Wednesday, August 1, 2012

La Pine State Park

Normally we go camping at the coast every summer but this year we decided to try somewhere new. So we headed off to Bend & La Pine State Park. My parents and Jonathan, April and James headed up on Friday and spent the night. We left early Saturday morning (after a wild birthday party and sleep over at my sister in law's house!) and met them at 10:30. We had a quick snack and then went to the High Desert Museum.

Outside the entrance with the buck statue. 

Looking at the giant snapping turtle swimming in its tank

Rattlesnakes!

Caught in a giant web!

Just some family outhouse time :)

My two favorite guys looking at the otters

Chief Jonny

Mom playing Indian drum

They had a couple rooms that were just for kids. There were tons of things that they could play with and learn about. 

After the museum we drove through Bend and checked out the Deschutes Brewery.

Trying some free samples

Then it was back to camp for some dinner and snacks. Here's dad and Jonathan enjoying some down time. Dad always enjoys reading his western books and here Jonathan is feeding the little ground squirrel (James named him "Chubby Cheeks") that had a home under our picnic table. 

Sunday morning we were up early and excited to head to the Lava Tube!
I didn't realize how far down it was. Here is Matt, Xander, mom and Gabriella walking down the long stairs into the tube. 

The four of us about halfway through. 

Having fun taking pictures in the dark!

Here we are. We all made it to the end. James was a trooper and walked the whole way in. My mom piggybacked him about half way out. Gabriella probably walked about 1/3 of the way in. I carried her the rest of the time in the backpack and Matt had Xander in the Moby wrap the whole time. 

We had to crawl the last little bit to get to the end signs and take a picture. Matt was doing some crazy maneuvering to keep him and the little Roo from bonking their heads. What a good daddy! 

Me and my mom!

Resting after our trek out and having some snacks in the back of grampa's truck. 

James loving his jerky stick in his awesome Air Jordan hat!

Jonathan, April and James headed back home afterwards and we headed into Sun River (to explore and find me an Oregonian for coupons!)
Gabriella fell asleep before we even left the parking lot of the Lava Tube

Waiting for some ice cream!

Enjoying her ice cream cone and her new favorite way to sit in a chair.

Daddy let her drive on the camp road when we got back. She was swerving the car on purpose and laughing her head off! So adorable!!

Playing around in our cabin before bed. 
Normally we tent camp every year (two years of me being prego and one with a 3 1/2 month old. But this year we were worried about Xander's tracheomalacia so we got a cabin to stay in. Oh my, it was wonderful! And we got super spoiled!)

Making s'mores. 
If its organic spinach and organic chocolate then its healthy, right?

Monday morning we got packed up and then started our long trek home.  

Me and my driving buddy, Big Dora. 

Being silly in the car after lunch at diamond Lake

Giant chair in Union Creek

We stopped for ice cream at Beckie's. Here I am eating and feeding Xander. Multi-tasking to eat ice cream is always awesome!

Gabriella with her rainbow ice cream

Huckleberry ice cream with daddy

Yum!

We had a super fun time camping. I love my family and I love spending time with all of us and all the kids and just being goofy together. I couldn't have asked for a better family! 

1 comment:

  1. Looks like you had a wonderful time. For a moment, Matt's sample at the brewery looked like a sample. I had a friend once who said he thought about eliminating the middle man and just going ahead and pouring the beer directly into the toilet.

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