First Family Vacation

We just spent a wonderful week together as a family on vacation in Oregon. Sunriver, Oregon to be exact. Cattlemens owns a home up there and as a perk for their managers they allow us to use it for vacations. It was so NICE to get away. We had a blast! We just relaxed, played games, played with Wesley, saw the sights, and of course Levi fished! There are many mountain lakes and river to entertain Levi so every day he went fishing.

I guess I should first start telling you about the the trip up... oh my was it LONG. The days prior to our trip Wesley got some weird virus, had a high fever, didn't feel well. That was the sickest he has been. It was hard to see him so miserable, also hard to pack when all he wanted to do was be on my lap getting loves. So of course I loved on him. I got very little sleep the 2 nights before we left. We drove to Redding and left from there. On our way up to Oregon I was like "...Maybe I should find the directions...?" we kept driving north since Oregon is north. Finally we found them when we were in Ashland. Well we were suppose to take the Weed 97 exit... oops. We had to go to Medford and cross over. That alone added about 2 hrs to our trip. It was a beautiful drive though, so at the moment we were not upset. It was just gorgeous. We were so excited to finally come across Klamath Falls that on our way out of the town Levi says" Oh I should have gotten gas". So then we were on the search for an open gas station. There would be huge signs saying "FUEL" then we'd get there and they were all closed up. I was prayin, Levi was driving. We finally found someone to ask. He said our best bet was the next town up, mind you we have already driven further than Levi has every gone on his tank, when he did run out of gas! The guys response to us was "Well it is 7 o clock..." We were like what? He goes on to explain these small towns close up shop earlier and since they pump your gas you are out of luck. He said we would have to stay the night if we didn't make it. Well we made it. His tank took more gas than the factories stated capacity. The gas station attendant said " I don't know what you were driving on." My response was "Prayers". We then had to feed Wesley and let him walk around a bit. We were still 2 hrs away from our destination. Finally we got there, our trip up took 8 hrs total. If we would have driven straight through it would have only been 7 hours from Sacramento!!! We even had a head start. Some of you might be wondering no fighting and no one was agree over all the bumps in the road. We were just happy to be there and were good sports about it.

Over the course of the next few days we visited some waterfalls, hung out, shopped in Bend, and fished at East Lake (there was still snow). My sisters in law came up for a few days to join us. We all decided to go horse back riding. This was my first time riding a horse. My bottom was a tad bit sore... well a lot sore later. We had fun. Minutes before mounting our horses it was hailing! We bundled up and hopped on. Luckily we had great weather for the ride, then it hailed again when we were leaving.

We also went to the "Balloons Over Bend" event. The balloons were suppose to lift off at 6:30 am. So I woke everyone up, got Wesley and myself ready to go. We were there by 6:20 to see the distant sky full of balloons, most of them already left. As we walked up we saw one lift off, then there was just one more and they were done. I was a little disappointed because I wanted to see more balloons. We did get to see one balloon get fully inflated as a display that was pretty crazy. Hot Air Balloons are huge. I didn't realize how large they really were. I got some great photos though. So for me, it was worth it.

Wesley really enjoyed his first vacation. He was a good sport about the lack of naps, car rides, and different food. He loves his Auntie Deanna, he just laughs at her... he was unpacking her stuff so that she wouldn't leave. He learned to say "Guck" (duck), all other birds and animals are still "Goggies". We are working on it. I actually bought him a book with all sorts of animals so maybe he was learn some more names.

As for us, Levi and I relaxed watched movies, played domino's... I finished my book, he caught fish. We were sad to leave. We were up there for 8 days. We needed that vacation. When we got home we had some messages for Levi regarding an internship. Well he got the job! He starts Monday. He is excited. He also got his grades when we returned. I am very proud of him A, A, -A, +B! Good huh! Yay Levi!!! It is nice to see all his hard work paying off with good grades and a new job. I am a little sad though. Usually we hang out a lot during the summer. Summer is our time, we've been living on a school schedule for 7 years. So for this to be the first summer of real jobs, I am going to miss my Levi time! But on the other hand he will be home each night for dinner. So I guess I better get some new dinner recipes... This could get interesting. (oh ya, Wesley hates the camera now, he won't look or cries... come on kid, give in. The camera is not going away!)