Trip to smoky Bend

We were lucky to spend August 1-4 with Grandma and Grandpa Springer, who were at a timeshare in Redmond, Oregon (near Bend) for a week. It was great to see them, visit with them, cook meals with them, do lots of fun outdoor activities with them, and breathe in lots of toxic air with them.  ???  Raging wildfires all throughout Oregon created smoky, particulate-filled air. I'm not entirely sure if it was wise, but we still golfed, swam, rode bikes, took walks, etc even though the air was pretty terrible!

The boys went golfing and loved it. Joseph got to drive the golf cart for most of the time, until an employee came by to say that golf cart drivers have to be 18 or older.  

When Joseph had to stop driving the golf cart, the smile just melted off his face.

 We all rented bikes and rode twice around the resort. At first Dan and Joseph rode in the really cute and torturous side by side recumbent bike. It was SOOO difficult to peddle. After awhile Aubrey took over for Dan and then we switched it in for road or cruiser bikes for everyone. I loved my cruiser!

If you look close at the pictures (that I took while riding my bike because I'm talented liked that), you can see the smoke hanging all around us.

We had the swimming pool all to ourselves! Dan did a really cool handstand walking trick. Joseph tried it too and found that it was harder than he thought.

 We ate lots of good meals together and played Quiddler one of the nights.

 We had ice cream to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. Joseph had this little Ben and Jerry's chocolate. At first he scoffed at the small size, but then decided that it was perfect!

 And, driving out of town and back to Vancouver on Labor Day. It's hard to tell from this picture, but there are supposed to be mountains just in front of us, but the smoke completely obscured them. Once we got home we expected better air quality, but that next day a major fire started in our favorite place in Oregon - the Gorge! The smoke and ash from the Gorge fire caused major issues for air quality in Vancouver and Portland for the next two weeks.