Telluride, CO - Day 1

8-3

We're off to Telluride!! This is our longest camping trip of the summer as well as the furthest away one. It takes about 6 hours to get to Telluride from Canon City so our first day was spent mostly traveling. We stopped at the top of Monarch Pass for a stretch break. When you go from 5,300 feet to 11,300 feet, it gets a bit chilly! As I recall, the fog was just burning off as we got to the top of the pass. So neat! 

 After Monarch Pass and another stop or two, we pulled into Matterhorn Campground in time to make dinner. It rained off and on for most of the drive, a trend that would continue for the duration of our trip. Matt made a fire and we ate our usual first night foil packet feast. We did roast marshmallows that night but we didn't stay up too late. The campground had free hot showers so we took advantage of that when necessary. It's one of my favorite amenities. :) 

Our camp site was nestled up against a hill so the kids had plenty of space to explore.

 Dinner time!! Everything tastes better when it's cooked over a fire. 

 First night campfire stories. 

Molly Girl

8-1

Molly asked me to help her put on her puppy purse "just like Mommy". She wanted it slung across her body instead of just on one shoulder. I don't carry a purse/bag any other way. :) I LOVE HER. 

Lego Fun

7-31

Charlie has been playing with his Legos a lot lately. He's working on putting together ALL of his kits. Is that a summer vacation project or what!? It has been fun to help him and work together on some of the projects! He asked me to help him create a Lego Ninjago mask one day; there was a short tutorial on how to wrap and tie a solid-colored t-shirt around your head to look like a ninja in his Lego magazine. 2 minutes later, poof! Ninja Charlie!

East Silent Lake Resort

7-23 to 7-27

The last few weeks of July were fairly open for us; baseball was done, swimming lessons were over, we didn't have any camping trips scheduled, etc. It was going to be our only stretch of unscripted time all summer. And then my cousin passed away and we decided to fill up that time by driving and investing in some good quality time with extended family. A solid choice. The kids and I were able to stay for a week in MN, and during that time we TOTALLY crashed my parents' lake cabin plans. Edwards, Swensons, and my parents had been planning to spend a week at East Silent Lake Resort for months and months - and then at the last minute, they made room (by way of reserving a whole separate cabin that became available at the very last minute) for 5 extra Rustands. It was such a fun week together! We swam, played, watched kids, fished, played, swam, ate, etc. We had a blast! Thanks, Mom and Dad for letting us join you all!

After the funeral on Saturday night, we drove to Fargo and stayed with Jill and Brady. We headed out to the lake cabin mid-morning on Sunday.  

 Leah (3.5) helping Hattie with her shoes. Oh fer sweet!

 This giant inflatable slide was in the beach area at the resort. IT WAS HILARIOUS. The adults had just as much fun on the slide as the kids (the ones that were big enough to do it)!!! 

 The "cabin". HAHAHA. This monster slept 12 and was SO AMAZING. 

 Dining room table that seats 10? Yep. 

 A little girl time at the resort playground. 

 The beach was really great. It was really sandy and the grounds were very well kept. The resort had plenty of life jackets, sand toys, water toys, boats/kayaks/canoes, etc. The whole place was a family memory waiting to happen. 

 This kid-friendly kayak got a lot of use from the Legge grandkids throughout the week! The kids old enough to control it used it as a water taxi and were bringing kids out to the trampoline or lily pad. Charlie spent quite a bit of time in the kayak and was able to not only figure out, but get pretty good at maneuvering the boat while we were there. 

 Ready for a ride on Grandpa and Grandma's boat!

 A boat tour of East Silent Lake with Grandma, Grandpa, and Jill. 

 From floaties....

 ....to sand castles....

 ...to catching a lot of fish. 

 Tanna, Bergen, and Alanna were having a grand ol' time on the lily pad! I had never been on one before and I had a ton of fun, too! Not just for kids! 

 Looking back toward the beach area from the boat docks. 

There are several more super cute pictures of Leah and Molly playing the water balloon toss game. They were so surprised when one or the other actually caught the water balloon! 

 Three mornings throughout the week, the resort put on kids activities for an hour. The kids painted rocks, played with a parachute, did an obstacle course, put together wooden airplanes, and played water games during their kids time. The last kids activity was the water games and they finished with a snow cone. It was great to have a few structured activities for the kids - complete with all of the supplies needed to do the activity! 

 All the kids in front of the East Silent Lake Resort sign. 

 SISTERS!

 Three-year-old hugs goodbye. 

 Cousins and friends!

 Such handsome boys!!

 The whole group less Matt. (We missed you so much, and REALLY wish you could have come with Babe!)

 The kids and I left East Silent on Thursday after lunch and drove to Fergus to spend some time with Matt's parents. We stayed only one night before heading back home on Friday morning. We drove to Kearney that night and stayed in a hotel there. We were home around 5 on Saturday. We were all THRILLED to see Daddy again!! 

Cody's Funeral

7-20

The kids and I drove to ND/MN at the last minute to attend my cousin Cody's funeral. He and I were only a few weeks apart in age. He passed away on July 16th in an ATV accident. It was both really good to see all kinds of family at the funeral, yet we were gathered together for an absolutely horrible reason. No parent should ever have to bury their child; there is something completely unnatural about that. Jesus, be near to the brokenhearted. 

Though there's no good segue out of death, I do want to document that the kids did wonderfully in the car. We left on Thursday the 20th right after swimming lessons, around 2:30, and drove until we got to Spearfish, SD, about 12:30am that night. I made four trips up to our hotel room that night carrying Hattie, Molly, Alanna, and a small suitcase of things. After a quick night's sleep, we were back on the road by 8:30am on Friday morning. We made a few required stops for gas and some hurried stretching before jumping back in the car. We made it to Valley City at about 5pm on Friday and checked into a hotel before going over to the visitation for Cody at the funeral home at 6. The funeral was on Saturday morning. 

My happy travelers all settled into their jammies for the night somewhere in Wyoming. 

 The visitation was a visitation. It was good and hard and sad and all of the things attached to death. Afterward, we went to Pizza Corner with a lot of family. The kids all had fun together eating and playing in the play area, the weight of the situation was almost completely lost on them all. But kids are kids. I'd be lying if I said that they didn't bring some joy to an otherwise hard day. Here's the "guys" table at Pizza Corner: Drew, Thomas, Kenna, Charlie, Tucker, Kemper, and of course, the favorite great uncle/grandpa Ryan. 

 Charlie, Tucker, and Kemper getting some sillies out! Edwards', Swensons, my kids and I all got some more sillies out later that night when we swam for an hour at the pool. I suppose it was close to 11 when my kids got to bed that night, but it was almost a necessity to expend some energy with their cousins. 

 Cody's funeral was at Grandma and Grandpa Graalum's church since Laurie and Tom were expecting a big crowd. 350 people came to the funeral, not counting the 12-15 kids back in the nursery during the actual funeral. Jill had arranged for her sister-in-law to come and help with childcare which was an absolutely amazing thing to do. It helped me out a TON because Alanna ended up being the only one of my kids who actually came and sat with me during the funeral. It was great to be fully present during the funeral. There was a lunch after the funeral and then about 1:30, we all headed out to the cemetery in Kathryn where Cody was buried. After the burial, the Graalum family gathered back at the church for more visiting. We took some pictures as well. Here are a few of all 14 of the Graalum great-grandchildren. 

Back row left to right: Charlie, Bergen, Tanna holding Charlotte, Tucker, Drew, Kemper, Thomas

Front row left to right: Leah, Hattie, Kenna, Molly, Alanna, Maylen

 All of the kids played together beautifully. There was plenty of room to play together yet still allowing for some adult conversation. 

Molly, Kenna, Leah, Bergen, Hattie

 Cousin picture: Lisa, Julie, Heather, Tempest, Travis, Jill, Krista, and Kathy

 Back row left to right: Pablo, Heather, Julie, Cara, Tempest, Jill, Brady, Lisa, Matt

Front row left to right: Travis, Jordan, Krista, Kathy, Jason

(my Matt was the only one missing from the new version without Cody of this picture)

 At some point that afternoon, Charlie and Thomas found their way into the youth room where they played foosball for quite some time. Thomas is Cody's only son. He's nine in the picture but turned ten at the beginning of August. 

 Before the day was done, we made one last stop at my grandparent's house for some additional one-on-one time with them. The kids and I drove to Fargo that night and stayed with Jill and Brady. It was probably 9 by the time we got there after a very full and emotional day. I was pretty exhausted that night. I am so, so glad that I/we decided to make the trip to North Dakota. It was worth every mile.