Lake Coeur d'Alene with the Meadows!

A day on Lake C d'A couldn't be any better without our good friends, the Meadows family. Seriously, the girls woke up at 5:30 this morning and had their swimsuits on by 5:35am! They were so excited to go out to the cabin and swim with their friends, Justin, Jakey, and Chelan.


We even got Kristi out on the boat -- I know she really enjoyed it, sweater and all!



Our awesome driver -- Matt Meadows (who also showed off some fancy wakeboarding skills!).

Angie and Kristi enjoying the ride. Angie and her family are such gracious hosts! Thanks!

.......Jakey was there one second, and gone the next.....that's another story. He's fine! :-)

Seriously, the girls love to go tubin'!

Me and my angels.......

Daddy and the angels.

We were so glad that Aunt Kristi could come out with us! It's always more fun when Aunt Kristi is there! :-)

My sweet Sofia..........who is swimming like a little fish! It was so cute to see her flailing her arms and kicking her feet so hard and popping her head in and out of the water! She was working so hard, but hardly moving an inch! She really wore herself out and by the time we were in the car heading back home, she had fallen asleep (5:30pm) and she was out for the night. What a fun day..........lots of great memories for the Alfaro family again!

First Day of School for Audriana and Sofia!

Oh my gosh. I just can't believe that these girls are growing up so fast before our eyes. Martin and I look at them in absolute wonder and are so very grateful for the wonderful people they are and for the gift of them. Truly....they are a gift.....a gift for us to nuture.....a gift that will continue to amaze us as each school year comes and goes. Here they are standing so proud together, dressed in their "first day outfits" that each of them picked out and feeling so excited about the day ahead of them.

Sofia ready for Montessori Central Preschool!

and

Audriana ready for First Grade at Mullen Rd Elementary!

Audriana was so lucky to get into Mrs. Soderquist's class! I've heard many wonderful things about her from other parents and liked her the minute I met her.

Because Audriana has spent the last 4 years at Montessori Central, her learning style is very different from the public school way. I'm nervous about that. I will need to make sure that I stay in close contact with her teacher to ensure that she is being challenged and moving forward. She's my quiet and shy girl who will not tell the teachers what she knows unless she is asked or prompted. I wish she would speak up more!

Here she is giving Sofia a hug goodbye. I was so proud of her -- she went right into her classroom, sat down at her desk, and began the color-by-number worksheet that was there for her. She is so focused! Even in a new environment (new teacher, new school, new surrounding, new classroom with new items to get familiar with) she sits down, focuses on what she should be doing, and gets it done! I love her!

As I walked out the door with Sofia, I turned around and took this picture looking back into the classroom. Notice Audriana already at her desk hard at work! :-)

Now that Audriana is set......it is time to take Sofia to her school -- Montessori Central!

I always took a picture of Audriana on her first day here in front of these red doors, so of course I had to follow suit with Sofia's first day here.

Even though the weather forcast called for mid-90's temperatures for today, Sofia insisted on wearing her new outfit that Grandma bought her yesterday - she did not care that it was long sleeves, long pants, and black!). The first thing she showed her teachers was the little gemstone heart that is on her shirt (on the white bow just off to the side).

Sofia taking her street shoes off and putting on her slippers. She then closes her box and puts her street shoes on top of her box. Notice her new gold fancy shoes?!? Aunt Kristi bought them for her and she has worn nothing since getting them.

Sofia with Mrs. Pipella -- deciding what lesson she was going to choose. She finally settled on "plunking" work, which is a tray that consists of about 25 toothpicks that the child must pick up one at a time and "plunk" them into the empty shaker jar by dropping them into the large holes in the lid (similar to a parmasean cheese jar at a pizza restaurant).

She was all smiles when I left -- although, as a mother, I could sense that she was a bit nervous. I know she'll do great in this environment. I love the Montessori philosophy and know that she will learn and grow just like her big sister did here. It gives Martin and I so much satisfaction knowing that she will be experiencing all the wonderful things that we know are in store for her here!

GOOD LUCK THIS YEAR IN SCHOOL, GIRLS! WE LOVE YOU AND ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!

Swimming Lessons 2009

Before pressing the arrow below to start the photoshow, scroll down the side bar to pause the blog music.

The Jodster!

Jody Rullman (Colglazier) and I went to WSU together (1986-1990). We met that first week of our Freshman year because we lived in the same dorm on the same floor -- Stevenson East 8th Floor. What a crazy few years. So much fun and soooo many awesome memories. She lived with Kari and I lived with Corinne Seifert and the 4 of us became fast friends. Jody and I have always stayed in touch via Christmas cards, but our families had never met. When I found out that her and her family would be in Northern Idaho camping at Farragut State Park for the week, I knew we had to go out and visit. Her family is beautiful and her husband is such a nice guy. Jody hasn't changed a bit -- she still make me laugh so much that my gut hurts. I love that even though it has been over 20 years that we can still pick up and be so comfortable with each other.

The kids met each other and they took off playing while Jody and I caught up with each other. Her daughters are adorable -- Camille is 9, and Annalise is 6 1/2. In fact, she was born just a couple of weeks after Audriana was! Kellen is 4 and kept us laughing while he ran around the camp site in his Spiderman outfit.

This is a great picture of our 2 families together. It was a wonderful morning and I was so happy to reconnect with such a wonderful friend after all these years!

An August weekend at the Cabin!

Grandpa's Cabin has become a sort of "refuge" for us -- giving us a place where we can go and visit them and enjoy some real peace and relaxation. The girls really love it and it has really become a summer tradition for us! Jay built this part of the cabin pictured above, which connects to the original cabin (which you can't see due to the angle of this picture). It means so much more to us that Granpa built this for all of his family to enjoy. Thank you Grandpa! We love you so much!

Grandpa is always working -- only stopping long enough for his afternoon nap! :-)

In this picture he is preparing new gutters for the roof since the snow this past winter really wrecked the old ones.

Another tradition is building a fire after dinner and roasting marshmellows for smores.

Grandma and her "Smore-lovin" girls.

Sofia in the woods, getting ready to "work" with grandma. Below is Audriana on the log that we always use to take pictures of the kids with that incredible view of Lake Pend OReille!

Could she be any cuter? I don't think so!

Grandma had a great idea to keep our girls busy -- she gave them rakes and they spent about 4 hours raking the dirt and pinecones up! Mom is so funny -- she loves the forest to be "cleaned up" , hence the raking! They made so many little piles of stuff that we picked up in the wheel barrow and took over to the burn pile. When we were done, it really did look amazing!


Audriana worked so hard -- really focusing on getting everything raked up and in piles.

The girls earned $1 for all their hard work today!

Then we were off to the beach in Sandpoint, ID!!!!

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

I took the day off today and we had a very fun family day. I got to take Audriana to her last day of Soccer Camp, which was held out in the Valley at Trent Elementary. She was so excited for me to come and watch her. The big news was that the coaches moved her up from the "7 and under" kids team to the "8 and above" team! She was really excited. She learned so many new skills and did really well at the scrimages. She's a good little player for being only 6 1/2!

After soccer, we headed home for lunch. While we were eating lunch, we all thought that it would be a good idea to go up to Eagle Ridge Park and have some fun. So we loaded up the kids' kites and the soccer balls and headed up. It was a perfect day for kite flying! The girls had so much fun and it was neat to see that the kites stayed up for them. I think Martin had just as much fun (if not more) as the girls did. I took some video of them -- it was so cute. After kite flying, Martin and Audriana practiced some soccer drills while Sofia ran around the entire loop of the park 4 times!!!! I couldn't believe how many times she did that. After 4 times, she finally said that her legs were tired so she had to take a break. So funny!

Dinner with the Nemes kids!

The Crazy Shot (needed to get it out of their system)!

Jessica (14), Courtney (16), David (12), Audriana (6), Sofia (3) and Michael (9)

My friend Jennifer (Shaw) Nemes has 4 kids -- and since I haven't seen them in a while, I just couldn't get over how big they have all grown. In fact, her "baby", Mikey (who now goes by Michael) is 9!!! Geez.... Jenny and I have know each other since we were toddlers, so it's pretty fun for us to get our kids together while we catch up on life. Jennifer lives here in Spokane now (and has for a few years now), but it seems that it takes forever to plan little get togethers just because life is busy for both of us. Her kids live with their dad in North Carolina, so it is a special treat that she has them for the summer and that we get to see them! They are awesome kids and it was fun having them over for dinner. We planned our "girls lunch" for next Sunday -- I have a tradition with Jennifer's girls that I always take them to lunch at Red Robin when they are in town. We are all excited for that - especially Audriana and Sofia because they love Red Robin!

The Nice Shot (had to bride them with ice cream!). They are all wet because they were outside playing and jumping on the trampoline when we suddenly got a huge downpour! They all ran inside, but did get pretty soaked.