Ashley Drake Inn

AD houseWhile Andrea had her soccer tournament, we needed a place to stay.  Most of the team stayed at a hotel about a half hour away from the soccer fields. We were hoping for something closer and MUCH quieter.

Allan did some research and discovered a bed and breakfast about 20 minutes down the road from Andrea’s tournament. The Ashley Drake Inn is near downtown Franklin which we had time to explore a little.

Kim and Craig Smith and their two children run the inn. It was fun being able to talk to Kim and learn more about their beautiful house. She even offered a few suggestions on day trips for future stays.

BreakfastMark eats a lot, but he was not able to finish half of his breakfast the first day!  The food was very good, but was served in large portions. Everyone requested smaller amounts the following morning.

Megan’s favorite room was her bedroom.  She insisted that her personal bedroom was special because it had a toilet, tub and sink in it.  If anyone mentioned it was a huge bathroom, she fussed and said, “No! It’s my bedroom!”

If you are ever driving through central Indiana, and need a place to stay, look up the Ashley Drake Inn.  Be sure to say hi from us if you do stay over!

Click on a picture to see a slide show!

Exciting Weekend

Goal
This weekend, Andrea had a soccer tournament. She played hard all weekend and her team came in second! The games were very close and exciting to watch.

After two games on Saturday, the girls started Sunday’s game knowing if they lost, they were finished with the tournament. The home team was playing on their own field and Andrea’s coach cautioned them that they were playing a tough team “who knew every bump and blade of grass in the field”!

The game started out with each team trying hard but no points being made.  Then, just before half time, Laureen kicked the ball to Andrea, who made her very first goal! As parents yelled and screamed, one of the mothers told me that the goalie had not let any balls get through the whole tournament!

Both teams struggled and played hard the entire game.  The game ended with a score of 1-0!  It was neat watching the girls come up to Andrea after the game and congratulate her on her great goal. Listening to Andrea talking about the game, she mentioned she made a point, but focused on how hard her team played and that they won.  That was the winning point for me!

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Candles

Mark and MeganLast night was cold! Andrea and Allan shivered through soccer practice while the first snow of the season fell. It did not last long, but Andrea remarked it was fun practicing in it.

While they were at soccer, the rest of us were home enjoying the beautiful fall colors. We roamed the woods and then headed inside for hot chocolate.

Because we all love candles, we decided to experiment with candle pictures. Mark watched Megan Audrey candlesquirm and wiggle and blow out the candles and offered to snuggle with her so she would sit still.  I think the two of them is my favorite of all the pictures.

I plan to try again soon, we will have many dark winter nights to play with ideas!

At the Park

Andrea  AudreyAdrian MeganEven though it is cooling down quickly, it is still beautiful outside.  Mark had a biology class so he was not able to be at the park while Audrey and Adrian had a primitive living class. Before heading home, we took a little time to pose for pictures.

Experimenting

Bees on flowerMark and I have been experimenting with catching bees flying around flowers. We tease we need a “trained bee” that is taught to fly to a flower, pretend to collect pollen and then fly off before returning to the same flower.

We have learned a few lessons to make the pictures work.  I sat near this flower for about a half hour while the kids played watching a multitude of insects do their jobs. Observing them taught me a lot!  Hopefully, we can get out again so Mark has the chance to try another picture this year.

Princess Megan

Princess Megan
Princess Megan 2013

We put Megan’s hair up in “princess braids”–two braids pinned to the top of her head– for the first time on Saturday.  Andrea was excited because it used to be her very favorite hair style.

Megan liked the style and kept talking about being a princess. It looked as sweet on her as it did when Andrea wore it.

Andrea fall 2005
Princess Andrea 2005

 

Leaves

GroundedOn most school days we walk. We use the walk to talk, discuss school things or just day dream out loud.

Even though it was colder this morning, we spent our walk looking for beautiful leaves. We collected some to press and took pictures of others. We were very thankful that yesterday’s rain did to seem to wash the leaves’ color away any.