We went to Sunriver with our friends, the Smith family, for the second year in a row! So I guess that makes it an annual trip! Hopefully it's something we can keep up in the future.
And yes, Owen is absent from these pictures... he came down with Hand Foot Mouth just 5 days before we were supposed to leave. Neal and I went through every scenario we could think of to make things work out...
-just Neal and Austin go, and I stay home with Owen
-none of us go
-all of us go and we hope and pray and watch Owen like a hawk to make sure he wasn't touching anything or any kid or eating anything and setting it down, etc...
-all of us go and rent a separate house so we could keep Owen away from the other kids (it was so last minute there was nothing to rent)
-all of us go, minus Owen
We decided on this last plan because our friends were financially depending on us to split the cost of the house with them, and we really didn't think we could keep that close of an eye on Owen to the point that we could guarantee neither of the Smith kids would end up sick with this awful virus. It was too stressful to think about.
So Owen went to Gramma and Grampa's house. He got some awesome one-on-one time, and we got to fulfill our half of the vacation house bargain.
We had fun, but I definitely felt guilty leaving Owen, and I missed him.
Both families got the house Friday in the late afternoon and after unpacking, we walked to the huge park to let the kids play off some energy. Austin and Madi take to each other like ducks to water!
Our house this year was cool. It had a big deck, and lots of room inside. The only bummer was the driveway was bumpy, which made playing on it hard, and we were at the bottom of a slight hill, so the kids had trouble riding bikes around the house since they can't pedal up hills that great yet.
Saturday we floated the river (something we didn't do last year). It took the usual couple of hours to get ready and actually start floating... this guy was ready to go!
There were a lot of ducks following us, and they appreciated the snacks. Neal took this picture because I look annoyed. Why? read on...
About 10 minutes into our float, Austin moved to adjust in the raft, and his goggles (which he insisted on bringing) caught on his toe and flipped into the river. I reacted as fast as I could, but they sank too fast. He freaked out harder than I have ever seen. Crying, screaming, gagging from his crying... for (no joke) almost 30 minutes. He WOULD NOT STOP.
We told him it was ok. Goggles are replaceable. We would go buy him a new pair. It was an accident. He wasn't going to need them anyway because the river was FREEZING and despite what he thought, he would not be swimming underwater in it, thus not needing the goggles. Nothing helped. He continued to scream until Neal and I were over it and just sat there annoyed until he decided to stop.
Finally a smile from him. Took long enough. The whole float was over 4 hours (longer than we thought) so at least we got to enjoy the last 3 hours of it.
We all managed to only get slightly sunburned, so we did pretty good for a long float! It was really calm water the whole time.
Sunday we went to the big pool and had another disaster with Austin. Things started fine, and he swam hard for about an hour, then we had lunch...
We made him wait 30 mins after lunch (which isn't the longest amount of time, but he didn't eat a ton either) but wouldn't you know it... a few minutes after getting back in the pool, he was rushing out and puked on the grass. Ugh. That was fun to clean up with some napkins.
So we made him rest longer, and when he went back in the pool, he got the urge to puke again!! So we left and went home and called it a day. The pool wasn't working for him.
Sunday night we enjoyed a dinner out in the Village!
Downtime at the house involved lots of building for this guy. He loves any kind of brick, block, shape that he can build with.
Monday we did our parent-switch day again. Allyn and I got the morning free to go shopping and get pedicures, and the guys got the afternoon off to golf. That afternoon us Moms took the kids to the pool again. Austin ate over an hour before we went, and ate really light, some grapes and cheese and crackers. And.... yep. Puked again. Over and over and over. To the point where we just had to leave the pool again.
We can't figure it out. Our only thought is that he's swimming SO HARD with his diving, and going under the water and coming up for air, that he's swallowing a ton of air and/or water and it's making him sick. His stomach would puff out huge and hard, so there was definitely some air in there. I hope we don't have the same issue next year. Poor kid was so disappointed and miserable, having to get out to puke all the time.
Monday night we were just low-key at the house. Austin's tummy still hurt him from swimming earlier. The kids learned how to play War.
Tuesday was our day to go home, so we spent the morning packing, then went to the Village to play and walk around. Austin was big enough for the bumper cars this year and he was so excited!!!
He had this stern look of determination on his face the whole time, it was hilarious.
The Village train is always a hit. It's a 10-min ride around the Village and the kids want to go over and over.
Ice cream before heading back home!
We had a good time, but I'll be honest. It wasn't as much fun as last year. Austin getting sick at the pool was stressful, the float snafu with the goggles wasn't fun, and we all really missed Owen and felt like something was "off" the whole time without him there.
Next year I hope we get to go again, with the whole family! And hopefully Austin's swimming skills will improve and we'll have a better time at the pool.
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