Deschutes Family Rafting

What an amazing trip.

Let me just start by saying again, I LOVE rafting.

I do not like the crazy, cranky, nit-picky person it can turn me into sometimes.

Before this trip I had a talk with Brent and made a resolution to try and put my attitude in check and really focus on being grateful and humble in these moments that I find the most challenging. I had a few slips, but overall I think the focus on attitude change really helped the trip for me.

We started out with a few hiccups. Including the fact we were actually supposed to go on the Rogue River, but the permits got in late. I actually wasn't as bummed because of  how technical the Rogue is and with Brent's wrists, Max's back and a mini hike around the fish ladder I would have had to make with a bunch of kids and seniors.

Anyways, the Deschutes is always nice.

We actually had some fun loading and got to leave fairly early...

As we arrived in Maupin to pick up Jeremy and the shuttle drivers August had fallen asleep. I waited in the car while

Brent ran inside and got us a milkshake.
(which never happens) We usually are picking up the shuttle drivers really late. 8pm

We haven't arrived at the put in this early in FOREVER.
We had time to visit, rest, and unload slowly.

The boys couldn't wait to get in the water.

We all sleep on tarps the first night, so we could get up and load easily in morning.

We brought the small boat for Mitch to practice rowing. Brent went with them and he had a pretty full load that first day.

Max was a blast to ride along with, as usual. He kept the kids laughing. He was taking requests and doing a series of impressions and different accents. It was very impressive.

We had the "throne" on our boat. The kids took turns sitting on it. Max was the self proclaimed "Lord of the toilet"...He and Jordan got in a tiff about who was the true POOP KING.

Here is a video of how that argument ended...

The weather was awesome.
 It was all overcast for the float, but then once we reached camp heated up just in time for swimming and playing.

 

We set up camp in the "Snake Pit". Brent really wanted to take a nap each day and this was the most shady spot in the whole camp.

 
 Grandma brought her needle point to work on a little each day.

We also had Sudoku, Backgammon, Scrabble, UNO, and catch phrase. Along with our amazing intellect to help us stay entertained all week.

We also experienced a down pour of rain. A first for me on the Deschutes. It is always so dry and hot. The rain and lightning was pretty exciting.

This is our rainy day look...

Mum-z's tent was not up all the way when the rain hit. It got pretty wet. All the guys dried it out and set it up with a fly, just in case the rain wasn't done making an appearance.

The kids took advantage of the newly "wet" sand.

The sun just coming up over the ridge makes an orange line of light on the hills across the way.

There were tons of horses that were walking around on the hills across the river.

We also hiked up to the rock for some jumping and floating. August got a little heat exhaustion standing in the sun waiting for Jordan to make the "big" jump.

Brent held Aug up so he could see the drop. Let me tell ya, it freaked me out a little.

Brayden caught a crawdad.

  

Everyone had floatation devices, so Max fashioned one for himself using two life jackets.

It was referred to as the "floating diaper" or "lobster"? Either way it was hilarious. I just felt bad that August started feeling so sick. Brent wanted to float with them, but I had too much stuff to walk back and carry August too.

There is my poor overheated baby. He was drinking water, but his lips went pale and he got very lethargic.  He was fine after a little rest in the hammock. Brent and I ran him back to camp along the river...

There they are floating down the river!

Like last year, there was a fire on the Warm Springs side of the river. It would get really smokey during the day, but we would wake up to clear skies...

After some freak rain down pour and then some afternoon floating, the smoke started to rise up with a vengeance. The sun was red glowing through it. There was some slight over reaction in camp. Jordan put on his poncho even though it was scorching outside, to protect himself from the ash falling. Max, Justin, and Jeremy dampened bandanas to wrap around their faces.

After some fun and games, Brent and August came walking up with a fish. Aug had reeled in a nice one. Jay cleaned it and cooked it for the guys to eat.

 After some excitement playing "Catch Phrase", we headed to bed.

The next morning I got all set up for Annette and my morning cup of coffee and conversation.

Best seats in the house!

 After more people started to wake, we made a great pancake breakfast. Brent did blueberry and then banana pancakes. I tell ya, he is spoiling these guys.

My water babies...

Max scrubbed the fry pan SUPER clean. (Brent had done it the day before too) Brotherly rivalry at its finest.

We dug holes for a sand bowling tournament so of course August needed his own hole dug to sit in.

Brent and Bray set up the teams and we had a wonderful tournament. 

Spencer was our human score board.

August had been buried and was FULL of dirt and sand.

 

After our sandbowling tournament we retired to our tents. We had decided to hike to the flag the next day...early.

I got up first and went around waking everyone up who said they wanted to go. We ended up actually heading out at 6:45AM. I snapped a picture of these beautiful flowers that close up during the day. The only time to really see them was in the morning.

It was a pretty epic hike. We had laughs and tears. There were times I wasn't sure if I wanted to go on...

Okay that may be exaggerating. I was getting a little "negative" because I was worried. 

Worried about Annette's knees giving out. Worrying about Brayden who was crying and scared of heights. Worried about August who had a cough. Once we got to the top I felt a lot better.

The hike took us 6 HOURS. Needless to say we were exhausted when it was done. But we did it. 

This was the 3rd or 4th time I have been up here.

The view never disappoints. 

Even when it is tinged with smoke.

Brent wanted August to "touch" the flag pole

Justin, Spencer, and Michael climbed up to the next highest peak...you can kind of make out their little figures way up on top!

The hike down was brutal. The boys and I had started to run out of water. Max gave us what was left in his bottle. The sun was at its highest point. Jeremy and Max stayed with Grandma while I tried to keep my boys moving with Brent. Brent stayed with August while I was going to hurry back to camp and then run them up more water, but thank goodness Jay was already on his way up by the time I reached the bathrooms...

Again, it was epic. Grandma at 80 made it to the TOP!

A game of signs ensued. I was trying to document it. I was not a very good player. I was selected once, but I could only remember 2 peoples signs. I think the hike wore my brain out ;)

It was super fun to watch though.

Again it was smokey by the end of the day and again when we woke up the smoke was gone.

 Jeremy took the boys and found lizards and scorpions. August and Grandma played with his big beetle.

 We took a group picture and tried to get the fire in the background...

I will post it once Annette sends it to me.

 August built his lizards a little castle. It was surrounded by sticks.

I went to finally go wash my hair and take a small video of the campsite, since it was the last day. While over by my tent Max saw a Sheriff come up to talk to our camp and ran over. I continued to rinse out my hair and made my way over to find we got the order to evacuate. At 7:15pm.

If anyone knows us we take kind of a long time to get loaded and on the river.

We made a valiant attempt to do this, but the sun was going down, so Jay and Jeremy discussed and made a plan to keep us all safe through the night.

They did about a 50 foot perimeter and had all the able bodied people take buckets of water and douse the camp. Danika and I set up a line of tarps we were all to sleep on. Jay wanted us all as close together as possible. It was a little nerve wrecking once the sun set and we could watch the fire blaze down the hillside. Jeremy tried to calm my nerves as he described to me what would happen with the fire. He was ABSOLUTELY right. The sun went down the wind died and the fire got smaller. By the time we woke in the morning it was not even visible. They had taken turns staying up all night watching it. And I know I did not sleep very well at all. It is hard having all your children there and feeling so helpless and out of control.

I laid down with August while the others doused the camp. You can see the smoke coming over the mountain behind him...

As the sun went down I tried to catch the first small flame that went over the mountain. A person walked by with a flashlight at the same time...

 And the next morning...

Nothing.
 A light haze but that was it.

This is my I am happy I am alive face.
Grandma and I walked up to the toilets bright and early. The ground was still saturated all around, those guys did an awesome job.

 Here we are with only the tarps and sleeping pads to load, we were out of camp in record time!

The float was great that day too. I have never been on the river so early without having to be the sprint boat. It was nice. Of course we didn't know what we were in for in terms of the fire, down river. We had walkie talkie in our ammo can and headed out.

The trip continued to be exciting when Mitch and Brent flipped on Boxcar.
It was pretty funny to come around the corner and see their boat bottoms up.
 Brent had to swim for the boat. Mitch got an oar and swam for the shore. We came right up on Mitch and were telling him to come to the boat. It took a second, he kept swimming to the shore. Eventually we got them and got their boat upright.
In all the commotion Max lost one of his water bottles.

 August had a blast.

He wouldn't sit down on the bench or the front of the boat. So he was in a standing position just bopping all over the place.

He loved it.

 We made it to the take out and started the unloading process. Again, it was so early!

There were a lot more people there than there normally are. I wish I got a picture of the take out strip. There were about 20 paddle boats...

It was nice to get to the Oasis and eat "lunch".

Our hard working people cleaning the rafts!

Going to the Oasis (or any restaurant) is a special treat after being on the river a week.
 It always surprises me how amazing a cheeseburger is at the end of a rafting trip!

Jeremy left us from here to go drive home to Idaho. It is so nice having him on trips. He is such a great man. So positive and patient, he really adds to the family trips.

Then after we get home the next day we do all of the unloading and cleaning up. 

Which is the grand finale of bonding and spending this time together.

After we put most everything away and had the rafts inflated and wiped down we went to lunch to give them time to dry in the sun. But, not before Max and Spencer have a youthfulness competition...

We went to the Village Inn. An Olson favorite.

Charlie stacked the creamers...

After lunch we went back to Uncle Jay's and finished. August fell asleep and we had some lazy time in the grass while the guys went to Annette's house to hang some tents up...

We then had a nice dinner at the restaurant down the street. We were able to make it there for happy hour. $5 meals. It was a nice way to end the trip.

Until next month when we do it all over again...
I'm anxious to see what is left of our favorite camp sites.