier than usual, in celebration of it’s fifth year.  We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sunshine and lounging around in the lazy river.  Perfect.

We cleaned up and enjoyed a yummy dinner at the Brewery and then spent the evening watching the first Guardians of the Galaxy in preparation to see the newly released movie – both were funnier than I’d imagined, but definitely more for the guys entertainment than our own.  Laura brought Sommer and I some fun presents – two custom tee shirts (she claimed that one was to make up for the last years t-shirt that was a big large) and a matching muumuus.   Super comfy tee and I love the meaning and thought she put into it.

Laura made a Boomerang clip of us showing off our muumuus.

Sunday morning we attended sacrament meeting in Bend and brunched at the McKay Cottage – a delicious find from last year.  Again we were seated outside and the food was outstanding.

The rest of the afternoon was spent visiting at the house, leisurely bike rides, polar pops and bocce ball. 

so leisurely that the guys didn’t even need hands

This was my first time playing bocce ball – and the Fletcher’s caught on quick – winning the first ever bocce ball tournament. 

Monday morning we sent the runner from each family out to clock in some miles and Laura got Benjamin and I to do a Beachbody workout with her.  Ugh!

Then it was time for the pickleball tournament – with the LeeMaster’s out of the picture Justin and I were able to reclaim the number one spot I’d earned at the Sunriver Girls trip in 2015.  Always lots of fun – these are three super competitive couples so I’m grateful they continue to allow us to be friends when we continue to win everything {wink, wink}.

Since the Reynolds drove down last year, we were up for driving down to Sunriver this year.  Since it was just the four of us coming from WA it made more sense to take Justin’s corolla down.  The day before we left home Sommer texted me and said she needed to bring something by.  She showed up at my door with two huge duffle bags.  The Barlow’s paddleboards were up in Snoqualmie and they wanted us to bring them down for them.  I wasn’t sure we’d be able to fit them and all our luggage in the car, but we managed.  Once in Oregon both the Reynolds and us decided we also wanted paddleboards and with zero sales tax it made sense to buy them there.  We had no clue how we’d fit four boards, four people and all our suitcases and bags back home, but we decided to go for it.  Justin and I had never even been on a paddle board before.  We took out the boards on Monday afternoon and thankfully we both loved them and were happy for our tax-free purchases.  We’d get those buggers home even if we had to strap them to the roof.  The float down the river was lovely.  Sommer and I shared a board and the others each had their own.

Laura went big ole’ Texas on my hair as we readied for our last evening out.  Dinner was at the local Mexican restaurant. 

Where Justin bribed Benjamin into drinking a dish of hot salsa for $4 – well earned.

Then we took one final evening bike ride, stopping near the lodge for some until-next-time photos.

Holy smokes, I love these people. Not only are these two women some of my closest friends, but our spouses love spending time together also.  We all mesh together so easily and comfortably – I think that is a rare find and I’m so grateful for it.  So much fun!

Laura and Ben were off early the next morning to make the drive to Portland for their flight back to Texas.  We cleaned up the house a bit, took one final bike ride, and then loaded up home bound with the Reynolds.

We were actually able to get everything off of everyone’s laps and didn’t have to strap anything onto the roof, but the Reynolds did have three suitcases piled between them for six hours – but we’re all proud new paddleboard owners so it was worth it!

Abigail’s First Tennis Season

This year has brought with it many changes for Abigail as an athlete.  She had to choose between soccer and volleyball this fall.  She’d played soccer since kindergarten and volleyball for only two years.  She chose volleyball and thus ended years of soccer.  Coming out of a crazy busy fall schedule she wasn’t feeling at all interested in pursuing basketball – a sport she’s played each year since second grade.  Another sport she has really excelled at.  Odds are that since she missed playing as a freshman she’ll be even less likely to give it go as a sophomore – so more than likely – thus ended years of basketball.  As the spring sports season started to gear up I tried to encourage Abigail to tryout for the tennis team.  She and I bought a little tennis lesson at a church auction two years ago and we both really enjoyed it.  She was super hesitant.  The girl likes and expects to be on top so I think that part of her hesitation was that she would be trying something new that she might not be amazing in.  At the time she also didn’t know of any of her friends trying out – a big factor for my social daughter.

We were going to miss the first two days of tryouts due to our Mexico vacation.  Abigail talked to the varsity coach before mid-winter break and explained the situation.  He was very encouraging and she left feeling like she had a good chance at making JV – he loves volleyball players and the skill set they bring onto the court.  She was excited that she had several friends also on JV with her.  She mainly played doubles with her friend Kassi (fellow volleyball player) – they were always seeded in first position.  She also played several singles matches during the season – most of which were also in a seeded position (which means her matches count for team score).

This season will forever go down as the wettest tennis season in history.  During the ten or so weeks of practices fives days a week, they only had FOUR outdoor practices - that's FOUR TOTAL outdoor practices for the entire season.   Our school doesn’t have indoor courts so when they practice indoors it’s nothing like playing on an actual court.  Some of these girls had never played tennis before so their first time on an actual court was for a match.  Crazy wet season!

Of course the rain doesn’t only affect practices, but matches as well.  We seemed to never know if I match would be cancelled until just before.  Most matches were cancelled and rescheduled – some multiple times.

These two started the season strong winning their first double match 

   

Some of the JV players following their first match with Coach Job

Coach Job asked me to take pictures of the JV team so I borrowed a zoom lens from a friend and had fun catching some action shots of all the girls.

Kassi was super pumped that Abigail won her singles match

Not sure who they had take their team photo that they printed and gave to each of the girls, but pretty sure I’ve never seen a poorer quality team photo ever.  Too bad.

At the end of April, near the end of the season, we played Newport.  Coach Job prepped the girls before by letting them know that Newport is a top team and that they shouldn’t be discouraged about losing and to just play their best.  When I arrived at the game Abigail and Kassi told me not to expect a win from them.  They were convinced they’d get trampled on.  First I was shocked when the entire Newport team – the ENTIRE team – was Asian.  Sure there are a lot of Asians in the Bellevue area, but the ENTIRE team???  Blew me away!  So much so that I had to take a video cause it was that unbelievable.

Not only did Abigail and Kassi win, they killed Newport.  I didn’t have my DSLR that day, but this picture will have to suffice (winning 8-2).

Coach Job also had Abigail play in a singles match after winning her double match.  It was an incredible game.  She was exhausted and her opponent was well matched.  I took this video of Abigail serving 40-30, second serve with the match at 7-6.

Abigail won two matches that day against one of the top ranked teams in the area.  The rest of her team didn’t fair so well. 

The varsity team has one final game after the JV season had ended.  They were down a player and asked Abigail to play with them.  She was nervous and excited.  I took her uniform down to the school and just as they were about to start the head coach found out she couldn’t play because she’d already played against that school and won.  If the other school or the league found out it could cause issues.  So she ended up not playing varsity but the fact that she was the one asked to move up is exciting.  Perhaps next year she’ll find herself a place on the varsity team.

The tennis banquet was mid-May and Coach Job raved about Abigail and Kassi’s season.  Seriously, she didn’t say nearly as much about any other players on the team.  They easily won the most matches during the season and Abigail's ability to play both doubles and singles as a freshman was impressive to both Coach Job and the varsity coach.  Abigail and Kassi were both awarded the MVP trophy for the JV team.

So proud of these two girls and amazed at their talent!  Looking forward to another great tennis season next year!

Vancouver, British Columbia {May 12-13}

Several months ago some friends reached out to us and asked if we’d be interested in going up to Vancouver, BC for the U2 concert.  The band was beginning their Joshua Tree tour in Vancouver and would be coming to Seattle two days later, but the Seattle concert was on a Sunday.  We of course said, Yes!  Several other couples ended up purchasing tickets to the concert – all of varying degrees of expensive. 

I originally thought that we’d go up with at least one of the couples, but the Olsen’s, who we had tickets with, couldn’t head up until Friday afternoon and need to head back home early on Saturday so we decided we’d drive up on our own and not be limited or tied to anyone else’s schedule. 

We stopped in Blaine, just shy of the Canadian border to enjoy some inexpensive monster-sized ice-cream cones.  Perfect breakfast!

We checked into our hotel – the Westin Bayshore (courtesy of SPG points) and relaxed for just a moment before heading out to eat lunch and bike Stanley Park.

Dude, your feet are ginormous!

We ate at little café across the street from the hotel where they served smaller sized entrees.

The Westin had courtesy bikes available for guests so we snagged a couple of those and off we went.  Stanley Park is a beautiful, easy ride.  We stopped a few times to take in the views and take some selfies.

It started to sprinkle just as we finished.  We cleaned up and then headed down to the lobby where we were ran into three other couples (who we didn’t realize were staying at the same hotel as us) and the eight of us split up into two cabs and were off to dinner.  Getting a dinner reservation for 18 people when U2 is in town wasn’t easy, but the Vernon’s were able to make arrangements for all of us to eat at The Keg.  We were super impressed when they led us downstairs to the private dining room, with our private restroom, lounge area and serving staff.

I can’t say that the food was AMAZING, but the company and experience was top notch.

We were close enough to the arena to walk over to the concert and arrived with oodles of time to wander around and get pumped up for the concert.

Mumford & Sons was the opening act and I was pleasantly surprised by how familiar I was with their music.  It was great!

U2 on the other hand was honestly a bit disappointing.  Besides saying “Hi” to Vancouver they never tried to engage or connect with the audience and when they did speak it was much too politically heavy for my tastes.  I suppose I should have expected as much.  I’d much rather just be entertained than preached to. 

The end of the concert was another major disappointment.  They closed with a song they’d never preformed before then walked off stage.  People got up and started to leave.  I was like; no this is when we cheer for them to come back out for an encore.  Where we hold our lighters (ie cell phone flashlights) up in the air and they come running out and show us why they are famous around the world.  Nope, no encore.  Just the end.  Apparently, they did perform an encore in Seattle just days later AND they sung WITH Mumford & Sons, which would have been awesome.

Anyhow… absolutely no regrets about going.  They sang many of their classic songs and it was enjoyable.  Just won’t rank as one of my favorites – which is crazy cause it was U2?!?

We woke up Saturday morning at 9am with a text from our friends that they were planning to be at Granville Island at 9:30am.  We decided we would pass on trying to meet up with everyone and just do our own thing.  Capilano Suspension Bridge Park was first on our agenda.  It was a bit pricey so it was a good thing for us to do without paying for five additional kiddos.

The Bridge is 460 feet long and 230 feet above the Capilano River.

The Treetop Adventure features multiple footbridges suspended in the trees.  Pretty cool.

We found out Justin has the wingspan of a Canadian Goose with only a 10% hunting accuracy – I have the wingspan of Great Horned Owl, which we learned has 90% success.  Sounds about right ;)

The Cliff Walk was also very cool.

We picked up some Canadian goodies at Costco before heading to Granville Island for lunch/dinner – fresh pastries, macrons, etc…  Then it was homeward bound with a quick stop for another round of ice-cream cones at the border and then Winco.  Cause it just isn’t a date without a trip to a grocery store.  A wonderful fun-filled weekend!  This was the first time we’ve left the kids overnight and everything went so perfectly at home that we had zero concerns leaving them the following weekend as well.  So grateful for such great kids!