The first week of January our little family set off for a big adventure!
Our December was a wonderful one, but so insanely busy. I felt totally frazzled for most the month, and we all just needed some time to slow down and reconnect as a family.
Some friends of ours have a home in
Sunriver and rented it to us at an
incredibly reasonable price. We were able to load up our van, make the four hour drive, and stay there for three nights and four days! It was just what we needed to fight the post-Christmas blues and start the year off together.
Right???
Once we got there we were greeted by tons of snow!
Personally, I love the snow. I love how quiet it makes everything. I think it's so pretty and I love playing in it and also bundling up and being cozy inside while it snows outside.
David, on the other hand, despises does not care for snow.
But he does care for me so he put on his happy face and was a trooper our entire vacation =). He's a good man.
Not only did we have plenty of snow play outdoors during our adventure, but we also enjoyed a lot of indoor play as well. Since Christmas had just been the week prior, they had a few new toys they brought over with us. We played A LOT of cars that week...
As much as I love the snow, I think our newest family member may love it even more...
Abbey and Luke were happy to have a new house to explore, and enjoyed jumping on their mattresses and running amuck in what they quickly deemed "our Adventure House"
Bundling up two two-year-olds to go out in the snow is not a task for the impatient, and I SO do not envy you all who live in colder temps and have to do this every time you leave the house!
But they sure do look cute in their snow gear...
Our Dory romping in shoulder-high snow...
Our little family...
Our friends also loaned us some sleds, which proved fun for not only sledding, but also as a delightful way for Luke and Abbey to enjoy the scenery without the pesky task of actually walking...
I was so thrilled Luke and Abbey liked the snow. This was really their first time being around so much of it, and I had mentally prepared myself for it to be a big fail- just in case. But they had a blast, which made it even easier for me to have a blast as well =).
Our little "Frosty"...
Sunriver has a beautiful
Aquatic Center which features an indoor pool and play area as well. We went there one evening to check it out. The kids loved it!
One of our days there we headed to
The Village to walk around for a bit. Abbey and Luke loved watching the ice skaters...
We visited several of the stores...
( I don't know if you can see Luke's expression in this shot, but he's frowning and telling us "that bear looks angry, I want him to be happy".)
Of course, no trip to Sunriver would ever be complete without a trip to
Goody's! It was way too cold for ice cream, but we did buy some candy =).
We were blessed with such beautiful scenery and easy, quiet days to play together. I wish I could put into words how much it filled my heart to just romp around in the snow together, completely unaware of what time or even what day it was. We made so many fun memories on this trip.
One morning, while out on an "Adventure Walk", Abbey got a little timid while walking through some rough snow and requested some help getting through it. Lucas piped right up with "I'll help you sister", and walked over, took her hand in one of his and placed his other hand on her elbow, and assisted her over the rough patches. Melt. My. Heart.
Like all Good Things, our trip eventually had to come to an end. We packed up our van and headed back home. Even our driving was special though...my mom and stepdad got the kids a portable DVD player for Christmas, so we busted it out for this long road trip. The twins LOVED getting to watch movies during the ride over and back, and David and I LOVED getting the quiet car ride to actually have adult conversations. That, my friends, is what you call a win-win.
Plus, look at my babies holding hands?1?!
