Oregon Summer Vacations

We had the opportunity to go on two back-to-back local vacations in June.  The fun started off with yurt camping at Ft. Stevens State Park.  We went with a group of friends.  There were five couples all with two kids each.  It was so fun to spend that time with friends and to watch Pearl playing with their kids.  The hope is to make it an annual event.

A couple days after returning home, we headed to Sunriver, OR with my family.  Pearl stayed in my sister Kara's room and shared a bed with her cousin Maleah.  They even watched Frozen one night in bed.  She thought it was the best thing ever.  My sister Kacy also gave Pearl her first haircut while we were there.  We had a lot of fun riding bikes, swimming at the aquatic center, and watching the deer.

Jeremy has taken up long distance bike riding.  He rode his bike all the way out to Ft. Stevens with our friend Chris.  It was 110 miles!  Then he rode around 70 miles while we were in Sunriver.  The below photo is of him on his way down Mt. Bachelor.  I'm amazed that he can quickly pick up athletic pursuits like that.  I was completely out of breath riding just two miles in Sunriver with the kids in the bike trailer.

I'm hoping to have more time for the blog this summer.  I just wrapped up another great freelance job and I plan to take a couple months off to hang with the kids while the weather is nice.  I hope you are all enjoying the start of summer.

-Kira

Pearl's First Camping Trip

We went on a camping trip this weekend.  It was Pearl's first time spending a weekend out in the wilderness.  It took me about an hour after we arrived to finally set her on the ground.  For a baby who rarely wants to be held anymore, I knew that attempting to hold her up from the dirt all weekend was not going to work out.

She absolutely loved crawling around in the dirt.  She was a mess, but had so much fun picking up sticks and rocks and then reaching out her hand to show them to me.  I'm so glad that she is mostly over putting things in her mouth or this trip would have been miserable for me.  She only tried that twice and I caught her in time.

Pearl also enjoyed meeting our friend's dogs and attempted to give them snacks like she always does with ours.  She went on a hike with us, hung out while her daddy fished, and went for a little swim.  Pearl refused to nap, but she was in a generally good mood which is rare if she hasn't slept during the day.  Once bedtime rolled around, she was completely exhausted and slept through the night.  She actually slept in an extra hour than usual.

We had a great time.  It was fun to watch Pearl exploring and seeing new things for the first time (once I got over how dirty she was).

-Kira