Memorial Day at the cabin 2010!

We love our annual trip up to the cabin for Memorial Day weekend! We all missed last year because Mom and Kristi were down in Arkansas for Lily's graduation -- so it felt good to be back for the long weekend here! Martin left Thursday night for his trip down to the Bay Area to visit Aura, Bri, Denise Elayne, Tita, Bayardo, Juan Carlos and Karlita, plus all his friends and extended family. He loves this time away -- we miss him! -- but it is so good for his soul to be back down there with his true lifelong friends and his Bay Area family. He misses them all so much. Anyway, I took Friday off and was able to take the girls to school. I went grocery shopping and got everything ready for the trip up to Pend O'Reille Lake. I got the girls to bed early (by 6:40 pm) and finished packing and organizing for our early morning drive up to the cabin. The girls were so excited and woke up at 5am. We all got ready and were out the door by 6:45 and met up with Aunt Kristi by 7am at Fred Meyer. We arrived at the cabin by 8:30am on Saturday morning! Here is what we saw as we drove the last few miles to the cabin -- it was such a beautiful sight I had to stop and take a picture of the cows!

It was a rainy and cold day, but I had brought the girls' bikes because they really love to ride around the yard -- and of course they love to ride "the loop". The rain didn't stop them at all from having fun -- it's a good thing that I brought their heavy coats and sweatshirts!
Lisa and the boys arrived a bit later and the kids were all so excited to be together again! They are such good playmates and friends!

Because it was basically raining all day long, we did spend much of our time in doors just chatting, eating, and playing games. Here is Grandma and Aunt Kristi playing Dominoes with Noah and Sofia.

Another reason that we love this weekend together with everyone, is that we get to celebrate sweet Noah's birthday! He turns 5 on Monday, May 31st, so Lisa brought all the supplies for an awesome Sponge Bob party! He's so adorable! Happy Birthday, Noah!

Here's a shot of Mike, Kristi, Mom and Jay just relaxing....

Here's LaNae and Rusty -- the kids love Aunt LaNae and they really love playing with Rusty, too!

More rain forced the kids to come in for frequent breaks -- we all had a good time playing Sofia's favorite game of DVD Bingo!

I love this picture -- it's on the long stretch of "the loop" riding their bikes. It's so funny to think that Sofia began riding the loop with her trike, then her bike with training wheels, and now her bike with no training wheels!

Mikah and Sofia found these little white eggs in the grass....they came running in to get me and told me to bring my camera for a picture! :-)

The cousins

The cousins -- again!

Audriana 7 1/2, Ryan 9 1/2

Noah 5, Sofia 4 1/2

Mikah....2....and so cute!

Mike and Jackie left Saturday afternoon after lunch, but it was fun to see them for those few hours! The rest of us all stayed the night and woke up to more rain, although, we did have a few more breaks in the rain so we were able to get out and walk a little bit on the loop. LaNae left to Priest Lake mid morning, and then Kristi had to leave arount noon because she was going to see Carrie Underwood that night. My camera battery died that afternoon and I didn't get any pictures of the kids down at the water throwing rocks into lake. We took advantage of the break in the rain and drove down so they could play. It was great. It was sad when Lisa and the boys had to leave after lunch, but I know they had such a fun time -- and it is always fun for us adults to watch them create these memories that will last a lifetime. We all rested after they left -- it was pouring outside -- and Sofia slept for over 2 hours. They were tuckered out! The girls and I were the only ones left and had a good time with Mom and Jay for one more night. Monday we woke up to more rain -- and it didn't stop! We had breakfast, then decided to get packed up and got on the road just after lunch. It was a special weekend for all of us -- but we missed Martin a lot!

Denise Elayna ~ 5 years old

Martin's grandaughter, Denise Elayna Chenier, is so beautiful and so sweet! Martin's favorite moments when in the Bay Area are getting to see her and spend time with her. She is Aura's daughter and is 5 years old. She is also Audriana and Sofia's Niece! Isn't that funny?! She was born in December of 2004 and Sofia was born in October of 2005 -- so Sofia was born being an Aunt! :-) We really wished we lived closer so they could grow up together......but we love the pictures and fun stories that Aura and Bri have about her!

Sweet Karlita Pena ~ 4 years old

Isn't she adorable?! She is Tita and Bayardo's daughter and was born on November 1, 2005, just one day after our Sofia. So, these cousins are only 1 day apart! We talk about her all the time, but what makes this picture so special is that it is our very first picture of her! Martin is down in SF right now, so I told him that he must send me a phone picture of Karlita -- he did a great job! We wished we lived closer to them......Antioch, CA seems so far away.

1st Grade Music Concert -- starring Audriana and all the Mullen Rd First Graders!

Audriana with her First Grade teacher, Mrs. Soderquist. We love her!!!!!!!

Audriana is ready for her concert! All dressed up - and sporting her really cool Hannah Montana dress shoes. So cute! Sofia decided to get dressed up, too (not a stretch for her!).

Here is what the stage looked like just before the kids were led in by their teachers. Look at all the different kinds of xylophones and marimbas! Aren't they cool?

Here is Audriana and her class doing their song on the marimbas....she did great, by the way, just take a look at the video below..........

Audriana's class........singing their little hearts out!

Audriana was next to Andrew....a boy from her class that has become a friend.

Audriana had a little speaking part in the concert. She went up to the microphone and said...."Tonight you are going to hear each first grade class playing the xylophones, where we have to listen to the rythum and the beat of the song. Watch and see!"

Audriana was so happy that her best friend, Maria, was able to come and watch the concert!

Mullan Rd Walk-a-Thon 2010!

Today marked our first experience at the Mullan Rd Walk-a-Thon! This is the school's main fundraiser of the year. The kids work for a few weeks getting pledges from friends and family -- you can either pledge a set dollar amount, or you can pledge some money per lap that the student walks. Audriana ended up raising about $130. Most of us pledged a flat $20, but mom decided to pledge $2 per lap. Well, Mom doesn't know it yet, but she owes Audriana $50 because she walked 25 laps!!!!! Her goal was 25 laps because the kids earned a free piece of pizza after 25 laps -- which she gladly cashed in. She would have walked more, but the weather was so cold that we couldn't stand it anymore! The wind kicked up and it had been raining off and on from 3pm on. The girls also participated in the calk walk -- too bad they didn't win a cake! We really did have such a fun afternoon -- I took the afternoon off so that we could be there as a family and it was great fun. Audriana had been so excited about the event and it was neat to see her with her school friends.

Logan Christensen made Audriana this hat and she wrote her name and "ninja hat"! She wore it the entire afternoon -- so proud of the gift from Logan.

It was so cold! The kids were troopers!

Here's Sofia and Madison. Many of the kids get dressed up for this event -- Madison and her friends were groovy girls from the 60's (or was it the 70's?). We saw lots of fun costumes and outfits.

Here's Audriana and her good friend Charlie (who she sometimes calls Chuck!). :-)

Sofia found her Montessori Central friend, Gweneth, here. Her big brother Alex goes to Mullan Rd. The girls walked together for a bit, then decided to stop and have a snowcone (this was before it got really cold!). They ate about 5 bites, got cold, and threw the rest in the trash!

Audriana did quite a few laps with her good friend Jacob.

Jacob and Audriana also did Bloomsday together...

Here's our little angel with her "lap card". Every lap she completed, she got a punch -- 25 laps is just about 6 miles! Go babe, go!!!!! I'm so proud of her!

Freezing cold at this point....on our way to the car to get warmed up, then off to soccer practice!

The BBQ Mobile!

The BBQ Mobile comes alive!

This is such a funny story.......I have been wanting to get rid of our 11 year old bbq since last summer. Well, it was still sitting out on our back deck this past weekend, when I told Martin (again) that I wanted it gone. I didn't care how he did it, but it had to go. It was old, dirty, gross, and yucky -- and I did not want to go into another bbq season with it. In typical Martin fashion, he spent the better part of Saturday taking it apart, piece by piece, screw by screw, and so on and so on. He wanted to recycle every bit that he could - plus keep the nuts and bolts and other odds and ends that he wanted. Well, he loaded it up into the back of the car and drove it to the recyle place. Goodbye BBQ! I thought that was the end of it -- I was so happy that it was finally gone! But, (you won't beleive this) the recycle place was closed, so he came back home with it! Ugh! Well, his wheels got to turning, and with Audriana's help, the two of them hatched a plan to make a go-cart of sorts out of the bbq pieces! Oh my gosh! So.....tonight I got home from work, and the 3 of them had been working on it. Our neightbors, the Kiki's came over, brought pizza, and joined in on the fun. Kelly brought his power tools and helped Martin finish assembling it, and Dawn (who is a phenominal artist) brought her paints over so she could officially brand it the "BBQ MOBILE". Here's a few pictues from the afternoon and evening.....

Here's how it all began.........

Dawn painting .......
Martin and Kelly with the finished product.....
Sofia ready to begin the maiden voyage.....

Now Audriana takes a turn...and of course, she goes up the hill a ways to really get the thing going....

Justus loved it, too! He was so full of smiles when his turn came up.....and so full of tears when his turn was over. :-) Poor little guy! But he's such a cutie!!!!!

Here's Caitlynn getting ready to go!

Press the button to watch a cute video of the action! So funny!

Totally cute Sofia

She added the orange flower in her hair all by herself.

Lemonade and Car Washing!

The girls had their first Lemonade stand of the summer season -- but this time, they added in a car wash! The weather was about 75 degrees, which was just perfect. Maria joined us, as well as little Justus Kiki from across the street. Dawn and Kelly Kiki came over too, and we really called it a party when Dawn brought over some yummy finger sandwiches and chips for all of us. What a fun day to be out with our neighbors enjoying the warmth, and watching the girls go through this elementary school right of passage! :-)

Sofia and Justus were in charge of the lemonade -- 25 cents on a hot day is a great deal!

Audriana made all the signs -- "We wash your car and sell lemonade. Lemonade is 25 cents and a car wash is $1.00. Or best offer." She even made a glass of lemonade out of yellow construction paper and white paper for the ice. Adorable.

Audriana had given me a coupon for a free car wash in my Mother's Day Coupon Book, which of course I had to redeem! :-)

The Kiki's needed their van washed too!