SR part 4: Mt Bachelor

On our final full day of vacation, we took a short (25minutes) drive to Mt. Bachelor to have lunch at Scapolo's on the mountain after a chair lift ride.

The drive to the mountain was very scenic. The road leading up to the mountain was virtually flat, a biker's paradise! We saw very little traffic and a handful of bikers taking advantage of the wide bike lanes. Both Matt and I would love to take our roadbikes on that route at some point when we're sans baby. Upon getting to Mt. Bachelor, gearing and sunscreening up, we headed for the chairlift with Wee in her hiking backpack. The elevation at the base was 6,300 and we ended up mid-mountain at 7,775 feet.

Although Matt and I have done scenic summertime chair lift rides to Crystal Mountain for their sunset dinner in years past, this was far different. At Crystal, we end up with a blanket, and heavy jackets as we freeze going up and down the mountain. Anticipating a similar event, we brought some jackets and a blanket for Cade. We needed none of what we brought. It was warm and comfortable both at the base and the mid mountain level.

Cadence did really well on the chair lift and happily looked around and took everything in per normal. We kept her in her backpack so she was secure. Part of the ride she was on my lap facing me and once we got the hang of her in her backpack on the lift, we just set it next to us.

The scenery was breath taking at the mid mountain range. Unlike trips to Crystal, everything was sunny and clear and had great  visibility. We enjoyed walking around for a while and taking tons of pictures before sitting down to lunch at Scapolo's.

One of the many first's Cadence experienced on this trip was her first real encounter with snow, albeit old and mostly melted. If given the chance, I'm sure she would have put it in her mouth but we didn't let her play that much. She did let me put her feet in it and she "jumped" a bit as well as felt it with her hands. We also got to see a sled dog team that gave summer rides. We passed on the ride but happily looked at the many dogs, which Cade loved.

We're happy to have had the opportunity for such a fun trip but tomorrow we head back to reality. Matt heads back to the grind at the PD on Monday and I'm happy to start my new job on Tuesday.

Until our next adventure...

SR part 3, "hiking"

Today we went hiking, or attempted to.

After parousing Bend's outlet malls (for those wondering, very similar to North Bend, WA's outlet malls, just TAX FREE!), we headed to Smith Rocks to do some hiking and possibly see the "Monkey Face" rocks.

It was 80 degrees when we started off with zero humidity so it made for a very hot hike. Not my favorite. Poor Matt eventually ended up with not only Cadence in the back pack, but her diaper bag that I initially carried. I wasn't adequately hydrated for the hike so I wasn't much fun to hike with.

Per her norm, Cade fell asleep in her back pack for most of the hike, half waking up occassionally to drop her bink, cry a few times, eat some cheerios and then go back to sleep. We hiked for around 2 hours and saw some gorgeous scenery as well as some of the rock climbing routes that Matt used to take when he was in college. I learned something valuable today, rock climbing isn't and never will be my "thing". Too high up, too dirty, too expensive, time consuming and it would totally wreck a manicure. No thank you.

SR part 2

Days in Sunriver have been great! The weather's been spectacular, likely mid 80's.

Its been nice to be away from home and not worry about needing to be "here" or "there" and I know Matt's enjoyed the time off work. We've had relatively mellow days, waking up between 830-1030, really whenever Cade decides. We've kept the "we're on vacation" mind set and have let her regress a little from her routine. Recently she's been sleeping through the night like a champ but we think she's been getting cold because each night we've been here, she's gotten up and I've been too tired to do anything so I've just brought her to bed with us. She has pretty much immediately gone back to sleep so we wake up in the morning to her crawling on us, poking our faces, counting our teeth, and pulling hair.

Cade's gotten better about her bike seat, only fussing sometimes for getting her helmet on, and has learned to just go to sleep in it when she's tired. Today, I grabbed a giraffe for our ride and it worked like a charm and she slept the whole way to our destination.

Yesterday we visited the South Pool in the morning and went riding to the marina in the evening. Matt decided that he wanted to rent a canoe and paddle down the river, so that was today's big adventure. We bought Cadence her first life jacket, and as cute as she is in it, its bulky and she hates it. She spent a majority of our 2+ hour canoe ride asleep, some in my arms, some in the boat. Other moments she fussed since she had no where to get down and play, and get her jacket off.  She happily splashed her feet in the water. During the canoe ride she also had her first encounter up close and personal with some ducks, it turns out that they have a shared interest in Cheerios. After paddling down the river to the take out point, we boarded an old school bus for the ride back to our bikes. It was entertaining be on the bus since we haven't driven anywhere in a few days, most everything here is a 5 minute bike ride away. Once back to our bikes, we loaded a very sleepy baby back into her bike seat for the short ride back. We had a mellow afternoon, letting Cade play with toys and have lunch before hitting the pool again.

Needless to say, she's exhausted from all the excitement and she's sound asleep in her pack n play. There's just too much to see and do in Sunriver for her!

Although the trip has been great, it'll be nice to see family and friends when we come home. GL, we're home on Sunday! :)

SR (Sunriver): part 1 of ???

Summer vacation has finally arrived, and by vacation, I refer to getting out of state. Not quite the Hawaiian vacation that my mom and Betsy just returned from, not that I'm jealous or anything, but a vacation none the less.

This entry is being typed from sunny Sunriver, Oregon!

We made the 8 hour trek here yesterday with relatively few (just 2) stops. This is technically Cadence's second trip, but first out of state. When she was 10 weeks old we drove to Spokane for Joe and Jen's wedding.

I'm often in awe of what a good baby she is. I've been told time and time again what a little terror I was, and often continue to be, but she's awesome. She's happy 99.9% of the day and doesn't really fuss too much. The car trip was no exception. 8 hours in car seat is an awfully long time and she dozed for part of the ride and played with me for the rest. Sitting in the backseat with her is pretty fun. She snacked in between games of peek-a-boo, and her new favorite game, pulling mama's hair. (not my fave). She is pretty content looking out the window and just snuggling with a giraffe and bink. We did give her a car seat reprive for a diaper change and some lunch but didn't want to risk her not wanting to get back in, so it was quick.

After a long day in the car, we arrived at our home through the 21st, 9 Deer Lane. http://www.benningtonproperties.com/deer9/deer9.htm. Its a really cute little rental house/cabin. So far our favorite parts of the house are the BBQ and the hot tub. Cade has her own "room" in the living area where we've set up the pack n play.

This is my second time to Sunriver, although my memories from my last trip don't serve me too well, I think I was 11. Sunriver is in central Oregon and is a cutesey little Whistler-esque town. 2 pools, 33 miles of paved and flat bike trails. They're building a water park as well. The houses in this area come equipped with bikes, and by bikes, I mean beach cruisers. Its pretty fun riding them around, although braking with my feet is something I haven't done in 15 years. The gearless bike is also a far cry from Matt and my roadbikes!

Day 1 has been relatively mellow. Fellow KPDers, Kevin and Christa were visiting family in Bend and came to visit us. We strolled around the village and had some Mexican for lunch (didn't hold a candle to El Toreador, but nothing does), had ice cream and walked back to our little place to chat about police scuttlebutt. I guess Sunriver's the "it" place for PD families right now, including Kevin and Christa, we're the 3rd PD family to visit this area within about a 2 week period. Some other PD friends are coming next week but we'll have just missed them.

Handyman Matt has surprised me with his engineering skills as he bolted and tied, yes tied, Cade's baby seat to one of our beach cruisers. I was skeptical when I heard about the tying, but it actually works well. Cade doesn't mind her baby seat, but unexpected bumps don't thrill her, infact, she cried real tears about them on our bike ride tonight. That being said, she hasn't had normal naps the last 2 days so I think some of her frustration is simply exhaustion.

For your viewing pleasure, I give you, pictures from Sunriver biking, day 1, and I leave you with this final thought: Beach cruisers, better for your posture and your posterior.