a trip to bend + my weekend in pictures.

We headed to Bend, OR for our summer family trip on Wednesday (& returned just yesterday) so I thought I would share some snaps from the trip as well as the remainder of our weekend. If you recall, I had a girls’ weekend down in Bend two years ago (what!?) and I fell in love. So it was a no-brainer for me when I started planning our summer vacation a few months ago. And it was pretty easy to get Aaron on board since Bend is famous for many, many breweries!

It is about a 6 hour drive from Seattle with Portland at almost a perfect half-way point, so we left just after breakfast and stopped in Portland for lunch, and then obviously reversed it on the way home. The girls did AMAZING in the car and played quietly and napped, and we also breezed thru the usual traffic jam locales (like JBLM and Tacoma) mostly without issue. And even made a pit-stop at the Portland IKEA to pick-up a HUGE umbrella and had to tie the box to the top of the car… it was slightly terrifying but we made it safe & sound!

{Stopped in Portland and had biscuits for lunch. It was so yummy!}

{After a few hours in the car, we needed to get some wiggles out, so we pulled over at the Mount Washington viewpoint. It was incredibly beautiful! All of those stick-looking trees are leftover from a fire that came thru the area about 15 years ago.}

{Attempting a selfie with Daphne, but she was WAY too distracted by Eloise and Aaron. Also, her alligator, Albert, went EVERYWHERE in Bend with us.}

{See?}

{Oh, these little sisters!}

{Hola! Our Airbnb house was in such a good location as we could walk to good restaurants and the market, as well as a great playground on the river. And if it wouldn’t have been SO HOT we probably would have walked downtown as well. It was our first time having the girls sleep together in the same room and overall it went pretty well! The first night we could hear them giggling well past bedtime and it melted my heart. We aren’t quite ready to bunk them together at home yet (which is the longer term plan) but it is nice to know we can sleep them together when we travel.}

{We headed downtown bright and early the first morning (it is the CUTEST) and found these sculptures. Someone knitted hats for those birds and we just couldn’t resist stopping and taking a picture. And while we were there we met Sally who is running for Mayor of Bend in the first mayoral election in city history! We chatted with her a bit and may end up on her website campaign photos. It was so random, but Go Sally!}

{We loved all of the art in town, and the quirkiness of the locals, like those knitted socks! Also, it was SO HOT (in the low 90s but no A/C in most places, much like Seattle) and the shady space right next to that water fall was about 10 degrees cooler.}

{The Deschutes River that runs right thru Bend.}

{Watching the ducks, geese, and occasional river rafter.}

{Aaron and I really made a point to disconnect during our trip and Aaron discovered a few huge puzzles at the rental house. We managed to finish one and about a quarter during our trip!}

{While waiting for dinner at Jackson’s Corner the second night (a can’t miss!) we introduced Eloise to the Etch-A-Sketch. She wanted to draw on in and write her name, which I told her was really difficult (to write letters). And she immediately wrote out an E and an L. It was crazy!}

{And Eloise and I snuck away to the little frozen yogurt shop down the street for an after-dinner treat while Aaron hung with Daphne at the house.}

{The girls LOVE my hat!}

{We headed to Columbia playground one morning which features an awesome pirate ship! And here is Aaron walking the plank, albeit backwards.}

{And the girls took a turn on the plank.}

{The playground sat just a few steps up from the river. There was even this awesome tube slide that took you down from the playground to this riverbank.}

{Did I mention Bend was beautiful?}

{Slides are Daphne’s jam. She lives for them. And food.}

{And that afternoon we ventured out into the heat to Harmon playground which was right down the street and boasted a tugboat! And that’s the river right behind the fence. It was so pretty.}

{She was watching Aaron over on the swings and yelling “Papa!”}

{Driving over the Columbia River, leaving Portland and entering Washington!}

{We were home (barely) and unpacked the car before we headed to Winnie’s birthday party! These five kiddos are so cute together. Happy Birthday Winnie girl!}

{After sleeping in (a bit) we were out in the yard this morning tearing up the soaking hoses in our flower beds while the girls ran around the yard and played with the water table and tumbled in the grass. And then we laid down new hose for a new watering system which is going to be so much better!}

{If there is a slide, Daphne will find it. Thanks to friends for letting us borrow a slide for our very own backyard!}

{Aaron and Eloise shucking corn for dinner tonight. And Daphne eating. Typical.}

We had a really, really great time in Bend (despite the staggering heat and at least it was dry!) with the girls and I LOVED spending time just the four of us. Bend is such a great little town and has great food and shops. It is so clean and jaw-droppingly beautiful and everyone is SO nice! I wish it were about 2 hours closer as it would be an awesome place to have a vacation home (although I’ve been checking house listings already!). If you are interested, here are some great places we went (thanks to Karly for some recs):

Spork Restaurant

Nancy P’s Cafe

Wild Rose Northern Thai Eats

REI Co-op in the Old Mill District (no sales tax!)

Jackson’s Corner

And we stayed in the River West neighborhood which is just over the river from downtown. It was perfect for us as we could walk to a few things, but be away from the traffic of downtown (as it gets really busy during the day). We were out bright and early to shop, play, and walk around, then in for the afternoon for nap time, and back out for dinner. We did also cook a little bit at the house (a breakfast and a dinner) since we had a full kitchen. When you have kids it sometimes doesn’t feel worth the hassle and expense of dining out so we tried to find a good balance!

We are headed into a mostly normal week and it is blowing my mind that it will be August in just a few short days! This summer is just flying by.

How was your weekend?

M