It's Fall in North Dakota!
It's been about 6 years since any of us were able to go to ND in October. Fall was always one of my favorite seasons back home, and is definitely the one I miss the most now that I live in the land of two seasons (summer and not summer). When I heard they were planning a 90th birthday for my Grandma, I knew that I would be there. The only question was if the kids and Dave would be with me. Thanks to the cancelled flight and the $300 in vouchers we got from Allegiant from our summer trip, it didn't cost much for all 4 of us to fly. It was going to be a short trip--just Friday through Monday, but I was so glad we could make it happen. It's always good to be home, even if it's only for 3 days.
We arrived pretty late on Friday night, not getting to my parents' house until about 11:30 pm. In the morning, I went to a tough spinning class at the gym with Vanessa. The whole time I was on that bike I was regretting my decision to go with her, as I'm dripping with sweat from every inch of my body, but as with any workout, I was glad I did it once it was over. I can always count on her for a good workout! Dave, Tyler, and my dad went out to the farm for a few hours in the morning, and Ava went with Grandma to run some errands. Eventually, Vanessa picked me up and we headed over to Grandma's house to wait for the rest of the family to arrive. We were going to be meeting to head out to Alexander.
The weather while we were there was simply fantastic. It was warm, sunny, and not a breath of wind. We couldn't have possibly special ordered better weather for our weekend. Turns out it was probably the last night weekend they'd have, as the snowflakes started falling the day after we left.
Ava and Danica always have fun playing together! The colors and the summer clothes in these pictures definitely don't scream "fall" at all, do they?
Once the family all met up at Grandma's house, we loaded into various cars to head to Alexander, which is about 30 minutes away from Williston. When my mom and her siblings were growing up, they spent their summers playing in these buttes around the town. They have many great memories of their time there together, and that's where they chose to spread my Grandpa Roy's ashes, along with some of Joyce's. It was very special that we could all be there together.
You can see why this would have been such a great to play as children. It was my kids' first time out there, and they were so mad when it was time to leave! "We've only been here for a minute!" I think we'll have to make another trip out there next time we're home.
I'll write plenty more about how amazing my Grandma is at age 90, but here's your first example. She needed a little help to make sure she made it up safely, but she didn't have much trouble finding her way up the buttes.
Margaret said a few words and then they all said a prayer, and we all took turns tossing a handful of Grandpa's ashes into the blue sky over the rocky buttes.
They also wanted to spread some of Joyce's ashes out there with Grandpa. It's been almost 6 years since she passed away, and is still so hard.
After we were done up at the buttes, we drove down into Alexander to take a look around and to show the kids where Grandma Jean grew up. Here is the house that she and her family lived in. There were 8 people in the family (5 daughters and one son), and the house had only 1 bathroom! My mom tells many stories about growing up in the little town, but the things I've heard most is about the single bathroom (and Grandpa making them all use the same bathwater!), and how they used to pretend the porch railing was a horse. They've since enclosed the porch on the house, but I can still picture my mom and her sisters out there.
One of the trademarks of this little town is the fresh water spring that flows out of a pipe under a shelter next to the park. I think any of us who have spent any amount of time in Alexander remembers drinking straight out of this pipe. My kids got to experience it for the first time.
We didn't stay long, but spent a little time at the park. The kids would have loved to have more time there, but again, we'll have to make sure to do that next time. The fall leaves were beautiful while we were there. I think we managed to find the peak weekend for those lovely colors, and I took every opportunity to get photos. I love this picture of Karen and Kristina. It was so great that she and her boyfriend were able to fly up from Dallas to be there for the weekend. It was the first time most of us had met Thomas, and the first time I'd seen her since she moved away from Arizona.
After we were done in Alexander, we headed back to Williston. The one goal I had while we were home was to get some family pictures in the fall leaves. We got dressed into our family pictures clothes, loaded up my camera, tripod, and remote, and headed out to find a spot for the pictures. I'll share more on that in a separate post, so stay tuned.
After we were successful with our photos, we headed out to Andy and Vanessa's house, where they were having a family party. For the first time since Joyce's funeral in 2010. It was so great that the whole family was able to be there to celebrate Grandma. Andy and Vanessa have a great place for a family party, and it was a beautiful fall evening. We were able to be outside most of the night, ending the evening sitting around a bonfire with all of my cousins. Our moms were inside with the kids while they played, and we cousins got to hang out. It was great!
Little Brantly wasn't too crazy about the trampoline....
....but of course, Ava and Danica had fun!
More to come....
