Seattle Trip: Suncadia Chapter

The whole family was converging in Suncadia, which is was built by the same people who built our favorite vacation spot growing up, Sunriver.  But Sunriver is about 7 hours away in Oregon, and Suncadia was much closer, both to Seattle AND to major airports, so we were trying out this new spot to make it easier for those of us on the east coast.  Natalie had done SO much of the legwork for us all, finding a couple houses to rent that she felt would accommodate the entire gang and figuring out dates that would work for everyone (and, as already noted, making sure meals were planned and food purchased).  So extra kudos go to Natalie for pretty much the entire trip!

The Big House, as we called it (remember, my family is SUPER good at creative naming!), was perfect for us-- four master suites, a basement game room for the kids, a humongous kitchen, and this lovely great room where we could all hang out:

Can you pick out me and my four sisters all here (plus Bentley, Kendra, and Claire)???

Sitting out on the deck after dinner, holding Cora

Craig hasn't lost his touch yet!

Happy Camille!

On the afternoon of our second day, Camille conked out on the couch.  We were a little worried about this and-- sure enough-- the next day she had a fever and pretty much slept the entire day.  Colton had had a similar affliction a week before, so we knew it wouldn't get too bad.  Sick kids are never fun, but if all they do is have a fever and sleep a lot, I can handle that pretty well!

Craig had made plans for a lot of the group to go rafting, but then it seemed like it might be cold so a lot of people backed out.  And I had to stay home with sick Camille.  So it ended up just being Cameron and Craig and some of their respective kids.  And the weather turned lovely and warm and they had a GREAT time!  I was sad that I missed out!

I love Craig in this picture!

Meanwhile, I was hanging out with Camille while she did this...

Eliot had me snap this picture of him with Ryder's pig to show that they were both missing Ryder!

The next day, Camille was healthy again so we decided to visit the Suncadia Lodge and the 1,000 steps down to the Cle Elum River.

You can't see it, but down there is a lovely river!

Gorgeous view!

Can you tell how appropriately we were all dressed for the 4th of July?  (Those are stars on Kendra's shorts!)

Here's the Cle Elum River!

And there's the lodge at the top!

I think I'm watching the kids climbing a mound of rocks and dirt

We rewarded ourselves for all those steps (actually, more like 300, not 1,000!) by heading to the Cle Elum Bakery next!  It was all right, but not nearly as good as Sluy's in Poulsbo!

As we were finishing up, Eliot asked me, "Does anyone happen to have a hotdog?"  I am STILL laughing over this question.  Who "happens" to have a hotdog on them????? 

Bentley also took a turn holding Cora!

Plenty of room for everyone!

All the grandchildren-- 14 total now!

Brian and Ian finagled us into a pretty well organized group (especially considering that Brian was using the camera on the timer setting and then dashing into the frame)!

The Bentley Tribe!

On Friday we got all packed up and headed out-- more of the trip to come!