A spontaneous weekend adventure!

Dave's brother Russ called him on Thursday night and told him that they were coming on a trip on Friday morning and wanted us to meet them for the weekend. So, Dave switched his weekend around because he was supposed to work, and we headed out Saturday morning to Baker City, OR. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive for us. We went to McEwen, OR, had a picnic and then got on the Sumpter Valley Railroad. It is an old railroad that is about a 1/2 hour ride to Sumpter where they did a lot of gold mining. It was fun for everyone. I loved it when the conductor came through and punched our tickets. It reminded me of Polar Express, with much less dancing! Tanner and Colton loved being with their cousins, who are although much older than them, are so kind and make the boys feel loved. We all were happy that Braden had a nap.
When we got to Sumpter we took a tour of the old mining dredge. It is an old boat type thing that would float on the sub-water and sift through the gravel to get the gold out, and then make big piles of gravel everywhere. (which is basically all the scenery was on our train ride)At the train station there was a toy train set, and that is what the boys liked most about the Sumpter stop.
The train ride back to McEwen we rode in an open car. It was a bit smokey at first, then sunny, but breezy. It was such an enjoyable afternoon.Then we drove down the mountain a little bit and stopped to go fishing. It was so beautiful and shady, and the boys dipped their toes in the freezing cold water. Tanner even decided to slide right in - a mother's worst nightmare. Luckily cousin Daniel was right there to catch him. Then Tanner stayed put to dry out. Sadly, no fish were caught, but we had a fun time in nature.We went back to Baker City for dinner, and all 3 boys ate their whole meal! It was wonderful!! Then we drove to La Grande, OR and stayed at a Super 8 Motel. The pool was wonderful and the boys say that was their favorite part. It was so fun to be with our cousins, and to do stuff with. Those relationships are important to us!

Dave said we are super fun lately, and as soon as we are in a house and settled, his fun tickets will be spent and we will be boring again. We'll see...