Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day Weekend we drove down to Bend to spend one last big hoorah with our family before moving in a few weeks. We are very glad we did! We had an awesome time and will miss being so close to family.

We decided to go caving in Boyd Cave and take Tyson with us. He loves exploring, loves rocks and getting dirty, and flashlights are especially cool! I had no doubt that this would be a perfect activity for him!

(Notice his handy little headlight? He was so pumped about that!)

Looking for the cave entrance and smiling every second!

Found it!

Tyson didn't even wait for us to finish climbing down the stairs or turn his headlight on! He just took off running into the dark, dark cave without a backward glance! What a fearless little man I have!

Me and "Papa Bruce"

This was the coolest part of the cave. We had to belly crawl a few feet through this tight little tunnel. We got so dirty! I absolutely love the pure joy on Tyson's face in this picture!

I want to remind you that the cave was pitch black. The blackest black you can even imagine. We just have an especially great camera, apparently! :) Tyson had the time of his life climbing over boulders, throwing small pebbles, and squeezing through tunnels down under the earth. It was a great day!

Driving home with Papa Bruce on a back-country road.

We got out on our way home to check out another cave and Tyson took off running down this "Red Dirt Road." I am so excited for the day that I can give my boys some space to run freely and play outside all day! Nothing beats that!

Another day we decided to go for a hike out behind the house. Ahhh....to be out of the city and breathe fresh mountain air.....it was glorious!

David decided to re-live his childhood and climb a tree. The branches were brittle and sharp, and the tree was covered in red ants! Why is it that when we are younger those thoughts don't even cross our minds? If we wanted to climb a tree, we would climb a tree! Where does our adventurous spirit go??

Well, I guess it doesn't COMPLETELY go away! :) David showed Tyson and I the "sand dune" that he and his siblings used to play on.

Tyson wanted in on the action too!

Tyson was so excited when we spotted these deer on our hike!
Papa Bruce had taught Tyson earlier in the day what deer poop looked like, so EVERY time we saw a pile, he gladly pointed it out and shouted with a smile, "Deer poop!"

Thanks Papa Bruce!

It was so great to see David showing Tyson his old stomping ground!

When we weren't busy exploring, we were busy doing a lot of this! (I love Tyson's kicked off shoes and socks in the grass. Just like his Daddy!)

We also played plenty of this!

Even Zack loved the outdoors! He even got to know Tommy.....maybe a little better than he wanted to!

"Mom, what IS this green, pokey stuff??" He wasn't so sure of sitting in the grass!

My little climber. Tyson ran himself into the ground every day and was out cold by 7pm! Now that's what I'm talking about!

Terri was so nice to let Tyson ride her horse, Piper. Tyson loved every second of it!

Getting to know each other.

Even I got in on the action! That smile is forced, by the way. I'm deathly afraid of horses, but I figured it was high-time I began to conquer that fear. See, I'm already talking like a cowgirl with my "high-time" comment! Haha! Yee-haw!

It was a rockin' weekend and we hope yours was equally as awesome!

Happy Memorial Day!