Tales of a Growing Family: Bend 10 Years Later...

One of my favorite teenage vacations with my family was our annual (well nearly annual) trip to Sunriver, Oregon. We went with family and good friends. We went skiing, bowling, shopping, played games, and ate a ton of food. A perfect vacation. We went faithfully a few years in a row then for whatever reason we stopped. Probably due to the fact that the kids were getting to the age of graduating, going to college, and well, just plain growing up.

My brother decided to see if the old gang was down for a reunion trip. It didn't take much discussion and the planning began. Ten years later we were going back! Only now, the "kids" were adults and there was no way we would all fit into one house. We booked our old house and the house next door. That was the only way to accommodate our crowd of 19.

We headed out on Valentines Day. A few of us caravaned down and made a lunch stop at The Deschutes Brewery in Bend Oregon which was just north of our final destination, Sunriver Resort. The city of Bend is beautiful and we happened to be passing through when the skies were baby blue without a cloud in the sky, sun shining.

The Sisters

Walking into the old house we always stayed in was like deja vu! We quickly settled in and began relaxing. Lincoln absolutely LOVED the game room. I remember ten years ago all the boys being in the back room glued to the video games for hours on end and now it was Lincoln's turn. They had Pin Ball, Centipede, and an old Nintendo Console that had Mario Brothers and a motorcycle game. I am convinced that Lincoln would have stayed back in the game room the whole trip if he hadn't been forced to eat, sleep, use the bathroom, and play outside! But we weren't too strict about his "gaming" time due to the fact that we were on vacation! We brought his favorite cars, but he didn't even give them a second glance after the first night.

Friday morning we got up and headed to Mt. Bachelor to do some snowboarding/skiing. I have never seen Mt. Bachelor look so beautiful. It was clear blue skies and sun all the way up at the Summit. Necia and I boarded together. Luckily neither of us had been on a board or skis in at least 6 years, so we weren't worried about "holding one another back". We pretty much laughed, burned our leg muscles to the point of sever pain, relaxed in the lodge, and took fun pictures. It was perfect. It was so warm I didn't even wear a hat.

Saturday we headed into the Village. It was gorgeous and it had been updated. The ice skating rink was beautiful. There was a train in the middle of the Village that of course intrigued Lincoln. Once again the weather was breathtaking. We also drove into Bend on Saturday. We hit the outlets and did a little shopping. Lincoln insisted upon pushing Brooklyn around in her stroller which worked out wonderfully when he was watching where he was going...

The evenings consisted of way too much food, visiting, and games. Unfortunately the boys got sucked into the game Settlers of Catan. (Thank you Jamie) and played it nearly every night.... In fact I believe most of them are still playing it via an app on their phones!

Sunday we took Lincoln to the mt. to try him out on skis. As I suspected he wanted nothing to do with not only his skis, boots and helmet, but neither his snow pants and jacket. In fact he cried and carried on from the moment we started dressing him. In a way I was not surprised one bit. This is the kids that does not like to try new things. No new clothes, shoes, food etc. He has to be familiar and comfortable with things before he is interested in them. I made the command decision that he would put all of his ski gear on whether he wanted to or not. If he isn't forced to do things he will not try them. It was quite the battle!

I finally told him that he was not taking anything off until he calmed down. Naturally he did get calmed down and nearly immediately he had to use the bathroom. Really?! And the hysterical ensemble started again when he had to put his gear back on after the bathroom trip. Ugh... But he did calm down again and Daddy even got to see him on the slope.

On the ride back to the house I interviewed him only to find out that he had a bit of a different story about his skiing adventure... I have to say I feel we made progress with him and next time we should probably rent his gear and let him wear it in the living room for a while, then take him up to the mt. Also, maybe when he is a bit older he will be more willing to try it on his own accord. We headed back to the Village to drop off his skis and the train we had seen the day before was running. We took a train ride and it made Lincoln's day.