Pomerleau Family Blog: Sun River Christmas break fun 2016

For the first time we went to Sun River in the winter time. For the past three years we have been going to Sun River every summer. Sean and I have been to Sun River and Eagle Crest resort area in the winter before but we haven't gone just with our family. We tried to go with the Mowery family a few years ago but unfortunately they came down with the stomach flu so we opted to go to the Oregon Coast instead. We were set to check in to our Sun River home Friday afternoon (December 16th) at the start of Brandon's winter break by 4:00 PM. Brandon also was supposed to have his Gingerbread house decorating session with his school that afternoon that Sean and I were going to go with him to it and then leave for Sun River right after. Due to the crazy Snowmaggedon we got in Portland, they canceled Brandon's school for Friday late in the afternoon in Thursday. Bend also got a crazy amount of snow during this time too right before we got there. They got almost 2 feet of snow.

We lucked out with the weather that the temperatures in Portland warmed up a bit over freezing when we left. We left at about 1:00 PM and decided to take Hwy 26 which is a much more traveled road and tends to be plowed better than Hwy 22/20 way that we normally go over Santiam Pass. It also is not quite as high elevation wise. We grabbed some lunch on our way out of town and were able to make it to Bend by 4:30 PM. The kids did great in the car and Liv napped for part of the time. Hwy 26 had some really beautiful scenery once we got past Government Camp. The sun was shining and there was snow every where. We drove along the Deschutes River for a bit and then back over another small mountain pass into Madras and then down into Redmond. Sean and I decided to stop in Bend at a Growler house we had heard that had some good local beer. We thought it was just off of the freeway but it ended up being quite into Bend. With all the snow in the area it was quite a trek to the Growler guys station which was inside a gas station. We made it and had fun trying some of the good local beer and then took our Growlers back to Sun River with us. Since it was getting pretty late at this point we decided to order pizza at Blondie's from the road and pick it up on our way into Sun River. We got to our Sun River house by 6:00 PM and unloaded the car and put everything away. We were quite impressed with the house since it was so cheap and it was owned by 7 local Portland firefighters we found out after reading the guest book. It was a nice open concept house with a kitchen, living room, dining room area all together and two good size bedrooms and a master bedroom and a bathroom. The house seemed larger too since it was a single level home. There was a large 8 person hot tub out on the deck off of the Master bedroom. It was very snowy and beautiful when we got there. That night we had a blast going in the hot tub. It was negative 3 degrees outside and very cold, our coldest night of the trip.

The beautiful drive over to Sun River

And the snow kept growing and growing on our way over

Silly Brandon dancing at our rental house on the night we got there. I guess he had some energy...

Unfortunately, I woke up the next morning with a very bad cold and was very congested. I had caught Brandon's cold! I was determined to still have a fun day though even though I wasn't feeling very well. Sean made breakfast and we all got dressed and went to the Sun River lodge where they had some holiday festivities going on. There was snow all around the Lodge and the parking lot and huge drifts that were higher than Olivia. We got into the warm lodge and they had a really cute life-size real Gingerbread house and other cute Christmas decorations. We got some cute photos snapped of our family by the nice lodge lady and then went up to the banquet room where they had real gingerbread houses on display by local schools and families. The work that these families and schools did was amazing! I snapped a few pictures of my favorite ones. They had a fun "Build a bear" themed stuff animal making worksheet at the lodge with seasonal animals. Brandon chose a dragon and Olivia chose a snow leopard. The kids did a great job stuffing their animals and put little hearts in them and then named them and they got their birth certificates. Brandon named his dragon "Toothless" and Olivia named her snow leopard "Taffy" a favorite name of her's at this age. Olivia picked out a cute dress outfit for Taffy and then they got to ride back to the house in their "Car seats." We got back to the house and then had some lunch and decided to go down the inner tube hill nearby. You were supposed to be four to go down the tubing hill and we were able to convince them that Olivia was four...she went down the hill three times by herself and did great and loved it! Then she got cold and we headed to our favorite candy store Goody's in the Village. We let the kids pick out some special candy and Sean got some yummy carmel and cheddar popcorn. We then headed back to the house and went in the hot tub to warm up with our candy. Sean made a yummy steak dinner that night and we made the kids Mac and Cheese. We then got the kids to bed early and I got some time to blog and to read my book by the fire.

Our backyard full of snow

Beautiful morning snow to wake up to

Family shot at the Sun River lodge

Our family in front of the Christmas display at the Sun River lodge

Checking out the gingerbread house displays

Checking out the cute displays

Mt. Bachelor!

One of the favorite displays a Sun River village replica

Stuffing taffy the snow leopard

Brandon working on his little dragon

Taffy the snow leopard being stuffed

Toothless the dragon being stuffed

One of our favorite gingerbread house displays

Olivia enjoying the tubbing-she never wanted to get out!

Brandon having fun!

The next day was Sunday and it was Sean's 35th birthday. The kids were super excited to spend the day with Daddy on his birthday. Sean's Raiders also were playing on his birthday which was special. Sean made us all yummy bacon stuffed pancakes, very rich and a favorite among Brandon. Sean got to open up his presents from us (his main present was an iPhone 7 he got early) but he also got a few presents from the kids and myself including a cute plaid flannel shirt I got him at the GAP. Sean then took the kids swimming (a nice break for me again blogging and hanging out in the hot tub and reading). The kids came back and then went into the hot tub with me again. We had lunch and then I took Brandon with me sledding and tubing. Olivia did not want to go this time and Sean tried to get her to take a nap (which unfortunately she did not do). Brandon and I had a blast tubing and then we went off with our own sleds on some side hills. After that we got back and then headed out to Sean's favorite restaurant/brew house in Bend, Worthy Brewing. The Mowery family who had just gotten to Eagle Crest the prior night decided to meet us there. We had a fun dinner except Olivia was cranky because she did not nap much and was kind in a bad mood. Little did we know that she was coming down with a really bad cold, which is probably why she was so cranky. We got back home and got the kids to bed (with a bad outburst on Olivia's side and a huge tantrum) and then were so tired from the day that we just hung out reading and then went to bed early. Sean was also unfortunately not feeling well and had caught the bad cold that I had at the beginning of the trip (not a fun birthday present!).

There was a lot of bacon even the night before when Sean made bacon wrapped asparagus!

Bacon filled pancakes!

The kids swimming with Daddy on his birthday

The next day was our last day at Sun River. We had a lot of fun but it seemed like a good time to be heading back home. The Mowery family came over to our house to hang out and see Sun River for the day. Sean made an awesome Chicken Noodle soup from scratch that he shared with them and I got some Garlic bread at the Sun River store. Sean made his chicken stock from scratch and it took most of the day to cook. All the kids played for a while in our house and then we bundled up and went to the tubing hill. Olivia was super into the tubing hill (unlike the second day that Brandon and I went). She loved it and kept wanting to do it over and over again. Her friend Addie was not so much of a fan. Poor baby Luke was not so much of a fan either and got cold. We headed home and had lunch and then all went in the hot tub. We hung out at the hot tub and around the house the rest of the day and enjoyed Sean's yummy chicken noodle soup. A good end to a fun trip to Sun River. Unfortunately poor Sean came down with my terrible cold and poor Olivia did as well. After not having naps for several days Olivia went to bed really early only to wake up for several hours to play in the middle of the night! We left to go back home the next day and made it home safely after a fun lunch at Black Bear Diner in Madras.