Oregon 2013

We just got home from our first out of state family vacation of the year!  We ventured up to Bend, Oregon to visit my sister and her family for a few days.

We left super early Tuesday morning, around 2:30 a.m.  Our plan was to leave early so that Tyke could sleep through most of the twelve hour drive.  Well by the time we made all of our stops for fuel, food and stretching our 12 hour drive ended up being closer to 14!  We had a good long stop in Vale and Burns Oregon.  Tyke was a good little traveler but enjoyed getting out of his car seat every chance he got.  We got to Jo's place late that afternoon and Chad went with my Dad to help on the ranch while Tyke and I relaxed with the girls.  I was so excited to see my nieces but needless to say Sophie wasn't that thrilled to see me.  She kept pushing me in the back and saying "get out!"  She's a sassy little thing for sure!  That night we had a good dinner of BBQ chicken sausage, corn on the cob and strawberries.  It was a very summery meal and hit the spot.

Wednesday morning we got up and ready and headed to the Sisters fairgrounds.  This years annual Robertson Ranch Jackpot was moved from the ranch to the fairgrounds because it hasn't gotten so big.  We spent probably a good 4 hours there watching bull doggers compete and I got to be the official photographer.  I had no clue really what I was doing but I think I got some pretty sweet shots!

Chad and I were getting hungry and there was no food at the venue so we loaded up our fam and headed into Sisters to see what we could find for a quick snack.  We ended up getting street tacos for me and a burrito for Chad at a little taco shop.  We got our food to go and went and found a park to picnic at.  While there Stephanie and Seth and fam showed up.  We had a good long visit while their kids played on the playground and then we headed back to the fairgrounds for the awards ceremony and after party.  The after party went well.  Jo and Alex had it catered with yummy Hawaiian food (if you ever visit Bend, visit the Aloha Cafe...AWESOME food!) so I was in heaven.  We ate and hung out for a while.  Grandpa Terry gave Tyke his first taste of an ice cube.  Little guy thought that was pretty cool! (no pun intended....)  There was a live auction to raise money for a couple of cowboy crisis funds.  They raised around $3K from it!  After the auction the awards were announced and then we went back to Jo's house.  We spent the evening outside enjoying the weather and roasting marshmallows for s'mores.  It was perfect!

Thursday morning we got up and ventured south to Crater Lake!  We bought Subway sandwiches (Oregon Subway's have gluten free!) snacks and drinks and started our long drive.  It was about an hour and a half to get there.  We took the north entrance and stopped at the first overlook to check out the view.  It was so pretty, just like we remembered (Chad and I visited Crater Lake on our honeymoon).  I think the north entrance was a little more scary of a drive than the south but it was a really pretty drive.  We headed on south to the visitors center and took a good long break to have a picnic and check out the souvenir shop and then we headed back to Bend.

Chad and I got a hotel room for that night and Friday night.  We checked in and I took Tyke swimming with Brooke and Callie Jo.  We swam for about an hour and then got cleaned up and headed back to Jo's for a pizza party.  We took Tyke back to the barns to check out the baby horses.  His first view of a real live horse!  Tyke had a lot of first on this trip....  After pizza we started up the fire pit and roasted s'mores again!  

Friday we did a little shopping and then headed back to the hotel to do some major swimming!  We had quite the gang in the pool.  It was so much fun!  The more Tyke plays in the water the more he likes it.  He now kicks and splashes like crazy compared to his first swimming experience in St. George.  We swam for an hour or so and then called it quits so we could all get ready to go to the Sisters Rodeo!  Tyke's first rodeo!!!  Alex was competing and we were all excited to go and support him.  The rodeo was pretty good.  Tyke paid more attention to his toes than the actual rodeo.  He also tried his hardest to get a hold of the pink cowgirl hat in front of him.  The wind picked up about 20 minutes into the performance and got bad enough we opted to put Tyke back in his seat so he could be protected from it.  Chad and I eventually decided to just leave.  It was getting close to the end of the rodeo and we didn't want to fight the traffic. Also, it was time for Tyke to eat.  On our way out of the fairgrounds Tyke fell asleep so we decided to detour on the way back to our room and get an ice cream.

After much debate all of us Utahn's decided that it would be best if we headed back home on Saturday instead of Sunday.  We were all sad to go and leave our Oregon girls a day early but it worked out for the best for the kids.  Before leaving Bend we all did a little shopping and then went to lunch at the Black Bear Diner.  The kids got spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa and each got a stuffed teddy bear.  After lunch we said our goodbyes, which are always so hard to do, and we headed for Idaho.  Stephanie and Seth made it to Twin Falls and stopped for the night.  Chad and I and my parents made it to Boise and called it quits for the day.  We definitely didn't make good time like my sister and her family but we had had to make a few stops to feed the baby which slowed us down quite a bit.

The view from Heather Jo's back yard!  

Our stay in Boise wasn't the best but it was cheap.  We shared a room with Grandma and Grandpa and to be honest it was lots of fun.  We ate dinner at an expensive steak house.  The prices about made me choke!  Luckily the manager of the place let us order off of the sports grill menu which was more our price range and taste.  The guys got burgers and my mom and I shared a huge plate of nachos.  Our room was small but it worked perfect for the night.  We all stayed up late, except for Tyke, and watched TV and talked.  It was nice.

Sunday morning we got up and hit the road.  We decided to get breakfast at McDonald's in Mountain Home.  Chad and I were the lead car and took the wrong exit which took us way into town to a McD's.  If we would have stayed on the freeway until the next exit we would have saved about 30 minutes by hitting the McD's right off the freeway.  Live and learn.  Anyway, while we were eating Tyke decided it would be a good time to cause a major blow out!  It was awful and we ended up throwing away clothes and tearing apart his car seat before we left.  We made a quick stop at the Walmart for extra diapers (we cut it close and had 2 left by the time we got home!  We could have survived without the Walmart trip but that's a chance we weren't willing to take.)  Once we got on our way we stopped in Twin Falls to check out Shoshone Falls.  It was pretty awesome and I'm glad we got to do so much sight seeing on this trip!

We made it home around 6 p.m. and were so glad to finally be home (we were also glad the trip home was split up between 2 days, man it took forever!).  We quickly unpacked, did laundry and called it a night!  It was such a great week spent away and with family!  We're so glad Heather Jo and Alex invited us up to visit and can't wait to make it back again!

Tyke was such a great little traveler!!!  He hardly fussed at all but he definitely let us know he was in the back seat not happy about 24+ hours of car seat time!  Enjoy this little video of him protesting.  He did this for a good 45 minutes!  As long as he couldn't see the camera he would growl, as soon as he spotted it he stopped.  Such a goofy kid we have!  Love you Tyke!!!!