Vacation

We arrived in Sunriver yesterday evening around 6:30 pm.  It was good to get here before the crowds.  And let me tell you, there are now crowds.  But we don't mind.  At the last minute our friend Mark was unable to come, so we brought my mom instead.  This enables us to have a bit more freedom.  See below.  :-)

Erik and I started our day with a sunrise walk at about 6:15 am.  We grabbed our coffee and walked over to check out the new bike path and construction site for the next great thing in Sunriver - SHARC.  The Sunriver Homeowners Aquatics and Recreation Center is going to be amazing.  Even in its current state of half finished it impresses.  We are so excited for this to be completed next summer that we are thinking of coming for an entire week with the boys for the first time ever.  It's that cool.

After our walk, we arrived home to fully awake and cereal fed children.  Considering that it was all of 46 degrees outside and not quite 7:15 am, we decided against sending them outside to play.  Instead we plugged in a Mighty Machines video from the library.  Eighty-one minutes later, the temperature was nearly sixty in the full sun, so out we went to show the boys some real life mighty machines.

Interestingly, although the construction site was fully operational, they were WAY more interested in the brand new outdoor basketball court.  We probably spent fifteen minutes there while the boys explored it and played follow the leader along the fresh, white lines.

 Paul wanted to touch the net.  Daddy helped.

 This was so cute to watch.

 I seriously could have enjoyed this sweetness all day.

When the basketball lines had all been walked, it was time to earnestly check out the construction.  I think it was Daddy who convinced the boys that they should move as many rocks as possible inside the fence.  It didn't take much persuasion.  The boys were convinced that they were helping.

 Hard at Work

 ROCKS!  Paul looks serious because he is serious about rocks.

Eventually, one of the machines came close enough to the fence to be irresistible to Paul. It was pretty cool.

The money shot.

After that we headed back to the cabin for some snack.  On the walk back, we all saw a grasshopper, prompting Erik to pull out his bug catching net from childhood.  It's a bit big for the boys still, but Paul was pretty jazzed to try it out once.

 Just...

 like...

 THAT!

We had thought we might visit the pool today, but the temperature just wasn't warm enough.  Instead we went over to the river for a little bit of rock throwing.  Again with the rocks.

Paul was pretty tired after awhile.  Did I mention he woke up at 5:50 am this morning?  So, he and Daddy sat by the river, listening to God's Quiet Things, an idea we stole from a book with the same title.  If you've never read it, you should check it out.  We use it as a family to encourage the boys to listen to the sounds of God's creation around them.  Today we heard ground squirrels, the wind, and a variety of birds.  Pretty amazing activity for a four year old. 

 Listening

Looking

Those were pretty much the outings for the day.  The boys spent the afternoon playing in the area around the cabin.  I took a nap.  Erik and I also headed into Bend to buy more fruit, because I left most of it at home.  I also forgot a pair of jeans and more than two pairs of shorts for myself.  See the previous post if you are wondering why.  Regardless, it's Labor Day Weekend and the outlet mall was crazy with sales.  No problem.

I used the BBQ here for the first time.  Pretty fancy.  I made Cajun Grilled Pork Chops.  They were astoundingly good.  Both children completely refused to eat them.  Oh well.  Keeps the grocery bill smaller.  The boys passed out early, having skipped nap.  I, too, am headed to bed soon.  Erik may or may not game until midnight.  He's allowed.  He's on vacation.  :-)