A Night Away

 This year we were going to be attending Brent's annual holiday party, but it got postponed...
This was quite disturbing to us, because we were SOOO looking forward to our weekend away.
After talking out our disappointment Brent had the wonderful idea of still going away for the weekend. Unfortunately it got cut down to being one night away due to our schedule constraints, but we'll take it! We looked from the valley to the coast, but decided to keep it local when it was realized we had ONE night. Luckily Bend has some amazing places.
We checked out a lot of our options but decided to go with the local Shilo Inn. We had stayed there once before because our friend works for Shilo and we get great discounts. So, Friday morning we dropped the kids off at school and headed out on our adventure. We first went to a wonderful little bakery type place for breakfast, Jackson's Corner. It reminded us of being back in the valley.

After we ate we decided to go on a hike. I had told Brent about my failed attempt the week before. We headed out to Tumalo falls. Unfortunately the road is closed, but there was a trailhead that would lead us to it. It was going to be about a three mile hike there, making it 6 miles altogether...So we decided to just head out and see how far we got.

The path was well marked from the parking lot...but it was icy. We started out fairly slow trying to avoid a fall. It was beautiful out and we were surprised that we were the only ones on the trail.

Brent helping me down a pretty steep mound of snow

We found what looked like a mini snow fort. It was pretty cool, but if we stepped off of the path our feet sunk thigh deep in snow. So we stayed on the compacted snow path.

We heard the sound of water and knew we were coming up on the creek. It was neat to see the green reeds sticking up through the snow.

This was when our hike got a little confusing...
The path was less clear up by the creek, and the only place that looked like you could cross was very sketchy. We spent some time looking for the actual path, but decided that we should turn around.

After our two hour trek it was nice that right next to the car was the restroom!
It was also impressive how many people were headed out while we were heading back in. There were snowshoers, and some people kind of cross country skiing...it was crazy. Whole vans of people were coming up. I think we picked a great time to turn around.

From there we went and ate what was supposed to be lunch, but ended up being dinner too! We talked about everything from the past to the future and all the baby stuff. It was great to have him all to myself. To laugh and feel a little carefree. Don't get me wrong, we adore the boys. I mean they are our sunshines and center of our universe, but it is nice to be reminded where it all started.

So with our tummies full we decided to check into the hotel. I briefly snapped a few shots, but mostly wanted to just get snugly and lazy with Brent. 

The view off of the balcony of the river. Last time we were on a ground floor suite. It was neat to see the river still looking lovely even in the middle of January.

We received some bubbly, chocolates, and a voucher for dinner.
It was very relaxing. We spent the night as best friends do, talking, playing games, and watching movies. With such great company it is no wonder we just stayed in all night!

The next morning we got up fairly early and went to eat the hotel's complimentary breakfast.
It always impresses me with the spread they have...
Scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, cereals, bagels, muffins, yogurt, tons of fruit, etc...
So we stayed for awhile eating and enjoying the slow pace.

We went back to the hotel room and relaxed some more. Our checkout wasn't until 3pm, so we decided to take advantage of that...that is until I started starving around 2pm. So we got ready and  headed out.

 It got a little noisy while we were packing up, there was a big mob of geese that were walking along the bank and making all the ducks go into the water...

We headed out to a Thai place Brent wanted me to try. I love Thai food, so it was a special treat. Going to Thai with the boys now costs a lot of money. They each have huge appetites and their own specific likes and dislikes, so we usually opt for a more universal food option.

We got our Thai iced tea and again enjoyed being the only people in the restaurant. I don't know how we got so lucky!

After lunch we went and got our shopping on.
I mean I HATE shopping, but Brent had hiked for two hours with me the day before so I felt I could make this compromise. He eased me into it by starting out at the Carters store at the outlets. They were having some pretty great sales, but we really don't need very much clothes for the baby. I mean we need little stuff, but not full on outfits. I was able to get super cute jammies for August for super cheap. * He was soo excited when he got them.

Then we headed over to the Nike and Columbia stores. Brent was in heaven. He loves shoes and shopping. We left the outlets with the intention of going to see a movie, but when we got to the theater it was SUPER crowded. There was a ridiculously long line. We stood in the line for awhile, but by the time we got near the ticket booth the previews were already started....I do NOT like going into the theater after the previews had started. So...I talked Brent into just doing dinner and heading home to snuggle and watch our show in the comfort of our own bed.

We went back to the hotel to use our voucher. We usually split meals and were ordering the Salmon, but Brent saw this pasta dish he really wanted to try, so we ended up getting separate meals. It was nice and we were one of two couples sitting in the restaurant. The music was perfect there were candles on the table...it was great. We finally finished eating, talking, and enjoying the peace and decided to head home. Brent packed up our leftovers and thought he was so clever writing on the box...

Lisa's Romantical Dinner Lovetovers!

We headed home and stopped by our local fro-yo place. We sat in the car eating our frozen yogurt enjoying the very last minutes of our "night away".

Walking in the door is always my favorite part. The kids are always so happy to see us and swarm us with hugs and love. Even Mitch at 15 comes up and makes sure to hug his mom.
That was just what we needed! Now back to reality.

Boys Just Wanna Have Fun

Soon after New Years we headed to Portland for a Winterhawks hockey game. 

We had made big plans to eat at the boys favorite restaurant (Buffalo Wild Wings) and then head there, but we ended up having a really late lunch and not being very hungry at all. We headed to to Moda Center early-ish, since we weren't going to eat, and got parking on the very TOP of the parking garage. There was still snow on ground and we could see most of downtown Portland. We walked to perimeter of the lot looking at all of the different city lights. Then we headed down to see the fire and water show.

My camera was acting up, but we did get some fun pictures of the boys. 

Then we used Dad's phone to take some slow mo videos of the water and fire.

Brayden hadn't been to a hockey game in awhile, we used to take him and Mitchel all the time when they were little. So, we felt we were past due taking August. He had a blast.

Since we arrived early enough we had time to walk around the inside of the Moda Center and play some of their games. We all took turns hitting hockey pucks into targets and for our efforts we each got a hat. Brayden got a poster of all the cheerleaders and went up to the table where they were sitting and got it signed. He was super happy.
I was glad to see that our seats were close to the bathroom. This baby has me going to the toilet every half hour or so...I swear!
I can't tell what August enjoyed more, the hockey or the cotton candy. Still he was very enthusiastically cheering. We purchased three chuck a pucks and at their half time the audience throws the puck in and whoever gets theirs closest to the center wins. We did not win. It was hillarious watching Aug try and throw it in. He stood at the top of the stairs and just threw it. It landed in the chairs towards the front of the glass and someone was nice enough to pick it up and chuck it in there for him!
When the game ended we took our time getting out. We knew being at the top of the parking garage we would have to wait for all the cars to leave. We snuggled in the car and started watching a family movie.

The following week, back in Central Oregon, I awoke with a determination to go on a hike. For some reason I just had this calling to get out there...unfortunately mother nature had different plans. There was so much snow everywhere it was hard to get to any of the trails. Roads were closed or completely snowed in. I tried three different trail heads before I just gave up. I decided being almost six months pregnant, hiking in the snow on hard to detect trails with the boys, and no phone reception was probably not a great idea. We ended up going to a park in Bend. They had fun playing around in the snow and slides.

We got cold enough and decided to go visit Dad at work and eat some lunch.
I tried to not view it as a failure. After all we did get to go out and explore...

It really is nice going on adventures with my guys. I can't wait for the weather to be a little more cooperative.