Bend - Ty's Day

A hijacking has occurred, Val's profile, Dave's thoughts. This year has seen some of the old but definitely some of the new. When Tyler loves something it is typically with a passion and strength that gives you the feeling he will love it that way forever. I certainly hope that is the case in regards to his parents. Note to Ty; if you are reading this years from now in a bound book like I know Val wants to make it or in some other digital format that we can't even imagine in our 2011 brains, call us right now and tell us you love us!

Ok, back to the present (have you called yet, Ty?). This year Tyler picked a day hike at Smith Rock for one of his Tyler-Mommy-Daddy day activities. He was pumped on our visit earlier in the vacation and said he could definitely make it to Monkey Face. We had our new Camelback's to keep from dying of thirst and some snacks thrown in, because he is a bottomless pit and never stops eating (seriously Son, call your parents!). We didn't quite get started as early as we wanted which resulted in numerous shady rest stops along the hot hike route but we did make it to Monkey Face where Ty promptly said, "There it is, can we head back?" The little man was a trooper and made the about 1 mile hike each way in good time.

Headin out for Tyler's Day

Getting ready to kick this hike's booty!

Keep hydrated fellas

This just looked like a good place for a picture of a Father and Son

Ty and Val cave explorers!

The thing on the right, imagine its a mouth and then, BAM!, Monkey Face!

The boys throwing some rocks into the river. Good form (later my old arm would hurt).

This boy loves his Mommy (call us!)

A hike well done! Off to Subway to feed the bottomless pit.

We have covered the new, now for the old. Bike riding at Sunriver! Could this be the beginning of tri-athlons? I am aware that we hiked and biked, which is more of a duathlon and we didn't run at all but don't forget Tyler is only six and I have not been eating good this trip! So, we packed up the bikes and hit the mean paved paths of Sunriver. Plus, we discovered that by next summer they will have finished construction on an outdoor water park that includes multiple pools and water slides. We can't wait! By that I mean Val and me, I have no idea what the kids think and it doesn't matter anyways because we are going and that is final! I wonder if I will get a raise between now and then.??? It might come in handy.

Anywho, we rode to the main tourist section and parked for some ice cream. No cotton candy ice cream to be found and the orange slice looked like creamsicle but Ty says it's not even close. How cool is it that our Son can turn down ice cream! Oh, and he doesn't like chocolate. Weird, but wonderful. We got back on the bikes and hit the park for a little playground action. I would have thought Ty would be falling down but he was still running around like a bundle of energy.

Now, something new again. On our way home we stopped and got Ty a set of gray scale shaded pencils. I know that is not the right term so picture a pack of pencils with different shades of led for sketching. He has been very artistically inspired lately and was excited when he heard about these. When we got home he promptly began sketching his ode to Captain Jack Sparrow. The most favorite movie Pirate ever for a boy who has never seen any of the movies!

The boys and their bikes.

Off we go....Actually this was near the end but we forgot to take pictures so pretend its the beginning.

It's not a toothy grin, because he is down a tooth. It's not a toothless grin cuz he still has plenty. What do you call this handsome smile?

I would never have let him do this at 5 or 4.



Tyler's artistic gift is unique to him and something Val and I love all the more because we don't have it ourselves.



Yo-ho, yo-ho, a Pirate's life for me!

Bend - Suttle Lake

We made it back to Suttle Lake this year.  It was a great chance for the kids to try out their new water packs.  We were able to hike a little farther this year and only really had to turn around because Hailey drank too much water. 

When we made it back to the car Dave asked the kids if they wanted to swim in the lake.  It was a big YES!  So the quiggle kids got their first lake swimming experience.  Fortunately they loved it.  It took some convincing by Dave to get them to dunk underwater but eventually they did.

starting out...love Hailey's new camelbak

There are such fun things for them to find along the trail

exploring the trail and the water

Suttle Lake

Kids just have so much fun outdoors.  There are rocks and sticks to find  and throw.  The are logs to climb on and jump off of.  There are bugs and dragonflies everywhere.  Good times when you are a kid.

Bend - Mt Bachelor

The other day we were flipping through Bend books for ideas of fun places to go.  We stumbled upon the idea of summer chair lift rides up Mt. Bachelor.  I think we both immediately decided it was something we would like to do.  So we did.  What a fun afternoon.  Definitely my kind of snow....Warm enough for shorts but there was still snow to enjoy.

Mt. Bachelor and the chair lift

From the bottom looking up

Both Tyler and Hailey thought the chair lift was so fun, and a little scary, but a lot of fun.  They could believe how far off the ground we were.

riding the chair lift

Once we got to the top there were spectacular views, a restaurant, and plenty of snow to play in.  There was even a set up for frisbee golf for those so inclined.

Mountain views from a mountain :)

Hailey can be really quick to cry at times.  Usually for things that are so tiny and ridiculous.  Sometimes I sigh heavily and tell to more or less tough it out but other times I can't help but scoop her up and soak in her big squeezes and her need to be as close to me a possible.  I'm fully aware the days of her needing me are numbered and I want to take full advantage while I can.  So, while eating lunch, and Tyler looked at her wrong (or something like that) she burst into tears.  And I got my fix.

After lunch we headed out into the snow.  Shorts, beautiful blue skies, and bright white snow make for some fun pictures.

Snow in July.....snow with sun is so much better than the gray rain at home!

When in snow....make snow balls

one of my favorite pics

The kids found some bamboo sticks which became walking sticks and jousters amoung other things.  They also used them to write their names in some walls of snow.

I think Mt. Bachelor day has been one of our most fun days on this trip and it didn't even involve swimming :).  I'm sure we will be back next year.