Wednesday, August 5 {Sunriver, OR – Twin Lakes}

Another relaxing morning this morning. Justin and I went on a short bike ride with Jason and Drew and then we took a vote to decide whether or not we should head to the river again or to a nearby lake in the Deschutes National Forest for the day. It came down to a tie and it was up to Justin to decide.  Justin chose the lake which sounded great to me! We got everything ready and loaded up including some snacks and watermelon and arrived at the lake just before 1pm. Twin Lake had plenty of beach but it was more dusty than sandy which I guess is pretty typical for this area. We settled into a nice little area and spent several hours on the lake floating around and relaxing. We brought our two new hammocks and got those hung up nearby as well which was pretty picturesque. 

This was Katie’s first time paddleboarding alone and she got so good she could tow around Justin and Abigail on their lounge floaties.

We knew that there was a possibility of a storm rolling in in the late afternoon so when we started to hear thunder rumbling in the distance we decided to pack it up and head back to Sunriver. We took bets on which of us thought it would start to rain and which of us didn’t and the reward for the winners (and the same reward for the losers) was a fudge pop back at the house. It ended up dumping on our drive back. We stopped at the Circle K and picked up some polar pops which has been a quintessential Sunriver experience for Justin and I on previous couple trips here. 

Since the weather had turned we decided to have a night in.  We cooked up some frozen pizzas, a box of brownies, and selected a family movie to enjoy with some popcorn, ice cream, and brownies. It’s a little tricky to find a movie that’s appropriate and entertaining for all of our kids ages but we finally landed on Artemis Fowl which ended up being a great choice. 

Tuesday, August 4 {Sunriver, OR – Floating the Deschutes River}

We enjoyed a lazy morning this morning letting the girls and myself sleep in a bit.  We knew we wanted to float the river this afternoon but weren’t quite sure what to do this morning. In the end we decided to leave the three younger kids back at the house while the rest of us went shopping in Bend.  JK&D enjoyed some electronics time and didn’t have to sit in a hot car while some of us shopped. We actually didn’t end up finding the items we were shopping for but did pick up some groceries at Costco and enjoyed lunch at Chick-fil-A before getting back to the house to get ready for the river. We dropped Justin‘s bike off at the marina which would be the end of our float and then parked at the bridge and got all of our floatation devices ready and off we went. We brought along one extra tube since we weren’t fully confident that everything would stay inflated, but we ended up not needing it and it was a nice foot rest for me. I spent most of the time hooked up to Carly‘s paddleboard and she maneuvered us along the river.

Jason and Justin split the time on the other paddleboard hauling Drew and even Katie for the last half. 

Abigail got to fully relax on my lay down floatie from Bali. 

It was a beautiful day.  In hindsight we wish we would’ve gotten on the river a little bit earlier because there were times where the sun was low enough that it was blocked by some trees, but everyone loved it!  We dried off the floatation devices at the marina while we waited for Justin to ride his bike back to the van to pick us up.  It was funny to watch Carly let the air out of the paddleboards and watch her hair fly all over the place.

We didn’t get back to the house until nearly 8pm so it was a late dinner. Most of the kids got in the hot tub while we waited for our pasta meal from Costco to cook.  Justin and I went on a short bike ride and then we started filtering through showers since hot water at the house is pretty precious. 

 

Monday, August 3 {Sunriver, OR - SHARC}

I was excited this morning to revisit one of the breakfast places that we discovered in Bend on our last couples trip to Sunriver. Chow is a funky little restaurant near Drake Park with lots of eclectic character and amazing flavors. We waited about 15 minutes to get seated outdoors only to find out that they had a limited menu and veggie benedict that I ordered and loved last time was no longer available. I modified a regular benedict but to be honest it was just average and the prices were much higher than I remember, though that may be because we were feeding seven people today instead of just Justin and I.  We don’t eat out as a family very often so these large dining bills are a bit of a shock.  The kids also accidently ordered sides of potatoes that they thought were included with their meals.  The kids thought that today’s meal was even better than yesterday so that’s a plus. 

We were planning on going shopping after breakfast to pick up some lifejackets to use for the rest of the wee however when we saw a line to get into REI we decided to bag it and just head back to Sunriver and get ready to head to the SHARC. The third session started at 12:45pm and they limit the occupancy to 200 people so we got there 45 minutes early and were about 150th in line. Glad we didn’t get there any later! It was fun to be at the waterpark without the usual summer crowds, however they have the lazy river closed which is my absolute favorite thing to do in a waterpark, in addition they limited each session to an hour and a half which is hardly any time at all when we would typically choose to spend the entire day there.

Drew did such a great job crossing these logs

So did Justin

Justin asked Abigail to switch the laundry at our rental house from the washer to the dryer. She came upstairs and declared that there were already clothes in the dryer so we immediately assumed the guests before us had accidentally left a load of their clothes the dryer. As Justin was heading down to investigate it dawned on me that our 18-year-old daughter might be confused when faced with a top-loading washing machine when we have a front-loading machine at home. 

We dropped all of our pool gear off back at the house and then decided to check out the village. It wasn’t actually as busy as we thought so that was nice. We were able to pop in to a couple shops and check out possible souvenirs and then we treated the kids to ice cream at Goody’s. Thankfully we had a little promo still through Justin‘s credit card that saved us $15 off of our three transactions. We’ll go back one more time to fully maximize that discount and our enjoyment. Since we were already out on our bikes we decided to bike the river loop before heading home to hot tub and get cleaned up for the night. 

 

Sunday, August 2 {Sunriver, OR - Smith Rock & Alpacas}

The huge muffins at Costco are an easy breakfast item when traveling. The kids enjoyed eating them this morning before leaving for our hike at Smith Rock. When Abigail was here in June they did a short, easy hike there and it looked like something Justin and I definitely wanted to do with the family. There are a lot of different trails in the state park. Justin chose the most difficult one, appropriately called Misery Ridge Trail. 

That’s Misery Ridge Trail zig-zagging up the mountain

Even with the cooler temperatures of hiking in the late morning, it was far too hot for our families liking. The most difficult part of the trail was at the beginning when you climb up a dusty, narrow trail along the side of a mountain without any shelter from the sun. We had to take several breaks and that was not just for the young kids’ sake. It took us nearly 45 minutes to go 3/4 of a mile. 

Thankfully, we had brought with us a large container of blueberries which was the perfect reward for us to enjoy when we finally reached the top of the ridge. 

We made it!

The rest of the 4 mile hike was either mostly downhill or relatively flat along the river. It really was unique and gorgeous surroundings and well worth the strenuous effort. Thankfully we had just enough water for the family. In hindsight we should’ve brought much, much more. 

Monkey Rock

There were parts of the trail down that we pretty slick due to all the loose dust

There were some interesting nests under the ridges of this rock face, wonder what lives inside…

There was a refreshing sprinkler at the bottom of the trailhead that Justin and some of the kids enjoyed cooling off by…

We were all starving by the time we got back to the car so with a quick Trip Adviser search I was able to find a place nearby that was open and had high reviews. Since it was near closing we were easily able to find a table outside large enough for our family and we enjoyed a delicious and very late in the day brunch. 

Katie really wanted to visit the alpaca farm near the hike so we drove back there to let her have that experience. In truth I think Justin was the one who ended up enjoying the alpacas the most. That’s not to say that everyone else didn’t love it, it’s just to emphasize that Justin REALLY did love it that much. In fact he said it was the best five dollars he spent in a very long time. 

It really was fun to watch everyone have a great time feeding the alpacas and trying to catch some fun pictures of them. 

“Rosie”

They really are some bizarre, though strangely adorable, looking creatures. 

“Lun”

Everyone was pretty tired when we got back to the house. Some of us relaxed for a little bit in the hammocks, but we weren’t home too long before we decided to go on a bike ride. 

Back along the river route loop although we biked it in the reverse direction tonight. An enjoyable five miles. We had a late sacrament service today. We didn’t get around to an actual CFM lesson but we did spend a little bit of time talking about gratitude and being specific in our prayers for what we are thankful for. We spent the rest of the evening back at the house with everyone doing a little bit of their own thing – hot tubbing, working on pictures or videos, watching TV, snacking and rotating through showers.