Fun pics! Especially the third-to-last one!

I can see why this is a favourite spot; it’s a slice of stunning heaven. So much lush, soothing greenery. That last photo needs a frame and a whole wall.

As a child, my family and my cousins’ family would spend a sunny, dry, and blissful week at Black Butte. As adults, we all reconnected to spend a week each summer in Sunriver. Due to my mother’s illness (MS) we now re-create the family retreat in a log cabin on Lake Whatcom up near Bellingham. While the Bend area will always have a special place in my soul (and hopefully we’ll continue to travel there), for me it’s mostly the connection to my family, the cousins (my kids’ cousin!) connecting, long summer days drenched in sunscreen and water, long bike rides and boat trips, and sunsets and stories I want to recreate for my children. It seems to be working, as the talk about the “Log Kevin”/”Long Cabin” (their terms) all year round.

so it has been months since i have had a spare moment to devote myself entirely to reading your blog (a 2 year old s-o-b lives in my house) and i just wanted to mention how freakin’ fab you look these days!!! way to get your work-out on!

Our family spent every summer in Bend, OR. I loved it there so much as a kid and now we are trying to make it a tradition with our kids (and the extended family) but it’s just so hard to get everyone’s schedules to line up. So my daughter has only been once.

Priest Lake, Idaho! Beautiful photos.

It looks so beautiful. How fun to have such a special place to go to. That is the big downside to our vagabond lifestyle….I don’t think we’ll ever be rooted somewhere for long enough to have a “place” like this. Hopefully (in lieu) our kids will remember all the adventures we’ve been on and all the places they’ve been fortunate enough to see.

Im fairly sure Im looking at a “life sentence” as far as the Marine Corps goes, but once we’re done-we’re so totally going to buy a place just like this.

DUDE! Great pics. I’m going to have to have kids so I can take them to places that mean a lot to me…

Going to “the lake’ growing up. Lake Wappapello in SE MO. Going to visit our cousins, huge family reunions every 4th of July as a child then partying as a teenager.
Good times.

Awe-inspiring, magical and memories made to order pictures. Really beautiful.

That first picture looks like a display of the children’s mediocre cell phone reception.

Love love the first one and the last one! How’d you get ’em to stand still for a picture?! And that last one took my breath away. So much beautiful as my girls say! Thanks for sharing.

Love the pictures. Your boys look like they’re having a great time. The last shot is a beautiful one of the river. My boys do have a place that’s special to them, that was also special to my husband.

I’m from Seattle, but my husband grew up here in Northern VA. His parents have a pre-fab house on about 8 acres in the Shenandoah Valley. Lots of trees and places to run around.

Gabe loves to go up there, and Nick is happy to be most places. Also the little town of Strasburg is very cute. They have a little ice cream stand that is so good.

Nope, no vacation home on a river or mud bog or even next to a dump. We do live in a resort community so a vacation home is somewhat redundant, I guess. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

OMG DYLAN’S LITTLE CAMO JACKET IN THE FIRST PIC. He is the cutest thing that has ever existed.

Wow, that last picture is gorgeous! Worth blowing up and framing!

What a beautiful place! You guys are so lucky to be able to share it with the boys. My grandparents had a beach house on Long Island that holds tons of wonderful memories. Unfortunately after my Pop passed and my Grannie was alone (her kids had all dispersed around the world)she sold and came to live with us. I was 10 the last time I saw it.

Ooooohhhh! We’re looking for a place to vacation next summer in the PNW. I’m adding Umpqua River to the list right now!

That looks like one of the loveliest places on earth.

We have my Husband’s Grandparent’s summer home up here in MA. They have 38 acres and my Husband pretty much grew up there. It’s only 30 minutes away, and when they are up for the summer we spend a lot of time there.

We spent as many summers as we could at Cape Cod. Don’t go there now because it would mean spending time with my Step-monster and my mind warps when I even consider it. However, my husband’s family has a non-winterized cottage on an island in Maine. Mild summer weather and an ocean breeze. Maui it ain’t but I’ll take it. We get TWO freakin’ weeks there in July and I can hardly wait.
Your pics remind me of the vacation we took to the MacKenzie River in OR. Looks lovely! (and that skull shirt on Dylan ROCKS)

My husband’s family has a little cottage on Lake Huron, about a half hour over the Canadian border, and his MOM has been going since she was a baby. So yeah, it was pretty much required that I learn to love it too. And I do, especially now that there’s a working shower… ;)

That place looks like heaven! (JB is actually much more handsome and rugged than the naked guy cradling his pregnant wife.)

My family has been going to Edisto Island, SC since I was 11 years old. Now, it’s my 4.5-year-old son’s FAVORITE place to go in the summer. It’s the best, mostly because it’s juuuuuust far enough out of the way that a lot of people don’t want to bother. Plus, there’s the added benefit that it’s a really good “no-bullshit” beach: no tourist traps, no amusement park crap, no heavy traffic. It’s the place I’ve ever seen to go to the beach if what you want to do is actually go to the beach.

A tiny little island off the coast of CT on which my parents had the foresight to purchase a wee cottage in the late 70s. As these things tend to go, it’s worth a lot more money now that it was then, and my mom, who’s alone now, is always toying with selling it. My kids adore it, we all love it, and one of these days I want to make enough money to buy it from her! We’re so thankful to be able to go–it’s really a slice of heaven. My kids are so at home there–it’s like the very best versions of them come out as soon as we step off the ferry.

Redneck Vegas (aka Branson, MO) holds a sweet spot in my heart – before my parents divorced when I was 12, it was where we had some lovely family vacations. While we were still a family.

I love taking my own kids there now and watching them soak in the hillbilly ambiance that lives in the Ozark mountains. Good for the soul.

In fact, my almost 2 year old is happily chattering about caves and bats while pointing at that last snap of yours!

My digital SLR is the best purchase I ever made. It took some convincing of my wife, but she’s not skeptical any more. As far as the “whackload of pictures”, I took over 750 pics on a recent trip to Virginia Beach. You add up a beautiful venue and toddlers (we had 9 kids in Virginia beach all under the age of 5), and the shutter just won’t stop clicking.

Great photos! I love the one with Dylan and the kite and the last one is stunning! I don’t have kids, but my parents always took us to Whitefish, Montana. LOVE IT, winter or summer. Another great place is Lake Koocanusa, B.C!

I know it’s cheesy, but hometown parades. I took my 2 year old daughter to one last weekend and absolutely reveled in her wonder at the “doggies” (horses) and “doggies” (llamas) and “bow” (doggie).

York Beach in Maine. Like a previous commenter, my parents had the foresight to buy some land and build a cottage in the late 70s. This piece too is worth a LOT more money than it used to be – but is not allowed to be sold because we’d never get it back – that is my rule – and I told the parents if they sell I’ll be packing them off to rot in the old folks home as soon as I get the chance :-). I did include the caveat that selling for some sort of life necessity is ok (life saving chemo, for example) but selling for some frivolity (to pay for the cruise around the world) is unacceptable.

Seriously though, it’s great up there. So relaxing, salt air, casual atmosphere. Love it. Can’t wait to spend summers there with my children (I had the foresight to begin teacher prep so this will be completely doable!)

All my family memories are tied up on the beach of Destin, Florida. I didn’t go there as a child (didn’t live in this part of the country) but my husband did. And I did go to the beach with my family, just on the East coast. I keep telling my husband & son, when I go, put my ashes in a Coppertone bottle and bury me on the beach in Destin.

My husband’s family has a cabin on the Metolius river and my son is the fourth generation to spend time there in the summer. It’s very rustic, but calm and beautiful and relaxing. When I was a kid, we always went to Cape Cod for two weeks in the summer, but now that my parents and I live in Oregon, I haven’t been there in about 12 years. I still miss it sometimes.

As a kid, we went to a lake in Indiana (Clear Lake). Now, we take our kids to South Carolina every year. I LOVE Low Country and I want to live there some day!

I love the last picture, looks like perfection. I moved back to north Georgia (where I spent my childhood) 4 years ago, had a daughter 16 months ago and absolutely hope that she finds growing up here as much fun as I did. I didn’t realize how much I loved Georgia (and its simplicity) until I moved and fought the clusterfuck that is central Florida!

You guys look great, JB looks like he’s buffed up some too, WTF are you guys doing to look so good?
And the boys? Love love love them! Was it nerve racking keeping them out of the river? My kids would head straight for the water, until they hit it and it was cold, then they’d cry cuz they were freezing, lol, and they did it every year at the lake. Duh!
I have got to take a trip up that way, never been that far nw, it looks beautiful!

Holy crap, that picture of Riley on JB’s shoulders – his face looks SO MUCH LIKE YOURS!

I have been spending time in the Steens (SE Oregon) since I was an infant with my parents and two sisters. When I introduced my now-husband to it a few years ago, he instantly fell in love with it also and we even got married in a meadow up there. Now, we still do trips up there with family but include our almost 2 1/2 year old son and we’re making all sorts of beautiful new memories. With a new little one on the way, I expect that the Steens will always be the most special place in my heart.

Thanks for sharing the pics they are gorgeous. Everyone looks so peaceful and happy! Our happy place is Yosemite Valley. My little guy is only 9 months old, but we will be taking him there regularly, just like my dad did for us.

Oh, and is it totally creepy for me to tell you that you have such a nice figure? After this baby is born in November I am *so* going to have to look at your older posts to remember how you made yourself into such a hot little package!! :o)

I bet I know how JB feels. Our “lake place” is on Coeur d’Alene in northern Idaho. My grandparents have owned a cabin at the southern end there for 15 years now, and my parents bought one across the lake from them in 2005. A photo similar to the last one you posted is in my blog header.

While we were there over Memorial Day (its a “scant” 5.5 hour drive over I-90 from where we live in Bozeman) Weekend I had a bit of a revalation: Sometimes a place belongs to you, but sometimes you belong to a place. Thats how I feel about Cd’A and the lake. And I suspect JB might have the same sentiments about the Umpqua.

Linda you’ve mentioned a couple of trips to Glacier National Park as a kid. Is that the place that is special to you? Do you have a specific place you feel linked to and HAVE to visit regularly? I go crazy without at least 10 straight days on Cd’A in the summer.

these are fantastic pics! thanks for sharing them!

For me it would be hard to pin down a single place. We went camping a lot and just being in the woods brings back great memories for me. My family loved going to Umpqua Lighthouse state park (OR) and Kalaloch on the WA coast so those two places would be candidates. I also did a lot of hiking in the Cascades (Rampart Lakes and Enchantment Lakes are two of my favorite places). But we do not live in WA anymore (unfortunately) so getting to either of those places is difficult. So for my son, I am just getting him into camping and hiking and a general love of the outdoors.

No? Anyone? Cell phone coverage? Like all those commercials with the people arranged in descending order to look like lots of bars? Except in the picture their are only three?

(My mother always said that if I have to explain the jokes it means they’re not funny…)

Charlevoix, Michigan (right by the pinky finger of the Mitten). We have taken our kids there for the last four summers. We love the relaxed pace of UP NORTH and enjoy watching the boats on lake Michigan, going on nature hikes, shopping and dining at the local merchants. I hope we can take them every summer of their lives and that they will take their kids too someday.

Mine is this big piece of property my parents own out in the middle of nowhere. It’s forest, fields, and a river running right through the middle. It’s about 100 acres. This spring we brought my kids there and they played in the river just like I used to do (k I still play in the river.) and they had so much fun. It’s nice to see them enjoy it like I did.

Your pics are beautiful! What an amazing place that is.

I wish I could say we have something like this. My husband’s family had a house on the Cape that we truly loved…a good sized beach house just a short walk to the ocean. It was sold when his parents got divorced and unfortunately we were not in the position to buy it. I know he misses it, and although I only had a few years to enjoy it myself, I miss it too. We hope someday to have a place like that again that our whole family can enjoy.

I want to wake up there!!! No wonder JB loves it. My husband (and his mother) grew up going to a little town called Bolinas (CA). It’s kind of a hippie town near the ocean north of SF. My boys just spent the week there last week with their grandma. Dennis and his brother are planning a fishing trip with the boys sometime later in the summer. It’s not luxurious by any means, one room cabin with a skinny kitchen adn a bathroom, but it’s 2 hours away and it’s the ocean!! Dennis loves taking the boys there and sharing his memories.

Wow those photos are amazing! Just gorgeous! My family is very fortunate to have a special place like that, and of all the places I have traveled, it is my most favorite place in the entire world! My grandfather built our cabin in Huntington Lake, California in the late 50’s. He was a teacher so my mom and her siblings were able to spend the entire summer at the lake every year. In 36 years, I have rarely missed a summer myself. I have the fondest childhood memories of my magical adventures up there. We will be visiting the cabin at the end of July and it will be Riley’s first time. Since finding out I was pregnant I have been dreaming of the day I would be able to introduce my son to my most favorite place. I am practically panting with expectation. So yes, I totally get it.

I’ve asked about this before, but, uh, Linda? It’s kind of occurred to me that these 6-hour-long drives trapped with a squirmy puling baby and a shrill tantrum-prone toddler are all to satisfy JB’s homing pigeon instincts and the in-laws’ needs to see their grandkids.

Which is all good. JB loves the cabin, the in-laws love their grandkids, and they’re right to want those things.

But what about YOU? Are these shriekfests cooped up on I-5 all day YOUR idea of a deliciously restful weekend?

Since you do more than your share of toddler-wrangling and diaper-changing, and since these trips are (or may be, from what I can tell) largely to satisfy the husband & his family, why not let him take the youngsters to Oregon next time while you spend a nice day with a girlfriend going for a long run, then having spa treatments at Gene Juarez (the hot stone massage is not to be missed), getting sushi together, and then maybe doing some crafts in the evening (when was the last time you did crafts? Remember those magnets you made?) and watching something featuring Johnnie Depp or Viggo Mortenson. Or Zombies.

Wonderful pictures.

I wish we had such a place, I’ll have to wrok on that . . .

Dude, so… Is it okay that you just made me totally hate my life because it doesn’t include a river like that and a sky like that and where the hell did your babies go? Because those are not babies, those are big boys. Spank my ass and call me a jealous bitch.

All of your photos are gorgeous, but that last one makes me want to drop what I’m doing, jump in the car and drive until I get there.