You may have noticed I just sort of disappeared off the face of the earth a few days ago. Well I actually did sort of vanish off the face of the earth, lol! We took a 4 day family vacation to my dad's cabin which is about 30 miles away from Bend, OR, completely out in the sticks. When I say "cabin" what I really mean is house, lol! My dad's "cabin" is fully furnished and has all the comforts of home, but we still call it "the cabin" for some reason. This city momma doesn't camp, lol! I blame my mother for this. Her idea of camping was sleeping in a hotel. My mom (who is deceased from cancer), used to say, "If God had wanted us to sleep on the ground, he would've put fur on our backs". I'm not even a religious person, but it's still one of my all time favorite quotes.
We go to my dad's "cabin" every summer and the kids really love it there. It's a nice little getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city, however, we don't have internet access at my dad's cabin! GASP! I didn't realize just how addicted to my iphone I was until I was sitting on the couch watching TV and I felt my thumbs twitching. I can't even remember the last time I just sat on the couch and watched TV without fiddling with my iphone. I have to say it was kind of nice to watch a show all the way from the beginning and not have to say, "What happened?" or "What did I miss?"
On the first full day of our trip we took the kids to Cultus Lake. We love Cultus as it's very family friendly and has a delicious restaurant that serves the best (and biggest) burgers ever! It's become a tradition to eat there every single summer. However, we did run into a little snag with our 4 year old son, M. I don't know what got into the boy but as the waiter was filling up water glasses M says, "And hurry it up". Oh boy that did not go over well with dad! LOL! Needless to say he got taken outside for a lecture. When the waiter came back to take our orders when he got to M, he said, "And hurry it up right?" We had to giggle that at least he had a sense of humor. Don't worry, we left a big tip for the waiter for putting up with our obnoxious family.
After lunch we headed out to the lake. We found a somewhat remote spot with shallow water. The only problem? It was FREEZING cold! It wasn't so bad once you got used to it, but I let out a scream when I first got in. J and I managed to make it out into the lake about waist deep. My tankini top was getting a little loose and my girls were starting to poke out the sides little (hey 5 kids and no underwire in the swim suit top equals a stressful situation). My hubby was like, "Babe fix your top. Your boobs are going to fall out". So I asked him to re-tie the back of my top for me as it ties around my neck and is almost impossible to tie it by myself. J untied the knot and started to tighten it. Just then M trips over a rock and falls so J screams and completely drops my bathing suit ties, and down goes my top all the way down to my waist. OH MY GOD! I screamed and put my hands over my boobs and ducked down into the water. Luckily my kids didn't see it as they were focused on M, but I'm praying that no one on the shore had a camera with a zoom or i'm in big trouble! So much for trying to prevent my boobage from showing!! I swear there is always something that goes wrong during every family vacation. I could probably fill this entire blog with vacation gone wrong stories, lol! Aside from the bathing suit mishap, this trip actually went pretty good. Other highlights were feeding the fish at the hatchery and the water park at Sunriver (the kids LOVED this and of course now we'll have to go every single summer).
Being out in the wilderness really forces you to ditch the technology and just come together as a family. The best part of the trip for me was driving 20 minutes alone to the nearest town for some coffee (no unfortunately there isn't a Dutch Bros out in the woods, lol). I got stuck behind some grandma going 35 in a 55, and at first my city instincts were to honk and get mad, but as I looked at the wide open road in front of me and the beautiful scenery, I realized I needed to chill and enjoy the drive. The sun was shining, my sunglasses were on, I had a white chocolate caramel mocha in my hand, and M83 playing. Pretty darn close to perfection :)
We go to my dad's "cabin" every summer and the kids really love it there. It's a nice little getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city, however, we don't have internet access at my dad's cabin! GASP! I didn't realize just how addicted to my iphone I was until I was sitting on the couch watching TV and I felt my thumbs twitching. I can't even remember the last time I just sat on the couch and watched TV without fiddling with my iphone. I have to say it was kind of nice to watch a show all the way from the beginning and not have to say, "What happened?" or "What did I miss?"
On the first full day of our trip we took the kids to Cultus Lake. We love Cultus as it's very family friendly and has a delicious restaurant that serves the best (and biggest) burgers ever! It's become a tradition to eat there every single summer. However, we did run into a little snag with our 4 year old son, M. I don't know what got into the boy but as the waiter was filling up water glasses M says, "And hurry it up". Oh boy that did not go over well with dad! LOL! Needless to say he got taken outside for a lecture. When the waiter came back to take our orders when he got to M, he said, "And hurry it up right?" We had to giggle that at least he had a sense of humor. Don't worry, we left a big tip for the waiter for putting up with our obnoxious family.
After lunch we headed out to the lake. We found a somewhat remote spot with shallow water. The only problem? It was FREEZING cold! It wasn't so bad once you got used to it, but I let out a scream when I first got in. J and I managed to make it out into the lake about waist deep. My tankini top was getting a little loose and my girls were starting to poke out the sides little (hey 5 kids and no underwire in the swim suit top equals a stressful situation). My hubby was like, "Babe fix your top. Your boobs are going to fall out". So I asked him to re-tie the back of my top for me as it ties around my neck and is almost impossible to tie it by myself. J untied the knot and started to tighten it. Just then M trips over a rock and falls so J screams and completely drops my bathing suit ties, and down goes my top all the way down to my waist. OH MY GOD! I screamed and put my hands over my boobs and ducked down into the water. Luckily my kids didn't see it as they were focused on M, but I'm praying that no one on the shore had a camera with a zoom or i'm in big trouble! So much for trying to prevent my boobage from showing!! I swear there is always something that goes wrong during every family vacation. I could probably fill this entire blog with vacation gone wrong stories, lol! Aside from the bathing suit mishap, this trip actually went pretty good. Other highlights were feeding the fish at the hatchery and the water park at Sunriver (the kids LOVED this and of course now we'll have to go every single summer).
Being out in the wilderness really forces you to ditch the technology and just come together as a family. The best part of the trip for me was driving 20 minutes alone to the nearest town for some coffee (no unfortunately there isn't a Dutch Bros out in the woods, lol). I got stuck behind some grandma going 35 in a 55, and at first my city instincts were to honk and get mad, but as I looked at the wide open road in front of me and the beautiful scenery, I realized I needed to chill and enjoy the drive. The sun was shining, my sunglasses were on, I had a white chocolate caramel mocha in my hand, and M83 playing. Pretty darn close to perfection :)
My view: Ignore the tree sap on my windshield
Family Photos:
