Road trip!

We are halfway through summer vacation and I can hardly believe all the fun stuff we've done!  The first week of summer (June 16-20) was Vacation Bible School at our church.  Audrey and Isaac helped out as Jr. crew guides, I helped out with the Opening and Closing sessions, leading singing, and Violet enjoyed attending with her friend Tatum!  Everyone had a great time and learned lots!  Our second week of vacation, Audrey headed up to Ashland, Oregon, to go to the Shakespeare Festival with my cousins, Spencer and Kathleen.  They graciously invited Audrey to join them months ago, and Audrey could not have been more excited!  She had a wonderful time, getting to see 4 different shows, relaxing around camp, exploring the town of Ashland, and even fitting in some mini-golf!

Isaac and Violet stayed busy with a water-color painting class the week that Audrey was gone, and Isaiah and I worked on his swimming skills in the neighbor's pool (one-on-one lessons with mom) and preparing for our road trip while they were in class.  We left Saturday, June 28th, and drove from Fresno to Medford.  As we love to do on road trips, we listened to a book on the way up. This year we listened to The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.  My kids would highly recommend it to other families!  We got to the campsite in time to enjoy dinner all together, and a relaxing evening at the playground, complete with all kinds of contests, like "who can climb up this pole the fastest" or  "who can jump through this obstacle-course-we-just-made the fastest" or "who can do the best handstand". 

The next morning, we said good-bye to my cousins as they headed back home to the Valley. We had a "free day" of no driving before traveling the rest of the way to Bend, so we decided to hike a nearby trail, Upper Flat Rock.  Isaiah is, unfortunately, at a hard age for hiking...too big to be carried, to young to go very far.  After the first mile, he decided he would rather fuss loudly, then cry, then scream the last 1/2 mile rather than hold my hand (or anyone else's for that matter) and keep walking, making it pretty much the worst hike ever for the Mack family.  Equally frustrating was the prolific poison oak lining BOTH sides of the trail for most of the way.  We had to stay single file most of the time.  Of course, as soon as we got to the top, Isaiah dried his tears, quit fussing and quickly retorted, "This is so beautiful up here!"  Honestly, I wanted to scream.  

Instead, we took a photo to show we made it and didn't turn back.

It was a beautiful view of the Rogue Valley

We came back to the campground to eat lunch and relax the rest of the afternoon.  It was a really nice campground (Gold n' Rogue KOA) with a pool, a little game room, a playground, showers, and even laundry, so we swam and played pool that afternoon!  

That evening we go to eat dinner with our neighbors, the Bergens.  Not our neighbors in the campground, our neighbors from home!  We left on Saturday, but were staying 2 nights in Medford as we traveled north.  They left Sunday morning, also planning to stay near Medford on their way to visit family in Canada.  We thought, why not meet up?  They pulled into the campground around 5 and our families ate dinner together and relaxed around camp for a couple hours before they headed out to their hotel for the night, and we turned in to our tent for bed.  Crazy!  Our kids all thought it was so funny how we were together, but so far from home!  Monday morning, June 30th, we packed up our camp site and headed to Sunriver (a resort community just south of Bend, OR) for our fun-filled week with my parents and my brother's family!  

We had a great week!  Spent a day at the SHARC (Sunriver Homeowner's Aquatic Recreational Complex), having a blast with Violet's underwater camera!

Crazy Uncle Ben!

Isaac showing off his skills at the log crossing

Isaiah rarely wears a swim vest any more.  Here he is showing off how much he loved going to the bottom of the pool and pushing back up!

Spent a day in Bend (about a 40 minute drive north), checking out their downtown shops and picnicking at the "pirate ship park" (Columbia Park)!

Our 4th of July started off with a bang, with Randy running the local 5-mile Fun Run and winning first in his age bracket!

 Later that morning we headed over to the Nature Center in Sunriver, small but very cool!

Followed by "the hike of a thousand mosquitos"...here is Randy trying to evade the little buggers, and show off his jumping skills.  Love the looks on the kids' faces!  

We ended our 4th of July celebration with some face painting, some glow-sticks, and some science experiments...yes, science, in the form of soda bottles and Mentos!  Fireworks aren't allowed at Sunriver so we made our own explosions...and the kids LOVED them!  

And even some before-bed singing, all the patriotic songs we could remember!

The rest of our hours were filled with cooking, eating, playing, swimming, walking, talking, games and more...just being together as a family!  

Last night together, eating out at Baldy's BBQ in Bend. Yum!!

Last cousin picture together before heading our separate ways on Monday morning (July 7). 

Well, our family had a few more days of vacation before Randy had to be back at work, so we decided to take our time on the way back and stay a few nights at one of our favorite national parks, Lassen Volcanic!

Set up camp in time to walk down to Manzanita Lake and enjoy the sunset!

The next day, while Isaiah was napping, Randy decided to take the kids on the Bumpass Hell trail.  After the fiasco that was our last hike, we thought it best to let the older kids enjoy this hike on their own!  And I enjoyed a bit of quiet time reading as well!    

It's like a mini-Yellowstone, with all its thermal pools, steam geysers, and mud pots!

Our second full day in Lassen we decided to relax at the lake.  We rented a kayak and took turns paddling out on the serene waters!  Whoever wasn't taking a turn in the kayak was most likely swimming in the lake, or chasing the ducks!

Jr. Ranger Violet!  When we came here 2 years ago, only Isaac and Audrey were old enough to complete the program.  This year was Violet's turn! 

A favorite thing to do at Lassen, enjoy soft-serve ice cream at the store after dinner...

then walk down to the lake and play games at sunset!

One last view of the lake. The next morning we packed up and headed back to Fresno.  It was a wonderful 13-day road trip this summer!  Can't wait to do another one next year...wonder where we'll go and what we'll see in 2015?