Family time on the Ranch

Generally we have a yearly family rafting trip, this year we found out that Max's Uncle Jay wouldn't be able to go due to some deadlines with building his ranch house in central Oregon. Jay basiccally told Max and his brother that they could head up the trip if they wanted. Max thought of the idea of having the family come to the Ranch house and help with some of the projects instead of rafting. I got excited about this since we could take Edwin with us. It was a bummer since it was going to be Miles' first rafting trip but we were super excited about the fun we could have on the ranch. Also, we found out that Max's cousin from McCall Idaho was coming with his family and we rarely get to see them!

We arrived Sunday evening and met up with Max's cousin's family and Lisa, Emmett and Annette. Brent and the older boys joined a little later. The Ranch house is not finished yet so there wasn't running water or electricity so it was pretty much more camping. But there was a structure that provided shelter so we found a room (with no walls) and set up camp in there. Jay arrived a little later and showed us how to use the toilets and some electricity. We all slept well enjoying the cool desert breeze coming in the windows. The next morning, Lisa, Krystel, and I played with the little kids while the men and big kids went out on the ATVs to find the baby cow on Jay's property. There is a motherless baby calf that gets to be bottle fed.

In the meantime, the ATVs proved to be an awesome playground while parked.

Edwin took a nap and I was able to prepare lunch in peace with my big boys off with Max. It was quite the relief since an unfinished house is far from baby friendly for a 1 year old!

 After Lunch we all went out to where the baby calf was and brought her bottle. The kids took turns feeding her. Miles rode on my ATV and screamed the whole time because he wanted to be with Max so eventually he switched with August.

 Charlie seemed to be quite the thrill junkie and begged for the ATVs every waking moment.

Uncle Jay had this nice taxerdermied bear he liked to sneak into different places to surprise people. Miles and Edwin thought it was so funny!

In the later afternoon, we drove/rode ATVs to something called big tree..and it was exactly like it sounded. It was a big tree. And there was also this crumbling cabin where I naturally had to take a million photos of Edwin and Emmett. Emmett was always checking on Edwin and giving him hugs! (Sidenote, the day Emmett was born was the day I found out I was pregnant with Edwin)

And once we got to big tree...we needed to stop and smell it. 

 And then we went back to the ranch, had a lasagna dinner and got to enjoy the lovely desert sunsets.

The next morning we scrounged up a breakfast and then made our way to the painted hills. We were told it was one hour and 5 minutes away (on dirt/gravel bumpy roads) it ended up taking over 2 hours. Pretty worth it though.

 It was beautiful, I would have loved to spend more time here but it was so hot and we had a lot of kids (and some elderly) with us so we made our way to a little oasis of a picnic area.

It was the prefect shaded green patch with sprinklers, so we ate an amazing lunch from Lisa and then ran wild in the sprinklers! (I mostly supervised)

Edwin tried his first Cheeto, and boy was he thrilled about it!

Miles had already had his ration of chips but River Grandma Annette kept sneaking him more Doritos 

And then we made our way to a perfect little bend in the John Day River. This was really our favorite part of the whole trip. The water was slow and the river was pretty shallow and it was so warm. I took a couple photos at the beginning then put the camera away and played. We had all sorts of floaties and we were able to wash our hair for the first time in awhile and the boys loved it. Edwin was the first to start whining and we then decided to go home. Max and I could have stayed for a lot longer.

We made our way back and found that another large group of the family had finally arrived. Krystel made an excellent taco dinner! Max then set up a projector movie in the great room, Edwin went to sleep the boys stayed up to watch the movie but Miles only made it halfway through. After the movie, we put the boys in bed and went out to look at the stars. It was partly cloudy and smoky so we really couldn't see that many stars but it sure was nice outside. We then attempted to sleep but with a full house with no walls, it was near impossible.

The next morning we packed up all our stuff and ate breakfast. Max still wanted to help Jay with some house projects so I was fully supervising the kids, which can be stressful at a non kid friendly house. Thankfully Brent took my big boys on the ATV to go feed the baby cow again. I followed Edwin around making sure he didn't touch anything dangerous. Max worked for awhile and when he found a stopping place, we took the boys on a quick little ATV ride where both big boys got a chance to drive then we jumped in the car and went home. We are super excited for Jay's property. He has great plans and it is going to be an amazing getaway!

We had a good drive home and got home with plenty of daylight so we were able to completely clean out the car, start some laundry, go to a car wash and vacuum the inside, (back to back camping trips were making us feel super unorganized and messy by the end, so this was super satisfying)

Anyway, we had a ton of family fun but we've been so excited to get back into our normal routine before school starts in a couple weeks.

Fishermen's Bend

We got to go to our family reunion camping trip at Fishermen's Bend at the end of July. This is the main campsite we have gone to every year since I was a teenager. It has excellent group sites and so much to do. Once Max got home from work on a Thursday, we made our way to the campground and got there in time to set up our tent and put the kids to bed. Night one was rough for Edwin, but we all survived. The next morning We had a slow morning eating breakfast, riding bikes and playing on the playground. (I didn't really take many photos in and around our campsite.) Edwin took an early nap (before the tent was roasting) After lunch we made our way to Detroit Lake. to play for a couple hours. The boys were all fans of the water fights and floating around. Thank goodness for them finally feeling more confident in the water! And really the best part of vacations is all the time we get with Max. The boys were eatin' it up!

After some hours at the lake and some sleepy boys, we made our way back. had some hammock and side walk chalk time then we were in charge of dinner for the night. We made some quick Chili dogs, cleaned up, then set up for a family bike ride! This is really our favorite part. There are so many good places to ride our bikes around the campground and we love that we can all go as a family!

 Off course we made some stop to throw rocks and splash in the water. And daddy gave some of his rock-skipping lessons!

It was just beautiful, the pictures don't do it justice!

 The next day we had another slow morning, once the boys were up, they were out riding around the campground or playing on the playground. Max removed Miles' training wheels and he took off like a champ! He's been doing great! Eventually it got hot, so this time we made our way to the watering hole area along the river.

 After time at the river, we played around camp, ate dinner, then got ready for another bike ride.

 Miles held his own! I was super proud of his confidence!

 And then there was the last day! We still wanted to get in as much fun as possible. So there was plenty of bike riding! We packed up all our gear then made our way to the river to try out some fishing!

Edwin was done by this time. We had tried to plan on leaving in time for his nap so he could sleep in the car but we just didn't want to leave yet. 

While one kid was fishing, (we only have one fishing pole and it belongs to Charlie) the other was hunting for crawdads and building rock towers, but mostly it was me trying to get my kids to do those things with me. 

We then made our way back to the car and started our trip out to Max's Uncle Jay's property for our next family reunion!

It was such an enjoyable and relaxing trip and we can't wait to go next year!