Eagle Crest in Central Oregon

 I was so happy when my good friend Brenda called and asked me if we wanted to use their condo in Eagle Crest for a week.  Apparently, the people who were going to stay there backed out.  I couldn't say YES fast enough!  You see, this is MY favorite kind of vacation.  Don't get me wrong, I love road trips and theme parks, but those kind of vacations are also so hectic and a wee bit tiring.  You already know how I feel about camping too.  I grew up with very fond memories of going to Sunriver with my family, and riding bikes, playing tennis, swimming, getting ice cream cones, swimming some more, and staying up late talking and laughing.  Sometimes, I think that what we grew up doing with our families when we were kids, are the memories that we are most excited to pass down to our own children.  To me, Eagle Crest is just perfect!  You can do all of the fun outdoorsy things and still relax and go to sleep in a cozy bed :).

The water guns were a HUGE hit!

I got squirted by them at least 20 times!

Don't get me now Max, I have a camera!

Sam just LOVES snorkeling (see my next post for more background).

It is so much fun to see him doing something he loves so much.  In fact, he tells us all of the time that he is never going to get married OR have kids.  When he grows up,  he is going to be "room buddies" with his friends Colin and Ellie.  He is also going to live in Hawaii and snorkel during the day, play the guitar at night and sell Legos on ebay during his free time!  Ha ha! I can't wait to visit him in Hawaii someday!

 There are about 5 or 6 pools at Eagle Crest.  On the second day, we went to this one with a water park in it!

 Lucy just followed Max around the whole time.  Max is such a good Big Brother to her.  He watches out for her and included her in everything he did.

 still following max

 Sam and his snorkeling gear backpack.

 . . .more fun running through the water park

 The water dumper!

Oh No!

The boys carried around their water guns to each pool that we went to.  They got in huge water gun fights and would even recruit others to join in (I have about 6 water guns).  Between the water guns and the cannonball contests, I am pretty sure that we annoyed people at each and every pool that we went too!

When we went out to eat lunch, the kids spotted a Mama Duck with a bunch a cute little baby ducklings!

They were so cute, and the kids followed them around.

watching the duckies some more . . .

Eagle Crest is just so beautiful!!!

Sam and I played tennis together almost every night!

This picture cracks me up, he is trying so hard, but look at where the ball is . . .

Sam and I took pictures of each other.

Poser!

I was so happy that my friend Steph and her daughter Claire could come over and stay with us for  a few days.  It was so much fun to catch up with her (since I went back to work, I have not had as much time to be a good friend, thank you for sticking with me Steph!)

Claire and Lucy,

Lucy was so happy to have a girl to play with and Claire was so good to her.

Lucy said that "Claire was like her big sister!".

We rented a "car bike" to go on a bike ride.

Steph and I drove, which made for a lot of laughs!  Sam and Lucy rode in the back and Claire and Max rode their own bikes.

All of the kids wanted a chance to drive too!

Max and Claire

Without embarrassing these two too much (I doubt that either one of them are going to read this any time soon)  Steph and I noticed that they both seemed a little more concerned with their hair, and they both got a little sillier when they were around each other this time Hmmmm!

We rode our bikes down to the Town Square to get ice cream.

This was a little pond with a fountain in the middle.  The boys immediately got into a "rock skipping" contest.

Lucy had so much fun rolling down a little hill of grass, but she was pretty itchy later.  Good thing we went for an evening swim!

Lucy and Claire swimming together.

Thank You Claire, for being so good to Lucy.

Goofing around!

The boys teasing the girls. 

 My boys were missing Claire's brother Spencer who was spending the week at his Grandparents house.

One last pic of the kids playing together in the pool!

The kids could not get enough of swimming and they all played very well together.  I am so glad that Steph and Claire could come over and play with us.  Steph and I got a chance to relax too, which was really nice.  I just wish Brenda and her kids could have been there with us as well!  Thank You again to the Franssens who were gracious enough to let us use their condo, for the week.  We had a BLAST!