The pace of life these days is incessantly quick. The fact that I believe most of our family's endeavors have merit leaves very little wiggle room in our weekly schedules. Because of this, occasional getaways are heaven-sent. So, when our angelic friends Wendy and Jason arranged for us all to take off for Black Butte Ranch in central Oregon, I knew we were into something good. Black Butte is the motherland of downtime. Dropping Scout off at the kennel on the way out of town was icing on the vacation cake (I'm keeping mental track of some of the things Scout does/chews up and will soon update you all on life with a puppy who lives inside our house with us--I know some of you must think I was drugged or knocked unconscious while the doggie dealing went down). So, what did we do with all that time on our hands?
Walked in the woods
Sat in the woods
Sat in the woods some more
Stood in the woods
Looked cute in the woods
Ate snow that fell in the woods
Gathered sticks in the woods
Hung out in the woods
Watched in the woods
Used a chainsaw in the woods
Zoned in the woods
Watched in the woods some more
Helped in the woods
Almost lost a hat in the woods
Thought in the woods
Gathered around a Nintendo DS in the log cabin
Challenged Queen Wendy's DS reign in the log cabin
Kept warm in the chilly afternoon
So we may have done a few more draining things (sledding, skiing, swimming), but these pictures capture what I love about Black Butte: getting out in nature, being comfortable with old friends and lounging as much as possible. I can't wait for the usual pace of our life to zoom us forward so we can go there again.