My trip to Oregon

Oh, I had such a good time. My son and his family rented a house in Sunriver, Oregon. In this resort-type development, there are tons of bike trails, a water park, horse stables, the river, etc. I got there late on Friday night.
On Saturday we spent most of the day at the High Desert Museum, located about five miles south of Bend, Oregon. I have been to a number of these kid-friendly, hands-on, interactive museums and I believe this one is the best I have been to. They had the usual animal shows and you got to pet the animals that were pettable (a snake is pettable and a baby porcupine is not). But the area that was the biggest hit with the kids, particularly William, was the Miller Family Ranch and Sawmill from the early 1900's. They had a big dirt area with hand farming implements, such as a plow. William plowed and he plowed and he plowed. He was then dragged off to see the shows and have lunch and things, and then begged to come back and darned if he didn't plow some more. This was great fun to watch.

After the museum we went to the water park. I suspect in the hierarchy of water parks, this is not a particularly sophisticated one, but it certainly provided enough entertainment for a 7 year old, a five year old and me. They had this lily pad (see the picture) thing activity with I guess six loosely tethered lily pads that you were supposed to walk across to get to the other side. You were supposed to accomplish this by holding on to this cargo netting above you. This cargo netting dips down in the middle. The kids that did the best were the smaller ones because they could just monkey bar the cargo netting at the beginning and the end and then basically hold on and walk across in the middle. (That's my granddaughter easily getting across.) I do not qualify as a small kid. (That's my pudgy knee in the left of the picture.) I am extremely proud of the fact that I was the oldest person that I saw actually make it across. It required solid upper body strength and for that I say, "Thank you, Crossfit." It may not have been pretty. I know it wasn't elegant, but I got across.
William and I went down this big water slide in this double inner tube. He says I screamed. I know that I only squealed with delight.
So, totally great day.
On Sunday morning the kids and I bicycled to breakfast and then we rode out to the horse stables. We had read that the stables had a requirement that you be seven years old before you were allowed on the trail ride. So we went out to see if there was any way around that. The answer was "no, but we don't check ID."
Sunday afternoon we drove out to a lake, the name of which escapes me at the moment. This was great fun. William got to drive the boat all over the lake, which pleased him enormously. His mother and father got to relax in the sun and read and that pleased them enormously. After the boat trip we did get in some hiking and trail running (the kids and I – the mommy and daddy were content to lag behind).
After dinner on Sunday we went on the bumper cars and all pent-up hostility was released.
Another great day.
On Monday we went to the river to go kayaking. The idea was that you kayak up the river and then you turn around and let the river pretty much drift you back. The place was completely out of two-person kayaks, but since the kids were small Alexandra and I just put them in our kayaks. Sounds good, but let's talk about kayaking up river. Up river, meaning against the current. Where there are these eddies. Which can spin you around or send you to parts of the river where you did not wish to be. When you have a kid in front of you and do not have full range of motion when you try to paddle. Hmmm. Alexandra and I made it probably half way before we gave up and turned around. Michael went somewhat further. The most fun about this was after Alexandra and I got back and were waiting for Michael. William turned himself into unpaid help for the kayak place. He guided returning kayakers back in and he pulled the kayaks out of the water onto the grass. The employees were a little startled at first and then they just let him do it. In between returning kayaks William and Catherine played and swam in the river.
On Monday afternoon we went horseback riding. Michael didn't go. We carefully coached the kids that Catherine was 7 and we advanced William to 8. While he already was old enough to go on the trail ride, it didn't seem to be logical that he and Catherine were the same age. The kids did great on the ride. Catherine never forgot her cover story, but one of the guides chatted up William and as far as I can tell, he disclosed his entire life story, including how old he was and how old his sister was. The guide never batted an eye. I don't think William is cut out to be an undercover agent.
Alas, Tuesday morning, bright and early, I was on the airplane back to the real world. It really was quite a fun trip. There were lots of activities, but it wasn't so over-scheduled that you never had a moment to breath.