A Glorious Day for a Game!

After two or so weeks of beautiful, sunny weather in October, the rain returned last Tuesday and it has finally began to feel like winter has come for the season. However, as we made the 30 minute drive this morning to Lia's soccer game, we visibly drove out of the cloud layer in our town as we headed up the long hill to Bonney Lake and on into Enumclaw.  As a result, we were able to spend the most stunning 1.5 hours basking in the sunshine while Lia's team warmed up and played their game.  Although she has played one other game this season at this soccer field, it was on a cloudy day in September and I had no idea that Mt. Rainier could be seen from this field as it was entirely hidden by the clouds.  As a result, it was a bit of a surprise to pull up and find this stunning view of this massive mountain in the background!  I couldn't resist taking some pictures.  It simply was a glorious morning for a soccer game!  Little did we know that by the afternoon, the rain and wind would return with a vengeance...

Lia (wearing her new uniform with the #6 on the back) in the foreground running towards the goal.

Another shot of the girls, the game, and the mountain.  I heart Washington.

Pumpkin Patches!

We are in the midst of the most unbelievable stretch of beautiful, sunny weather in October that I can ever recall.  As a result, it has been so much more fun to head out to the pumpkin patches this week in glorious sunshine as opposed to the cloudy, rainy days that we normally have to face this time of year.  Thanks to Logan growing two pumpkin plants (that he planted at a gardening class last May that I transferred into our garden in June), we didn't have to go and buy pumpkins for the first time ever!  His two plants actually produced five pumpkins which was perfect for the size of our family.  However, the kids and I decided that we could still make our annual trip to Spooner Farms to enjoy all of the fun and free activities that the pumpkin patch has to offer every fall.  Instead of fighting the crowds on Saturday, we decided to go this past Wednesday which is our one free afternoon of the week after school when the kids do not have any activities.  We enjoyed tromping around the pumpkin patch, doing the duck races, and marveling at all of the animals in the barn.  Here are some pictures of our afternoon outing.

Since we went on a weekday afternoon, Ron was sadly not able to join us.  So, for the first time since we started going in 2010, we had to take our annual, family picture in the pumpkin house without papa.

The kids posing in one of the many picture cutouts around the pumpkin patch.

Another shot after the kids switched places.

A close-up of Logan par his request.

The kids and the giant spider.

Posing again in another pumpkin cutout.

Since it is usually hidden behind a wall of clouds, I have NEVER visited Spooner Farms in October with a view of Mt. Rainier in the background.  As a result, I just had to take this picture.  Simply stunning.

The kids, the pumpkins, and Mt. Rainier.

How tall this fall?  They sure are growing like weeds.

Logan, Lia, and Ella enjoying the duck races.  I think this is their favorite part of visiting the pumpkin patch every year.

Racing away!

Logan racing his 'duck parade' down the gutter.

The kids racing over the rows of pumpkins to get to the large bale of hale in the center of the field.

The kids and the giant bale of hay decorated like a pig.

A close-up of my cuties.

Posing on the giant pumpkins.

Playing on the toy tractors in the barn.

Riding the bales of hay.

Logan riding the tractor and a bale of hay at the same time.  Sounds about right.

Cute Ella riding her "horse."

Two days later, on Friday, October 19th, Ella and I drove out to Buckley together to attend her preschool's field trip to Maris Farms.  Lia and I went here together six years ago for her preschool field trip and Logan's got cancelled two years ago due to the Super Storm of 2016 that never happened (the weathermen had predicted a crazy, wind storm for the day of the field trip that never actually came to pass).  So, six years later, it was fun to finally return with my next little preschooler.

We started off the field trip by going on a hay ride around the farm.

We then ventured into the corn maze with Ella's class.

My cute girl running through the maze.

Giving me a look before turning the corner.

We wandered next into the pumpkin patch where every child got to choose a pumpkin to take home.  Here is Ella with her class and beloved teacher, Miss Vera.

Ella showing off the pumpkin she chose.

Ella ready to go for a ride in the 'cow train.'

And they're off!

Ella and Miss Vera posing with the goats in the barn right as one of the other students walked into the picture.

Ella walking into the barn with the giant corn box with the rest of her class.

Ella scooping away.

Out with the Old, In with the New!

One of the several "deals" I had to make with Ron in order to convince him to be open to a fourth child was allowing him to trade in his beloved, Ford truck for a SUV of his choice if and when we actually had one more child.  Although my minivan easily holds seven people, Ron refuses to drive it as our family car whenever we are all together on the road.  As a result, his truck (that only holds five people) has been the family car to drive us everywhere we have gone together over the years.  So, the arrival of a fourth child meant that he would need to trade in his beautiful truck for something bigger and better.  After learning that we were pregnant last May, I asked Ron to wait several months before shopping and buying a new car just to make sure that this pregnancy was going to "last" and really produce a baby.  After the 20-week ultrasound, I finally gave him the "green light" to start looking.  Being true to his form, Ron started spending every free minute shopping for his dream SUV on his phone.  Every day the dream car changed for several weeks until he found the Chevrolet Suburban Z71 Midnight Edition.  To put it simply, it was love at first sight.  There was simply no other SUV on the planet that compared to this unique kind of Suburban.  Due to its hard-to-find status, Ron started calling this Suburban the "unicorn" and he would get excited whenever he found one for sale in Washington.  The problem was he rarely could find one for sale (I think the grand total was three during his weeks of hunting) and it was always out of our price range....until he found in Boise, Idaho selling for $10,000 to $13,000 less than the few available in our state.
So, after humming and hawing for a few weeks and going back and forth with various salesmen at the Boise dealership over the trade-in value of our truck and the final price of the SUV, Ron committed to driving down last Wednesday evening.  He left straight after work on Friday and drove all the way to La Grande, Oregon to spend the night in some road side motel before getting up bright and early Saturday morning to reach Boise a few minutes after the dealership opened.  After spending several hours there, Ron bid his faithful truck farewell and hopped in his shiny, new unicorn to drive the eight hours home to us.  At 8:20 last night, Ron pulled up into our garage driving the nicest car he has ever owned!  The kids were so excited to run out and see daddy's shiny, new toy and if it weren't for the massive car payments we will start paying next month, I think I would have been just as excited, too!  :-)

Our loyal and loved, Ford FI50 truck that has been a part of our family for the past 8.5 years.

The Suburban Z71 Midnight Edition parked in our driveway in all her glory.  Isn't she something?

Dining on a Train

Since my dad is an absolute train buff, we "gave" him a lunch out at the Mt. Rainier Railroad Dining Company which is a restaurant located in the tiny and quaint town of Elbe.  After a whirlwind summer for all of us, we were finally able to find a Saturday on the calendar that would work for us to go this fall.  This was only made possible by Lia's soccer game being scheduled on a Sunday instead of a Saturday afternoon.  Since she doesn't play in her Sunday games, it freed up an afternoon for us to go after finishing up with Logan's morning, soccer game.  However, at the last minute, Ron decided to drive to Boise yesterday to buy his dream SUV which meant that we would be going without him (more to come on that in the next post).  So, without Ron, we met up with my parents at our house and then made the scenic drive through the beautiful countryside to the town of Elbe located in the shadows of Mt. Rainier.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch in our own private dining room found in the only caboose of the entire train car restaurant.  Needless to say, the kids were so excited!  After finishing our lunch, we wandered around this tiny town admiring the quaint and old, Lutheran church and original train depot.  It was a fun way to spend the afternoon with grandma and grandpa!

A picture of the restaurant including the caboose at the front where we ate in our own private, dining room.

The kids and I enjoying lunch with grandma and grandpa.

Lia, Logan, and Ella standing with their grandparents in front of the darling Lutheran church founded by a German immigrant over 100 years ago.

A Spontaneous Trip to Seabrook!

When Chris called me up a few days ago and asked if we wanted to join them out at their beach house in Seabrook for Conference weekend, I was surprised to check the calendar and learn that we could actually go!  Since Lia's soccer game was on a Sunday this weekend, we were already not planning on her playing in it.  As a result, all we had was Logan's first soccer game and a friend's birthday party that ended by 1 p.m. making the rest of our Saturday free to pack up and leave.  So, after thinking about it, I called Natalee back up a day later and told her that the kids and I would join them and that we would just plan on skipping school/preschool/piano lessons on Monday.  So, we left Saturday afternoon, and made the 2 plus hour drive out there without any problems or traffic.  Since Natalee and Chris were both arriving in different cars with different kids coming from different activities, the kids and I had the place to ourselves all evening long.  We unpacked, made and ate dinner, and enjoyed a quiet evening before heading to bed around 9 p.m.  Natalee and their three oldest arrived after Brynn's basketball game around 10 p.m. and Chris and their two youngest arrived at almost midnight after camping/hiking the past three days (yes, he's crazy).
We then had a relaxing Sunday morning watching the first session of conference before heading to their wonderful, neighborhood indoor pool for a funfilled, swim session.  After returning to the beach house for lunch, we watched the afternoon session of conference before bundling up and heading out into the rain for a walk down to the beach.  The rain managed to slow down to a sprinkle by the time we arrived at the beach which made spending an hour or so down there a bit more pleasant.  We then headed back up the house for a delicious dinner prepared by Natalee in honor of Chris' birthday which was the following day.  We finished off the evening with Chris opening some gifts and some hide-and-go-seek before heading to bed.  On Monday, we enjoyed a walk to the Seabrook shops and around the neighborhood in the  morning before heading back for lunch at the house and a second round at the pool in the afternoon.  By the time we got back and packed up the van, we pulled out around 5:30 p.m.  The kids and I stopped for gas and dinner in Hoquiam before making the drive home in the dark by ourselves.  It was a relief to get home by 8 p.m. and we were happy to be greeted by papa who we hadn't seen since Saturday!  It was a fun and fast get-away, but such a fun break from life and a great chance to spend some quality time with Chris' family.

Ella getting ready to jump into the pool.

And they're she goes!  My flexible girl striking a 'star fish' pose while in the air.

All three of my water-loving kiddos together.

Long-legged Lia jumping into the pool.

Flashing me a smile.

Crazy Logan striking a wild pose while jumping into the water.

Ella enjoying the hot tub.

The cousins posing inside the awesome, tree stump at the beginning of the path to the beach.

Mama and her kiddos.

Logan, Trenton, Ella, and Lia exploring the awesome, gnome houses while walking through the forest.

Logan and Trenton with a giant mushroom.

Ella in the gnome forest.

Crossing the "troll bridge" on the way to the ocean.

Ella and Logan running to check out a fort made out of driftwood on the beach.

Logan and the fort.

Crazy Garrett decided to go skin boarding in the freezing weather and freezing, Pacific Ocean.  Here he is posing for me before taking off.

Boarding along the shoreline.

Oh, to be that young and carefree again!

Ella, Logan, and the grey Pacific ocean.

All of the cousins minus Garrett and Callie.

Best buddies showing off their whole, sand dollars that they found.

Mama and kiddos braving the rain and the cold.

Chris getting ready to open his birthday presents back at the beach house after dinner.

Logan looking on from his perch on the banister before Chris blew out his candles.

Logan and Lia were so excited to sleep in the adorable, bunk bed room with Trenton and Riley.  Here is Logan all tucked into bed with his cool, nautical sconce light on above him.

Lia smiling down from her top bunk before reading in bed.