A beautiful Fall train ride

We were able to witness one of the most beautiful sights last Sunday when we drove 2 hours north of Spokane to catch the "Fall Train Tour" from Ione to Metaline Falls, Wa. This was a fun day and a good end to Audriana's birthday weekend. The Bennett's, Aunt Kristi, Eileen and Cheyenne came with us. It could not have been a more perfect Fall day -- crisp, cold, clear, sunny, and cold (did I already say cold?). We boarded the antinque train cars a bit late because I thought the train left at 11:30am, but it actually left at 11am, so we got up there just in the nick of time. Whew! We reallly wanted to sit in the "open air" cars, but they were full -- Kristi was thrilled and led us into the warm, covered cars where we sat in first class comfort. It worked out really well. We all had a great time viewing the scenery. Here are some pictures of the trip.

The train stopped half way through the trip and we were "robbed" by these bandits that boarded the train and took our money!

After the train ride, we decided to stop at a local park to have some snacks that we had packed and let the kids run around and play before we got back on the road to Spokane.

Reflections of Audriana

I just can't believe that Audriana is 6. I wanted to reflect for a few minutes on her and post some pictures of her from the past few years. She has been the most wonderful daughter that we could ever ask for. From the moment she was born she has been our "center". Our Audriana is beautiful, focused, a bit on the shy and quite side, observant, smart, a total tomboy, creative, musical, athletic, loving, artistic, independant, tough, and so amazing in every way!

Audriana turns 6!

What a birthday! What a weekend! The festivities began Friday night at the Old Spaghetti Factory for her special family birthday dinner. It's a tradition that we have done every single year. Mom, Jay, Aunt Tonn, Aunt Kristi, Joye and Maria joined us for a fun and yummy dinner. The girls had -- guess what -- Macaronni and Cheese. No surprise at all. After dinner Audriana opened up her presents from everyone and really enjoyed this little kick-off to turning 6.

Sofia gave Audriana a singing birthday card that sang the song "You've got a Friend in Me" from the movie Toy Story. They just discovered this movie (Martin rented it from the library) and they both just love it. I need to find it on DVD for Christmas...... Anyway, Audriana carried this card around all night opening and closing it to hear the song. Very cute.

Audriana and the sweet and wonderful Maria.

"Happy Birthday to You!"

ROCKSTAR AUDRIANA

with her new Hannah Montana Guitar!

It was the year of legos......

This picture was taken at 8:35am on Oct 11th -- the minute she turned 6!

Grandma's love

THE PARTY -- JUMP AND BOUNCE!

There is a very cool little place in the Spokane Valley (well, it's not that little) that we discovered last Spring. It's a huge warehouse full of huge jumping castles and slides. They even have a velcro wall that the kids can jump on and get themselves "stuck". There main business is birthday parties and you can book a 2 hour slot of time (the whole place is yours for those 2 hours) and can invite up to 12 kids. I knew that it would be a big hit for Audriana and all her friends, so I booked it a few months ago, knowing that her birthday was on a Saturday and the time slots would go fast. It was a good decision -- everyone had a blast, even the adults! The kids played for an hour and 15 minutes, then spent the next 45 minutes in the party room where they ate pizza, then cake, and then opened presents. By the time 2 hours was up, every kid had a bit of a glazed look on their faces from pure exhaustion. I'm sure they all slept well that night!

Audriana's friend, Cheyenne, traveled all the way from Bonney Lake with her Mom, Eileen, for the party. Eileen is a friend of Kristi's and the girls have been friends for most of Audriana's life. Audriana traveled over to Bonney Lake last May with Kristi to go to Cheyenn's 8th b-day party. They have a good time together.

One of the best memories of the party was watching Jay and Kristi get into spirit of the party by going down a slide together -- holding hands the whole way down until they crashed at the bottom. The picture says it all........they were good sports! I think they secretly wanted to go on a few more slides, but didn't want to throw their backs out!

Here's the wall of velcro -- the kids put on the velcro suites and then throw themselves (or get thrown) against the wall. It was hysterical and a big hit with all the kids! Alfred and Audriana spent a lot of time on this wall.

Natalie Wells-Dutton having fun!

Audriana and her school friends -- Ainsley, Alfred and Carson.

Natalie and Sofia

Audriana and Ryan

Audriana and Sebastian

The Motorcycle cake -- chocolate with bavarrian cream filling. Yummy!

The entire group --I've come to realize that it is not possible to get a group picture with everyone looking in the right direction at the right time. This picture is great because no one was ready. It's a "in the moment" kind of picture. Friends: Alfred, Sebastion, Cheyenne, Ainsley, Natalie, Carson, Ryan, Maria, Noah and Sofia.

A fall trip to Greenbluff!

Our Fall Angels

It may have been our last semi-nice, semi-warm, weekend day, so we decided to get the kids in the car and drive up to our favorite local orchards and have some fun. Greenbluff was having their annual Fall festival -- we like to go up for all the festivals, strawberry, cherry, peach, apple, pumpkin etc. It's become a tradition. The girls had a lot of fun in the maze. But I think they would tell you that their favorite part was getting to eat a fresh, warm, pumpkin donut! It tasted so good -- it was Martin's favorite part of the trip, too. That's my family -- it's all about the yummy things. Oh boy.....

I love fall -- especially having 2 fall babies, it is a special time of year for us.

The donuts are out of this world! Martin always sneeks some home so we can have one with our coffee the next morning.

Audriana "leading" Sofia through the maze. I was yelling from the sidelines "stay with your sister" and "don't loose her"! She did a great job taking care of her little sister in there!

Finally coming out of the maze -- thank goodness, together!

Jump!

Sofia gets a ride on the the kiddy train (she's still talking about it!)

Our own little pumpkin.

Soccer Season starts up again!

Soccer season is here -- which means that our Saturdays are booked with games, and our Mondays and Wednesday afternoons are booked with practice. It keeps us busy, but Audriana loves it. She is so proud of the fact that she is on a team with boys! She is learning alot this year (trying to keep up with them) -- and she is really getting good! We see such a difference between last year (when she really didn't know anything about the game), to this year where she is learning concepts of the game (although passing the ball is still very hard for a 5 year old). Like most of her other teammates, they get the ball and go for broke! Strainght down the field to make a goal -- there's no passing the ball when they have their eyes on the goal! It's so funny. We were so proud of her when she made the first goal of the first game -- the smile on her face was priceless. Here's some photos from the start of the season.

Meet THE SILVER STREAKS of Spokane!

Audriana and her friends -- Eric, Logan, and Preston

Some serious game playing........

Friends and team mates....