Larson Family Trip in Bend in late August

My mom planned back in January to get a large house in Bend so our whole family could stay together.  This was of course before COVID.  We were anxiously waiting to see if we could go but the cases in Bend stayed relatively low and we isolated for 2 weeks and felt relatively safe going.  We planned wearing masks inside and to try to spend as much time outside as possible.  My sister Tory planned on driving to Bend with her family and Rachel and I with our families drove over. We chose a Saturday to Wednesday trip and I ended up taking the week off.  We drove over around noon on Wednesday and got to the house by 3:00.  My sister Tory and my parents were already there earlier in the week at another Airbnb so they were already there.  The house that we stayed at was amazing.  It was a 6 bedroom house with 3 full bathrooms and a huge finished man cave garage separated from the ouse.  There was also a separate tiny house/studio that my dad got to stay in that had a bedroom/kitchen and bathroom.  The best part of the house was a huge wrap around deck and a very large fun fenced property.  

The cousins were all so happy to be reunited and had a fun first day watching TV together and exploring the house.  Teddy and Lulu enjoyed exploring the property and being reunited with Pumpkin.  We had a yummy dinner of grilled hamburgers and had a fun game of pool in the garage.  We loved watching the sunset on the deck.

Cousin time on the couch

The next day we got up and Sean made us all a yummy breakfast.  We decided to do one fun activity a day and decided to go to Elk Lake for the afternoon to do some swimming in the lake.  We had to hike down to the lake but the whole family was able to make it.  We set up a canopy and brought both dogs.  The kids had fun playing in the lake and it was quite warm.  We blew our our giant frog float and had fun floating in it at the lake.  There were pretty sailboats in the lake that were fun to watch.  Someone had made a fun teepee near where we set up camp and Lulu and Teddy liked going in it.  The little kids loved the water and the floats and they had a fun shallow area.  It was a really fun day.

Sean and Callie walking to the beach

Swimming with Daddy

Having fun near the banks at the lake

It was a little cold at first

Sean and Brandon had fun swimming

Beautiful Elk Lake

Tee pee fort

Fun swimming 

Sierra loved the donut float

Having fun watching her cousins

such good balance standing on the logs

Lulu and Teddy liked watching the kids swim

These two had a blast swimming

Teddy and Liv having fun in the teepee 

The next day we got up and decided to go to Tumalo Falls.  The younger kids went to a park in Bend whereas my family, Tory and Tom, and Callie went to the Falls.  I was excited to go to the Falls as I had never been there despite all our time spent in Sun River and it was on my bucket list of things to do near Bend.  We decided to bring all 3 dogs with us so they could get a good walk in.  The hike to the falls is about 1 mile each way.  You can see the falls immediately from the parking lot but can walk further and see another smaller falls that were beautiful as well.  The hike was dusty but not super muddy.  We got to wade through a creek which was fun.  We got to the top of the second falls and I got a little freaked out with the edge and worrying about the kids falling.  Brandon, Sean, and Tom got to go out and look at the Falls while Liv, Tory, and I stayed back with the dogs.  Everyone made it back safe and sound though.

Dog time out on the porch

Liv and Teddy on the porch

The three doodles

Watching Tumalo Falls

Beautiful Tumalo Falls

Family shot at the falls and Brandon was being naughty 

Baby Callie got a ride on Tory's back

The dogs liked exploring the trail

Crossing the creek

The kids liked crossing the creek

Trail hike

Top of the cliff where I freaked out

Falls from my view

Liv and Auntie Tory

All of us watching the boys go over near the cliff

Sean took this awesome picture of Brandon near the falls

When we got back from hiking we had fun relaxing at the house. We went in the hot tub and the little kids napped.  Then we had an early dinner at Rogue Brewery and their food trucks.  This was great because it was all outside and there were picnic benches everywhere.  The kids enjoyed running around.  Olivia and Sierra got yummy snow cones and Brandon and Sean shared a fried Twinkie.  We came back from dinner and had a fun night playing games out on our deck watching the sunset.  

Playing with Sierra on the lawn

Cartwheels!

Dinner at Rogue Brewery

So funny watching Callie eat this giant piece of pizza

The two girls enjoying their snow cones

Fried Twinkie!

Evenings out on the deck at our Bend house

Such beautiful views of the Deschutes River

Pool time in the garage 

We were sad that our trip was almost over.  On our last full day we spent the day at Tumalo State Park.  The park was beautiful and huge with the Deschutes River going through it.  The kids loved swimming in the river and hanging out. Both Teddy and Lulu who love swimming loved it as well.  The kids loved swimming across the river to the other end.  It was a fun way to end our last day in Bend.  

Swimming at Tumalo State Park

The dogs loved swimming in the river

Swimming to the other side

We had to say goodbye to our beautiful Bend house and our family.  It was so nice to get out of our bubble and to spend time with family.  We hadn't seen Tory's family since last Christmas and with COVID we weren't able to do our normal flight to California like we normally do.  We were sad to say goodbye to CiCi and Baba too who we only got see sporadically on long weekends as well.  Tory's family came back to Portland to stay a few days as it was very smokey from Wildfires in California and we got to go see her at Mt. Tabor Park a day later and go on a walk and play hide and go seek.  Little did we know that we soon would be getting horrible wildfires ourselves in Oregon.

Fun at Mt. Tabor Park

Cousin fun

We enjoyed exploring Mt. Tabor park