Bend

We spent a 3 day weekend in Bend taking some time out from the daily grind!  We love the laid back atmosphere of Bend and the plentiful sunshine!  The weather was wonderful with sun in Bend and snow on the mountain!  It was a much needed getaway with swimming, sledding, shopping and eating and just enjoying each other's company at a little slower pace! 

This is Mt. Hood on the way back from Bend.  We got stuck in
horrible traffic over the pass and what should have been a 3 hr
drive actually took us 6.  On the bright side, it was beautiful, and
Aiden got an entire book read from start to finish!

Ava at Powell's Candy Store!  What an awesome place.  Both
kids got to pick out 2 things.  Ava chose "Angry Birds" gummies
and one of the huge lollipops in this picture.

Fly Boy chose Reese's Peanut Butter cups and a mixture
of candy from the bulk bins including Malted Milk Balls!

This is Ava in a used book store/coffee shop we visited.
She found a couple of books and read them to her
imaginary class from this "teacher rocking chair."

My handsome husband waiting for Ava to finish
"teaching her class."

The guys at Good Life Brewery.  Bend has wonderful breweries, and
Brien was in charge of picking the ones he wanted to visit.  He did
an awesome job.

The girls at Good Life

Ava ready to swim!  Ava has come so far.  She swims independently
not to mention she is actually more than 36" now and can touch
the bottom in the shallow end.  She was a little fish!

Aiden relaxing with a snack in the hotel room.

Day 1 of sledding.  It was snowing quite a bit! 

Ava sledding independently.  Again, this was new for Ava to enjoy this without our help. 
She was happy to go halfway up the hill, and sled down by herself.  She would
get up and do it again and again.  She lasted the longest and even after
3 hrs the first day wasn't agreeable to leaving until we told her we would
come back the next day!

Angel?

Here she is in another coffee shop dancing away!

More uninhibited dancing...

Ava catching up on the Bend Bulletin.  Because she can read now,
she found out quite a bit of surprising news!

This is a bicycling beer tour.  You sit on the seats and pedal from
brewery to brewery to sample brews.  Brien thought this was pure
genius and although I encouraged him to do the 2 hr tour, he felt it
was better left for a time when a buddy could enjoy it with him
Note:  They were fixing something here which is why the guy is on the
ground. :)

The guys at 10 Barrell Brewery (our favorite brewery).

The girls at 10 Barrell.