The Riles' Express...

This bike. This tree. This place. This time. It's special. Special to a little girl who dreams of being a "fiderfider" (fire fighter) and growing up to help people. "I just want to help people, mom."

This bike takes her places. Places in space, far away lands, and to her very best friend's in the whole wide world, Grandma Pat's.

At least three times a day, I cannot find her. I hear her call "I'm gonna go ride my bike, ok?" and then she disappears. Disappears to a place where ice cream before dinner doesn't matter, a place where someone is willing to put everything aside and give her their undivided attention, a place where tea parties are held, pretend fires are put out by the fire truck (it's ladder goes up, it's soo cool!) and a place where being 7 and asking a million questions is simply ok.

All of these things happen at home, too, just not as often as she would like them too.

This place

is magical.

RAINBOW Cake

Riles, Danny and I made this cake today. (Recipe and photo courtesy of Whisk Kid...see side bar for her blog). It was a very long process, but the kids absolutely loved mixing up the colors, baking them, and then assembling the cake. I recommend doing all the prep work before you begin. It made mixing it a lot easier. (Also, this cake took me from 11:30-3:30 today)...not a quick and easy dessert. Hopefully the next time it will go smoother :) We are thinking of making a red, white and blue one for the 4th.

Here are some pics of the finished product before and after we cut it.

Danny, Riles, and whimp.