5 years

Last weekend Jeff and celebrated our 5 year anniversary with a trip out to Central Oregon! We dropped Daniel off for a night with my parents and we headed into Bend for an evening of child-free activities, a night in a nice hotel, and a relaxing morning.

Standing on a bridge over the Deschutes River in Bend. It was a beautiful evening.

The view of the Deschutes River from our hotel room. The sun was shining the entire time we were there :)

After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we made a quick stop downtown for my favorite treat, chocolate covered gummi bears from Goody's, and then we had a fantastic dinner at a Mexican seafood restaurant called Baltazar's. If you are ever in Bend you should check in out. Delicious! Then we headed to the Old Mill District to walk around and catch the end of an outdoor concert in the amphitheater. It was The Steve Miller Band and we got there just in time to hear "Fly Like and Eagle". The Old Mill waterfront was packed with people listening to the concert, but we had fun eating Ben and Jerry's ice cream and people watching. We headed back to our hotel, which was not quite as nice as I had hoped it would be, but it had a beautiful view of the river, which was nice to wake up to.

We were within walking distance of downtown Bend, so in the morning (after not sleeping in as long as I would have liked due to the firmer mattress that did not agree with my body) we walked to a coffee shop and enjoyed a nice long breakfast, sitting outside at a little cafe table, enjoying the warm morning and having a good conversation. I think the nicest part of our night out was just reconnecting with each other...really taking the time to talk about life. We reminisced about the last 5 years, discussed what things we thought we would be doing at this point and what things have surprised us (baby #2!). We talked about what we would like to do in the next 5 years, which didn't lead to any concrete decisions, but at least let us know what the other was thinking. Luckily our hopes and dreams for ourselves and our family are pretty similar :)

After our relaxing morning we ran a few errands and then headed back to Camp Sherman to see how well Daniel and my parents survived. Daniel, being the wonderful little stinker he is, had slept in until 9:45 that morning! He is usually up at 6:30 on the dot at home, and of course I had only been able to sleep in until 7:00. Go figure. Anyway, they were all just as happy as could be. Daniel had been playing outside with Puma, my parents dog, to his heart's content. It's nice to know that even though Daniel doesn't get to see all his grandparents very often, he is still so comfortable around them.

Daddy and Daniel relaxing in the hammock at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We left Camp Sherman on Sunday morning and decided to take a scenic route back home. Instead of taking hwy 22 into Salem like we usually do, we took hwy 20 into Eugene/Springfield. On the way we stopped at Clear Lake, Sahalie Falls and the Sea Lion Caves. They were all good sights to see (Jeff hadn't been to any of them, and I hadn't been to them since I was a kid), but it made for a long day of travel. We didn't get home until 9:30 that night, but Daniel was a trooper. Jeff and I traded off sitting in the back seat with him to keep him entertained since he wasn't too keen on being back there by himself for such long stretches of driving.

We took a short hike from Sahalie Falls to Koosh Falls. Every person we passed on the trail commented on how cute Daniel is, and how big I am. More than one person asked if I was trying to induce labor!

Daniel enjoyed seeing and hearing the sea lions, although he has recently become fascinated with birds, so he loved seeing all the seagulls flying around.Oh the things that keep a one year old entertained on long car trips ;)

It was a wonderful, vacation that definitely reconnected Jeff and I as a couple and reminded us of how blessed we are right now. Thanks Mom and Dad for giving us the chance to have some "time off"!