Amy Scott's Thoughts

I should briefly explain how I view Red Cup Day. Originally, Red Cup Day was the day that Starbucks debuted their holiday cups. They also added free reusable red cups to that day many years ago. Then they separated the dates between the holiday cup launch and the reusable red cup giveaway day. Now Starbucks refers to Red Cup Day as the day they give reusable cups away, but I still view it as the day they decorate the store and start using holiday cups. Essentially, I celebrate two Red Cup Days. The first, I make the most fuss over. The second, I send Jeremy as a my acquisitions agent. In the past, we got reusable cups for our whole family and were quickly overrun with too many plastic cups. Now we just collect one reusable cup a year. Much more manageable. Reusable Red Cup Day is tomorrow. My version of the real Red Cup Day happened last Thursday. Make sense? Great!

Last Thursday our family was up and out of the house early. I was excited to make it to Starbucks for my first red cup of the season. I save my favorite peppermint hot chocolates for only when red cups are in stock. It’s a seasonal treat I savor – along with cranberry bliss bars. YUM! Starbucks sees a lot of business from me in November and December (the rest of the year, not so much). I’ve celebrated Red Cup Day for over a decade. It’s a tradition! It’s a holiday! It’s a big deal! I’ve passed that legacy on to my kids as well. We enjoyed our seasonal treats together as a family as a start to our weekend away. Red Cup Day 2025 did not disappoint!

We postponed a trip to the Long Beach Peninsula to this last weekend. We tried to go in October for the cranberry harvest, but wild weather and sniffles changed our plans. Thursday was a blustery, stormy day at the beach. There were also king tides happening which made the ocean rough and wild! It was an intense and impressive sight to see those huge waves exploding along the coastal cliffs. We studied king tides (also known as spring tides) in science this year. It’s one thing to read about them, but it’s a whole other thing to experience them in real life. We kept a safe distance and we were in awe of the power of the ocean! We observed the tides from Cape Disappointment State Park and the Oysterville approach. It was so crazy to see no beach, just waves up to the sand dunes. Eventually, we left the wind and waves behind to hunker down at my parent’s beach house. We were all snuggly warm with books and games while the wind whipped around the house! Stormy beach days were a new experience for us!

Friday the storm cleared out, but the waves were still super high. The boys were able to get a beach walk in during low tide, though. After a morning walk, we visited the Cranberry Museum. We learned about the local cranberry businesses, how they harvest cranberries, and the many health benefits of cranberries. The boys did a scavenger hunt and each received a pouch of craisins as a prize for completing it. We walked around the cranberry bogs by the museum and we sampled many cranberry treats. I loved the cranberry ice cream and Jeremy loved the cranberry fruitlets from Liberty Orchards. Owen, Jeremy, and I tried plain cranberries at the insistence of the museum employee. We all agreed that cranberries on their own are super tart. They also make a really cool popping sound when you bite down on them. I didn’t know that! I love learning new things alongside my kids! We hope to catch the cranberry harvest in action next October.

We went back to Cape Disappointment State Park Friday afternoon. There is so much to do there! We watched the king tides from the North Head Lighthouse. We explored Fort Canby and did a scavenger hunt at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. The kids got bookmarks for completing it. It was a scavenger hunt day! We went back to down to our spot from the day before at Waikiki Beach. This was the best place to watch the king tides. Such a neat experience! It’s been fun finding things to do around the Long Beach Peninsula with each visit. We hope to go clamming on a future trip. The high tides didn’t work in our favor for clamming this time. We also hope to explore Fort Columbia. We are making a to-do list for next time!

We wrapped up our adventures with a Friday night swim at Dunes Bible Camp and a stop at Scoopers Ice Cream on our way out town on Saturday! We had plenty of to adventure time together and we also enjoyed a lot of cozy, down time around the beach house. It was a great mix of activity and rest. After the stormy beginning of trip, the weather changed to sunny and almost 60 degrees. It almost felt like summer! We had a fantastic trip and our family is looking forward to making more beach memories with future visits.

Sunriver Resort (outside of Bend, OR) is one of favorite places to visit as a family. We have a blast every time we’re there. We never want to come home! Sunriver is definitely our happy place! We have visited in the spring and summer, but the best time to go (in our opinion) is the fall! The weather is still lovely and the quiet of off-season is nice, too! We just got back from a week of October adventuring in Sunriver. Here are the highlights!

We got into Bend on Monday and tried a new treat – Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream! It was so good! I loved my s’mores ice cream. Graham thought his cinnamon roll ice cream was great and Jeremy was pleased with his deep dish apple pie flavor. Only Owen didn’t love his treat… The kid is committed, heart and soul, to Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip. For him, nothing compares! Oh well. Three out of four Scotts gave it two thumbs up! Once we got settled into our Wildflower condo, we walked across the street to the Village. Owen has been looking forward to getting a new Sunriver t-shirt and hoodie. Graham found a wolf t-shirt he loved. After we had our SWAG, we spent the rest of the evening at the Cove. The Cove is the resort aquatic center and it features two pools and two water slides. We spent hours at the Cove everyday! The kids are now going through Cove withdrawals!

Tuesday we explored the Newberry Caldera in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. We hiked around Paulina Falls. We climbed all over Big Obsidian Flow. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at East Lake and then went looking for hot springs in the lake. You know you’re inside a volcano when you smell sulfur and find bubbling water! After the caldera, we took off for the Oregon Observatory at Sunriver. We had tickets for a stargazing event on Thursday and the weather forecast didn’t look promising. We found out the observatory was flexible and we had a couple options. While we were there, the employee let us use their special telescopes to look at the sun! Not something you can do everyday! A solar flare had just occurred and everyone was excited! Owen was also thrilled to see a sunspot. The observatory is right beside the Sunriver Nature Center. We decided to check it out as well. The nature center is small, but their birds are beautiful! The boys loved Luna, the Eurasian-eagle owl, and Freya, the gyrfalcon. We wrapped up Tuesday with Cove time and telescope time behind the Lodge. The Harvest Moon was very impressive that evening!

Wednesday was Owen’s 12th birthday! We celebrated with all his favorite things! We grabbed doughnuts at the bakery across the street before renting bicycles for Jeremy and I. We spent the morning cycling around the golf course and river. Such a pretty ride! It’s one of my favorite places in Sunriver. We had Papa Murphy’s pizza and Safeway chocolate cake for lunch. We spent our afternoon bike riding and looking for geocaches around the resort. Jeremy made Owen a special steak dinner before we went for an even walk/ride. So much bike riding! Then it was a swim at the Cove! The skies clouded up so we decided not to switch our observatory tickets to Wednesday. It was a little disappointing not to stargaze on Owen’s birthday and we were concerned stargazing might not happen at all with the forecast. Owen was sad, but we went to cheer up by the fire pits behind the Lodge. Fire always improves moods! Overall, it was a great and active birthday!

Thursday, we visited The High Desert Museum. It has a fun mix of regional animals and history. The boys enjoyed getting to pet a turkey at the Settler’s Sawmill. They also loved watching the bobcat stare down a butterfly and they got up close to a peregrine falcon at the Birds of Prey encounter. Our afternoon was spent doing a walk/ride around the resort and then hitting the Cove after dinner. We had kept our Thursday stargazing tickets in hopes that the sky would clear and miraculously it did! It was such a God thing and answer to prayer! This event was Owen’s birthday present and we’d been looking forward to it for months. The event featured guided telescopes to see special sights in the night sky. Employees were around to explain what you were seeing. In the middle of the event, they moved everyone to look at constellations in another part of the facility so they can reposition the telescopes for another round of viewing. Owen was in his element and he had a blast conversing with the employees. No surprise, we were the last leave. We had a very happy 12 year old that evening!

Friday was our final day. We packed up and tidied our condo before heading out to the Cove. We were there just before they unlocked the doors! After our final hours of swimming, we took off for the long drive home. We made some many good memories on this trip! We love exploring the Bend area and we equally love hanging around the resort. There are so many options for fun and adventure! It was sweet to celebrate Owen’s birthday in a special place. He definitely enjoyed the birds, the biking, and the night sky! Truthfully, we all enjoyed it all! It was a trip for the record books!

Just one week until we head back to our regular school year schedule! We enjoyed the slower pace of summer school in June and July. We really enjoyed taking the month off in August. But alas, the school year is quickly approaching! It’s crazy how fast summer goes. I remember feeling that way as a kid and now as a parent it seems magnified. I’m trying my best to make the most of those 18 childhood summers!

We had one final “hurrah” of summer last week. We took off to the Washington coast for a few days. Grandpa and Grandma now have a beach place. A new spot to make family memories together. We enjoyed our time there for the 4th of July and we were eagerly anticipating more time in August. Our days at the beach were a good mix of activity and rest. Our crew was getting over the summer camp sniffles, so stamina wasn’t quite 100%, but that didn’t keep us down. We were at the beach every evening. The boys playing the waves, getting all sandy and wet. Jeremy and the boys took morning walks each day while I got ready at a slower pace.

On Monday, we went mini-golfing in Long Beach. This was one of Graham’s summer bucket list items. We got there right when it opened and had the whole place to ourselves! We grabbed some lunch in town and then explored the kite festival happenings down at the beach. The kites were super cool to watch and Graham was thrilled to see a vendor selling churros as we walked down to the beach. Monday was really his day. After the kite festival, Jeremy surprised us all by suggesting we go to the arcade. The kids had a blast! I even played a couple of games. We got home mid-afternoon and crashed at the beach house for some rest. We enjoyed an evening trip to the beach and then a Scoopers run for ice cream. It was a great day in Long Beach.

Monday was our town day and Tuesday was our nature day! We hiked a couple trails at the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. Visiting the refuge was on Owen’s bucket list. While he didn’t see as many birds as he hoped, we did enjoy time on the trails. The only downside of the morning was Graham got stung by a wasp. The best way to recover from a bee sting was cookies as the local bakery! After our time at the wildlife refuge, we went to Cape Disappointment State Park. We have visited the North Head Lighthouse before and this time the trail to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse was open (it’s been closed in the past). We decided to explore a new trail and lighthouse. The view from the lighthouse was fantastic and the boys enjoyed our stop at Dead Man’s Cove. Not a pretty name, but a very pretty beach! Once our legs were done with hiking, we did a repeat of Monday – back to the house to rest for part of the afternoon, dinner, and then a trip to the beach. We wrapped up Tuesday with backyard smores and a beautiful sunset!

Wednesday was our final day at the beach. We spent the morning tidying up the house and packing. We had lunch at Chico’s, the local pizza place. Our kids love pizza so it was a must to find good pizza on the peninsula. Thankfully, Chico’s was kid-approved! I’m sure we’ll be back. We made one last stop at the kite festival on the way out of town. The event had filled in more since our Monday visit. After we left Long Beach, we took off for Fort Stevens on the Oregon Coast. The kids hadn’t visited Shipwreck Beach in years and they wanted to see it again. We also explored the ruins of Fort Stevens. I have such good childhood memories running around the batteries at Fort Stevens. It made my heart so happy to see my boys enjoying it just as much as I did. We’ve taken them before, but it had been years, so it was all fresh and new to them. We learned a bit of WWI and WWII history, but the coolest part was visiting the Earthworks which was built during the Civil War. I’ve always assumed the west coast doesn’t have much civil war history, so it was fascinating to discover a piece of it so close by. I love when adventures can also be educational. Yes, I’m such a homeschool mom!

The kiddos weren’t ready to come home. They could have stayed at the beach house for the rest of the summer and very happily lived off smores and ice cream! Like I mentioned earlier, we are now home and in the last week of summer vacation. It’s been so good. We’ll take many fun memories into the school year with us. One last beach getaway was the perfect way to wrap up our summer break!