Bend Outdoors

We've been taking advantage of our beautiful, blue sky weather by going on hikes and bike rides.  Here are a few pictures of one the last hikes we went on.

A perfect and simple hike for all of us!

There were the most amazing views of the Deschutes on every turn.  Love having these places so close :)

Date night #2

Last night we went out on our second ever solo date night since having Talia!  Now that we've found a babysitter, we've taken advantage of her services a few times, but this was the first time by ourselves.  Since we usually only go earlier in the evening as it can be a struggle getting Talia to bed, we did a happy hour version of a mini-brew pub crawl and were back by 8!  We tried out Rat Hole Brewery and Bend Brew Werks for the first time and then went to an old staple, Deschutes Brewery.  And we actually documented our night with a selfie this time!  Looking forward to trying out more places in the future!

Horrible picture of me, but isn't that what selfies are all about??!

3 1/2 - wow!!

I cannot believe how much Tristan has grown in the past year, let alone the past six months.  We were just watching videos the other day from a year ago and it's amazing to see how much he's changed!  3 1/2 really marks the end of being a little boy - he is such a big boy now!!

*He still LOVES his "Cars movie cars" as calls them.  (Not to be confused with his Hotwheel cars :)  He races them all day every day and likes to reenact scenes from the movie.  He probably has close to 40 of them and knows all of their names and what their roles are (racing cars, watchers, friends, etc.)  He earns a new car every time he fills out his chart and he is so proud to go to the store to pick out a new car after completing it!

*He also loves to race with his sister or cousin Eli.  They'll start at the fridge in the kitchen and then go all the way to front door, back and forth, back and forth. 

*Cars has definitely replaced his all-day jam session on the guitar and drums like he used to do, but he'll still pick up his guitar or drumsticks if he hears a really good song on the radio :)

*We are starting to have more playdates with some of our new friends here and, although he can by pretty shy in the beginning, he's really loving meeting and playing with all of his new friends!

*He has known all his letters, colors, shapes, numbers, etc. for quite awhile, but is now working on writing and drawing all of these on his own now!

*He can trace his name and can write it when looking at it, but we're still working on writing all seven letters all by himself!

*He loves his sister and wants to play with her all the time.  If she's napping, he always wants her to wake up so he can play with his sissy.  So sweet :)

*He is still such a lover and cuddler.  My favorite time of the day is when I put him to bed and read him about 4-5 books, then cuddle with him until he falls asleep.  I love this uninterrupted time and being able to read these books together.  It's one of my most favorite things!

My sweetheart :)

This is a good depiction of their relationship - Talia doing something funny while Tristan sits back and laughs at her :)  Love their relationship!

He loves his sissy :)

Always racing cars

 

Cars movie cars

Lined and ready for their race!

Neck and neck!

He's so proud to display his Cars in their suitcase when they're not in use!

Seriously, this is what he does all day :)

His Cars are racing the Hotwheels.  I'm pretty sure I know who's going to win this one :)

Friends in Bend!!

This past weekend we had three of our dearest couple friends come over for a few nights.  I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that we've been looking forward to this for months!!  These three couples are a few of the last of our friends to not have kids yet, so we knew that it would be a big deal to have kid-less people be under the same roof with two toddlers, but I think we made it worth their while :)  It's always a good time when you get the eight of us together!!

Talia hanging with the "big kids" on our first night

My girls + Greg

Our second night, we got a babysitter from 3-8, so decided to take advantage of what Bend is known for and do a mini-brew pub tour.  Enjoying ourselves some Boneyard Beer on our first stop.

Serious bromance with Brian and his boys

Second stop with an impressive fire pit - GoodLife Brewery

I miss this girl!

And this girl, too.  Lots of good times over the past 16+ years with this one :)  And an even more impressive fire pit at our third stop, Crux.  It was like a hole-y fire ball.  Along with their beer, apparently Bend also enjoys their fire pits! 

Papa's 50th birthday beach weekend

After a very busy Halloween, we got up early the next day to make the trek to Gleneden Beach (cute little beach between Lincoln City & Depoe Bay) for Papa's 50th birthday.  (I know, our step-dad is young!)  Great meals, kite flying, long walks along the beach and playing with the cousins made it a perfect birthday get-together.  What a wonderful weekend at a beautiful beach house with some of our favorite people!  (And thanks to Grama & Papa's good friends who let us use their amazing house!!)

Family photo opp before we got to Gleneden Beach

Beautiful view from the deck!

 

I could never get tired of this...

Talia always trying to keep up with the boys

Love my girl :)

Amazing sunset on our first night

Cuddled up with the birthday boy in the media room

Putting the finishing touches on Papa's bday cake

The bday spread

Had to resort to this while waiting for dinner

The chefs, Brian and Aunt Bridg, putting the final touches on a super scrumptious bday dinner

The next day, we headed down to the beach to build sand castles and to fly kites

Her beach finest

Mulit-tasking - flying a kite and chasing after Talia

T's first time flying a kite!

Taking a walk with Papa

Perfect conditions for kite flying

:)

Another amazing sunset on our second night!

Cuddling with Papa was definitely a weekend favorite

And Talia getting her snuggle time in with Grama, too :)

Checking out the view with the telescope and binoculars on our third night

Sad to not wake up to this every morning, but glad we were able to spend four wonderful days here!

Happy Halloween!

After weeks of planning, days of baking and staying up late to decorate for the Halloween party, I was a bit pooped after it was over (and that was only at noon!).  But we still had the rest of the day to celebrate Halloween and an evening of trick-or-treating to get ready for, so with a large cup of coffee in hand, I pulled it together and we kept on going - whew!

Since our neighborhood is a great place for trick-or-treating, we had the Goodys over and set out with our buckets in hand.  And disappoint it did not!  One of the great things about our neighborhood is that there are blocks and blocks of amazing families all around us.  And all of these families know how to celebrate this holiday.  Many people go all out in decorating the outside of their house.  Some people even played spooky music to go along with their décor.  Some had over-the-top haunted houses.  Some even sat outside with fire pits and drinks in hand, passing out their supply of candy to the masses of kids walking by.  And then there were some who knew this needed to be a holiday for the adults, too, as one passed out wizard concoctions (basically shots :) at their mad scientist lab they set up in their driveway, while another had a hot dog station set up for hungry customers.  Just another reason to love living where we do :)

Spider-Man and his sidekick Spider-Girl

Trying to go along with the kids' costume theme, I was supposed to be Cat Woman, but Tristan thought I was a character from "What Does the Fox Say".  Oops.

All ready to go out!  And Eli's second costume change of the day.

This is how Talia rolled.  So much easier to manage a one year old this way.  I was pretty sure we were going to lose the boys in the huge masses of people.  It probably would have been easier if we had had a bigger wagon to corral all three of them!

Love the Halloween décor!  I'll have to remember to make our house more "smooky" (as Tristan calls it :) next year.

Someone decided to jump ship and chase after the boys for her first trick-or-treating experience. 

People come from all over to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood, as is evidenced by the long lines of kids at some of the houses. And there were a few other Spider-Men, too :)

Brian went as someone from Duck Dynasty.  Pretty fitting I'd say.