Vacaaaaaaaaaaaaation!

So, tomorrow we'll have been back from vacation a week, and I suppose it's time to write about it. :)

First things first:

I love Redmond, OR. I mean, love. Love, love, love. Want-to-pack-up-our-house-and-move-there-right-now love. I love high desert. I love how it's dry, but green; golden, but colorful; sunny and warm, but with storms and snow and big puffy white clouds.

Our place of residence for the week was a resort condo. 2 bed, 2 bath, with a fireplace, gas bbq (that we never used) and a full kitchen. Right across the road was a nice park, just down the street was a gym, and around the corner was a day spa with an indoor pool, outdoor hottubs, aerobics classes (ZUMBA!), and weight machines. We spent a lot of time there. Both George and I got massages, I went to a couple of Zumba classes (FUN!) and the kids enjoyed the 1.5' deep indoor kiddie pool. Especially Patrick. He loooooved being in the water just up to his chest and being able to walk around! (with mommy and daddy right next to him, of course). We bought little pink and blue innertubes for Raia and Errol to swim with in the bigger pool, and they had a blast.

We ate most of our meals at the condo, venturing out during the day to explore the area. We went to the High Desert Museum in Bend while there was snow on the ground (half the exhibits are outside!) It was cold, but fun. They had native animals on exhibit, like an owl, eagles, a lynx, and some turtles. There were settler's cabins, a model of a one-room school house with a "teacher" there to show the kids how to read their Prairie Primers and write with a slate pencil, and an Oregon Trail wagon with a real "pioneer" there to answer questions about the trail and describe what all the equipment inside the wagon was for. I would love to go back.

We also went shopping a bit, and put on an Easter Egg hunt for the kids inside the condo. They loved it. :) What they loved most though was the cable. They watched so much Nick Jr. and Playhouse Disney. George and I watched a lot of Comedy Central and I watched TLC (I love What Not to Wear and Say Yes to the Dress!)

Raia and Errol had their own beds in their own bedroom down stairs, and George and I had a queen bed and jetted tub upstairs (although using the the tub was a disaster because the jets were VERY strong. It made a huge, wet mess). Poor Patrick slept on the floor in the walk-in closet. It was the only enclosed place we could think of to put him. :op I usually put him to bed downstairs, sitting in one of the rocking chairs and watching TLC at low volume, then laid him down on the hide-a-bed (the livingroom couch) so that George and I could watch some TV upstairs. But because we didn't have a baby monitor, and I didn't want him rolling off of the bed in the middle of the night (even though it was a queen-size), I would bring up him upstairs to sleep in the closet after we were done with the TV.

This was our "George is done with school!" celebratory vacation, and I'm so glad we did it. It was so nice to have a whole week of nobody having any claim on our time. If we wanted to go to the park when the sun was out, we went to the park. If we wanted to veg in front of the TV, we vegged in front of the TV. If we wanted to go to the pool, we went to the pool. There were no school scheduals or project deadlines or anything like that to worry about. It was a very much needed time away; time to reconnect as a family. I was so sad to come home on Sunday. :(