Wild Weather Weekend

Well, we're back from our weekend in Sunriver, Oregon. And I must say it was a weird one...when it comes to weather. We have been going here every year for the last 10 years, and twice a year for the last 5 years, and never have we experienced the weather we experienced this last week. It felt like we lived through all 4 seasons in 4 days! I was sad in the sense that we didn't do much bike riding which is always a huge highlight. And I didn't get the pictures I normally get. You'll have to head down to a few posts ago to see some "real" vacation pics. I truly love vacationing in Sunriver because it is beautiful, relaxing and just amazing. I did post several pics of this last weekend and I'll narrate under each one. We did go to the Family Fun Center in Bend where we bowled and played all the fun "token" games. We also saw the new Narnia movie. It was good. Not quite as action packed as the first ones but still good. KAT went white water rafting with one of the leaders who went with us and the two seniors. She had a blast. She's a risk taker that way! The food was yummy, and it was a nice, relaxing time. We usually go there over hwy. 26, which is over Mt. Hood, and then we head back over Santiam Pass which is just a different way because we love to stop in Woodburn, Oregon and go to the huge outlet mall there. Another favorite little town of ours other than Sunriver and Bend, is Sister, Oregon with a population of a whopping 1,706 people...in the off season. But come summer it sky rockets. It is a super cute town with lots of fun shops. We decided we needed to stop there if we go back to Sunriver in September. We used to stop on the way home but haven't for the last few years. Well, as exciting as I wish our trip was, it just wasn't....but it was nice don't get me wrong. I'll just narrate the pics. Check out the links I included

On the way to Sunriver, we head over Hwy 26 which takes us over Mt. Hood (which normally doesn't have this much if any snow in May!) This was at a rest stop. Those are the chair lifts.

This was.....somewhere....I think getting close to Redmond, Oregon, but I just thought the tip of the mountain coming through the clouds looked cool. I didn't have time to do any editing to any pictures so sorry if they're not that great. Plus I took this out of a moving car! My hubby likes to get where he's going and with 7 other people in the car we weren't stopping...sigh...maybe when just our family goes in the fall I can wrangle him into stopping more...though then a 4 hour trip might become 6 and I don't think they'll go for that...anyone want to go on a sightseeing, picture taking trip with me (C:

At the Family Fun Center. We have so much fun at this place. We usually mini-golf too but the weather would not allow that. NAN always uses this thing, since even the 6 pound ball is slightly heavy for her little 55lb. frame....yeah....she's 9!

KAT and her dad! I love their relationship. I'm so thankful for it. "Okay....I can do this...." KAT trying the Dance, Dance Revolution.

"NO DEAL!!!" Playing Deal or No Deal at the fun center.

I know the exposure and focus are lousy on this but I had to include it because it totally looks like she's parallel to the ground...which she very likely was!

She is always sticking her tongue out!

On the tennis courts before the crazy storm...The shirt ETM stands for "Expect the Miracles" Our young adults designed and printed them. So......to explain some of the weird weather. We arrived in Sunriver on Thursday night. It rained non-stop. When we woke up on Friday morning there was a very fine dusting of snow. So Friday is when we headed to the Fun Center. Saturday morning looked a little more promising so we headed for the tennis courts and park (above picture). Four of the 8 of us decided maybe they should go white water rafting. Which they did at 1:00. At 3:30 when the other four of us were at the village we heard a large clap of thunder (that scared everyone in the vicinity...I haven't heard thunder like that since I lived in Ohio), followed by lightening and a downpour of hail...which leads to the next picture.

This is what the road looked like as we drove from the village back to our house. Some side roads were covered. It looked like snow! It thundered, lighteninged (I know, not a word, but oh well), and hailed for a good 30 minutes or more. Thankfully the rafters didn't get anything....yay!

Our Sunday trip to the village with silly girls trying on sunglasses. (the girl on the left is a senior and the other gal is one of our leaders...she co-leads our 11th and 12th grade girls small group)

Beautiful women of God walking through the village. Yes in all that wild weather my daughter chose to wear shorts and a coat.....she had flip flops on too.

The Old Mill District. Cool shops and just cool area. The young man is the other senior that went with us.

Posing with the pigeon man...can't see it but there is a pigeon on his back.

The entrance to Sunriver. I just thought the clouds were really cool looking.

Heading home! She was a bit tired after having to get up early and going to bed so late.

The Santiam River....The link has some neat pics. There were so many other shots I would have liked to have taken of this beautiful river, but remember I'm with 7 other people who want to get back and go shopping at the outlet stores, so I had to settle for taking this out of the window....while it was rolled up...not too bad.

A small pond with snow and forest fire burned trees. Several years ago (2003) there was a huge fire through this pass called the Booth Fire and the Bear Butte Fire. This link has pics. I believe they were two fires that came together. Even now driving through I am amazed at how much burned. I wish I could have stopped to take this picture, but still I think it turned out pretty cool through a moving vehicle with the window rolled up.

Again, we experienced snow. You can't really see how burned the trees were. I was hoping to get a good shot of them but again.....moving vehicle....

So there you have it. Our crazy weather trip.

With Joy UNquenchable,