Life at a "Swell's" pace

For National Ice Cream Day we decided to take a short trip over the Cascade Mountains, have some ice cream cones in Sisters, Oregon, and make a day of it in Eastern Oregon. We started out just driving and seeing where it took us, but ultimately we ended up exploring the area for most of the day.

Our first stop took us to BJ's Ice Cream Parlor in Sisters, Oregon. We also planned to grab a cone on this road trip because it was National Ice Cream Day-(July 16). The boys stuck with mint chip, while I had to mix it up a bit with some salted caramel flavor.

We stopped along the way at the lookout point for Mount Washington. The trees in this area are still recovering from the B & B Complex Fire from 2003. The fire started due to lightning and ultimately scorched over 90,000 acres of land in the end. This season of summer in the Willamette Valley has been quite a scary one so far though. We've had a few grass fires, house fires, and brush fires already this summer, but hopefully, we will get some rain relief soon. Unfortunately, it won't be anytime before it hits over 100 degrees here I'm afraid.

We headed next to the Head of the Metolius River just outside of Bend, Oregon. The river seemingly comes right out of the side of the mountain here and the view of Mount Washington isn't bad either.

I have to mention the trustworthy chipmunks here. There were peanut shells scattered around, so apparently they are so trusting because they get fed regularly by visitors. I have to admit, we would have fed them too had we brought any food along with us.

Beautiful day too!

Our next stop was the Shoe Tree along US 97 headed north. You'll have to read about this Shoe Tree here. Roadside attractions are the best!

We ended the trip with a huge burger from the Bend Burger Company and let me tell ya, if you have Bend, Oregon, on your bucket list this place is a definite MUST! The picture above was part of my story on Instagram, so it has the boys and the location tagged. If you don't follow me on Instagram, what are you waiting for? We take a lot of fun, little, road trips here and there and we'd love to share them with you. You can follow me here. And for the curious, The Mr.'s Instagram, and The Bean's Instagram.

So since I skipped last Friday posting about the "Five simple things," we are going to post for the last two weeks. In all honesty, The Mr. had the fifth off after the Fourth of July and it threw my entire week off. When he gets a day off during the week it feels like it's a Sunday to me and therefore I am behind in my thinking for the rest of the weekend. But anyway, we did have a nice time with him having that day off and it was a great day for us to be able to relax and enjoy the day. The Mr. and The Bean put on a great fountain show and we displayed old glory all over the place. The rest of the week was fantastic and this past week was even better, so here are the things that made this week-and last-great!

1. The flag, of course.

We have an ecclectic collection of U.S. flags at our house and the two posted above are our favorites. The one on the left is from an old trunk we bought at a yard sale about 15 years ago, before we moved to Oregon, and it has been proudly flown every year for various holidays. The one on the right is one that was flown on the Navy aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise. It's a great flag with history and we are so proud to fly her still.

2. Lavender honeybees.

I mean really, is there anything more amazing than watching a honeybee suck nectar from a lavender bloom?

3. This moment.

Good ol' Baz. Still going strong after 17 years and loving/living life to the fullest.

4. Dirt pile.

It's gone! It's finally gone! And we have the driveway back. If you don't follow me on Instagram and know the story well, what are you waiting for. Check it out here!

5. July book.