Donaldson Crew Adventures

Kelly and I went to Brasada Ranch for an anniversary dinner tonight.   Beautiful evening for October.  We had a table outside and enjoyed the sunset. 

This year (in October) Kelly and I celebrated 20 years of marriage!  To celebrate we booked a trip for all of us to go to Cancun Mexico in November. We left on Nov 15 and came back Friday Nov 25 - Black Friday.  Getting on the plane to our first evening there, and first walk on the beach!

Our Resort- The Royal Cancun

Kelly and I got away for a couple nights near Sisters to celebrate our 20th anniversary. The weather was perfect. We stayed in a Yurt which was a fun experience!  

We had a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant “The Open Door” on Friday. 

Saturday we spent some time at Suttle Lake Lodge. 

Dinner out to celebrate 19 wonderful years  

I took Kelly away to the Columbia Gorge for the weekend to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary. We stayed at a guest hour in White Salmon Washington which is just across the River from Hood River Oregon. 

The weather was amazing, with no wind and warm fall sunshine. 

We stopped at Cor Cellars on the way in to do some wine tasting. 

From here we drive 20 minutes further to check in at our place. A spectacular place with the best views over the river. 

Saturday was filled with tour of the hood river valley.  Take note of the fresh baked chocolate turnover and huckleberry milkshake we shared at The Apple Valley store.  Yum. 

We enjoyed the quiet and the views.  We even had a family of wild turkeys come by our place.  

On Sunday we stopped at the amazing White Salmon bakery for breakfast and a loaf of bread to take home for the kids.  We also did a drive north up to Mt Adams before heading back south home.

We were able to get away for a couple days for our 15th anniversary this October to Sisters Oregon. We had amazing fall weather. We stayed at the five pines resort with a cabin that backed up to the forest. At some great meals at a couple of places we have not been before that were excellent: The cottonwood cafe and the open door where we were able sit outside on a beauty fall day. Both places highly recommended!

The last couple of years we took advantage of being in the UK to go away for our anniversary.  In 2013 we went to the Cotswolds and in 2012 we went to London.  This year we stayed close to home and simply enjoyed the nice fall weekend and great restaurants around Bend.  

This year I decided to take Kelly to the Cotswolds area of England for our Anniversary (11 yrs).  When you think about classic English villages, the Cotswolds  are exactly that.  Houses and buildings made from honey colored cotswold stone, these villages are a treat to visit.  We stayed at a B&B in a village called Broadway.  The B&B was called East House, and probably one of the nicest places we have ever stayed.  

Here are some photos of East House and the Room we stayed in - "The Georgian".  

Broadway Village and a couple shots from Broadway Tower

Dinner out on Saturday night in the Great Hall at the famous Lygon Arms Hotel 

Other Cotswold Villages we visited:

Upper and Lower Slaughter.  The name of the villages stems from the Old English name for a wet land 'slough' or 'slothre' (Old English for muddy place) upon which it lies.   Very quiet, classic Cotswold village.

Bourton on the Water.  While much more touristy, still a very enjoyable place to visit.  We had tea and scones by the river here.

Chipping-Campden with its ancient Market Hall built in 1627, and the beautiful St. James Church

Stow-on-the-Wold - couple shots here with some really cool trees that were planted by this Church and now seem to be part of the structure

Kelly and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on October 5 2012.  Our goal was to pull off a weekend in London.... no easy task with 4 kids, but in a combined effort we were able to pull it off.  We decided to bring Preston with us, and leave the 3 oldest at home with a babysitter.  It turned out to be a spectacular sunny fall weekend in London, and a great way to celebrate 10 great years together.

We took the train up from Cardiff friday afternoon.  Trains are very pleasant and much better than cars or airplanes.  The train dropped us off at Paddington station in central london, and a short cab ride brought us to our hotel for the weekend.  I had selected a boutique hotel - The Chesterfield Mayfair.  Here are some shots of the hotel.  The weekend package came with a bottle of champain and a complimentary afternoon tea which we took advantage of on Saturday afternoon.

We hired a babysitter through the hotel both nights so we could go out to dinner.  Friday night we had dinner at Butlers resturant inside the hotel.  Saturday night I had reservations booked at a french resturant called 'La Petit Maison' that was only about 1/2 mile walk from our hotel.  It was a spectacular meal and highly recommended.  Some pictures of our evening outings.  Plus Prestons favorite time in the bath where he had the bathtub all to himself!

Daytimes were spent walking and seeing the sites of central London.  Since the weather was so good, we stayed outside for the most part.  Plus lines were long at many sites and Preston is much better when he is moving around. Pictures from our daytime walks.  You will likely recognize most of the landmarks.

On our 5th Aniversary we were living in Boise Idaho with only Hunter and Noah.  We went away then as well.  That time, my parents stayed with the two boys while we spent a long weekend in Park City Utah.  Amazing how much is different in 5 years. Time flies when you are having fun.