Wow, where has the time gone? How is it that it is Sept. 2nd already? Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day before getting back to work and school. We actually don't start school until tomorrow--well at least Hannah does. Justin will be in Kindergarten but actually won't be going until Thursday. It will be so great to have he and Hannah in the same school. They will be able to walk up together and then I will pick him up at 11:30 when he is done. At least that's the plan. Two doors down there is a boy that was in Hannah's class last year and is this year as well, and his sister will be in Justin's class, so we should be able to get the 4 of them to walk up together.
Before summer ended, we did finally do a summer vacation. We hadn't gone anywhere all summer, which is unusual since we usually take a trip or two to the Coast with the kids (Dale and I went but left the kids at home). Anyway, we went to Sunriver for a week with our friends the Davisons. We went there with them last year but for only a weekend and said then that we needed at least a week to be able to do all we wanted to do without feeling so rushed. We definitely packed a lot into our week and it was busy but it was also relaxing. Before going, I had been having lots of headaches and just feeling stressed, but those all went away while we were gone and really haven't come back so far.
Besides just hanging out at the house we rented, riding bikes, playing base tennis (baseball using tennis balls and rackets), playing in the hot tub (one of the kids' favorite activities), playing the Wii and going to the park, the other main things we did were go to the pool a couple days, visit nearby Lava Butte, go on a horse trail ride and do a float trip down the Deschutes from one end of Sunriver to the other.
The pool was the main priority of the kids right when we got there. We went the day after we got there and the kids all jumped right in--well except for Owen. He is my little water baby, so I was surprised when Dale tried to put him in the kiddie pool and after initially diving right in but realizing it was deeper than he was used to, he freaked out. It took awhile but eventually he did warm up to the water and was splashing and kicking all over the place. We went another day to the pool that was closer to our house but we all decided we didn't like it as well. It was smaller and not as fun and the water was much colder, so we ended up going to the other pool again. The weather started to cool off a little then, so that was the extent of our pool going. Thankfully, the hot tub seemed to keep them occupied enough in the water, so they didn't bug us constantly to go again because it was pretty expensive for us all to go.
Lava Butte is a cinder cone between Bend and Sunriver. Dale and I had driven by it numerous times but never stopped. We're definitely glad we did this time. There's a little visitor center showing the history of the area, but the main part is the vast lava field with all the jagged black lava rock and the cinder cone, which looks like a gigantic version of the many mole hills we have in our backyard right now. We did a hike through the lava field. The highlight for the kids was seeing chipmunks (or chipmunkeys as Owen called them) that would eat right out of their hands. We also drove to the top of the cinder cone where they have a fire lookout. The view was amazing. It was cloudy that day, but we could still make out Mt. Hood to the north and of course all the nearby Central Cascade Mts. On a clear day, you would be able to see north to Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams and south to all the mts. around Crater Lake. Dale and I want to go back on a clear day.
South Sister, Broken Top, Middle Sister and North Sister from left to right
Chipmunkey
Hannah and Maya
Owen having fun 
Owen having not so much fun while we tried to get a family photo--these quick mood changes, which we attribute to being 2, happened quite often this trip. 
Heather and I took Hannah and Maya on a 1/2 hour horseback trail ride at the Sunriver stables. Hannah is becoming much more interested in horses and was excited about this. Other than the pony ride at the fair and one she did at her old school, she has never really ridden a horse. It ended up being just the 4 of us with our guide on the ride. It was a pretty slow, uneventful ride, but the girls had fun. Hannah's horse, Mel, actually liked to to stop and eat all along the way, so Hannah had to struggle with getting his head up to keep going.
Cowgirl Hannah on Mel
Cowgirl Maya on Julio
As far as the float trip, that was an interesting afternoon. It was the last full day we spent there and we rented a raft for each family. It was a 6 mi. trip and we had 4-1/2 hours to be off the water. We had no idea it would take so long--we actually did it much quicker probably due to the fact that Owen flipped out after not being on the water very long and we just wanted to make it to the end as soon as possible. It started out fine enough with Dale, Hannah, Maya, Owen and myself in one raft and Denton, Heather and the boys in the other raft. Owen seemed to enjoy it at first, although I could tell right away that he was tired (he pretty much missed his nap most days) and I was hoping he'd go to sleep right away, but he hung on. He enjoyed seeing a deer along the shore and feeding a duck that kept following our boat (I wonder if it was because of the numerous Ritz crackers we kept throwing to him), but eventually he got beyond tired and no longer wanted to be contained in the lifevest or in the raft. If we didn't have a good hold on him a couple times, he would've hurled himself into the water. Eventually, Denton and Heather were nice enough to take all the kids into their raft (despite the 5 person limit), so Dale and I could try to get Owen calmed down. Dale held Owen while I futilely rowed--not really futilely but I kept getting caught in side currents and spinning us in circles. Ahh, good times. Finally, Owen did go to sleep and we were able to just lay him down in the middle of the raft, and then we had a nice peaceful float for the last 1/2 hour or so. He even stayed asleep while we maneuvered to the shore and got out and picked him up to get on the van to take us back to the marina. If the road hadn't been so bumpy and the van so loud, he would've stayed asleep. He was out. Thankfully, he woke up happy. The other kids had fun, though, and I think would have more fun if we were able to stop at some of the beaches along the way and play in the water--some even had rope swings. If we do it again, we be able to plan a little better.
The Davison raft
Dale and Owen chillin' before his breakdown (Owen's that is)
Dale can finally paddle in peace. Owen is asleep underneath his vest and all the towels
All in all, it was a very fun trip and a good way to wind down the summer. We look forward to doing it again.
Some other parting shots:
The deer were numerous. Owen's favorite thing about the trip was the animals. He was especially obsessed with the baby deer. This was a mama that had two fawns that came right up to the front porch. At one point, the kids actually fed the deer from their hands.
Owen in a happy moment playing with brother's Power Rangers
One of the kids' favorite activities, although Hannah is putting on her li'l miss attitude face. The boys especially like to take their action figures in there and scuba dive for them.
Justin would not wear the nice shirt I wanted him to.
Justin did not go until Hannah's 2nd day of school
I can't believe they walk to school together now!
I still have more paper to do 3 or 4 more projects and hope to work on them soon. You can go to 
