Summer's End

This summer surely was an unusual one for our family, but we managed to squeeze in some wonderful times together even as we dealt with difficult situations. We spent our last week before school starts in South Fork, Colorado, where we rented a little cabin...well, OK, with 9 of us it wasn't exactly little and it is actually hard to find one big enough for us and friends!  It rained every day, but I have decided that our lives right now mean we chase fun and family time in dribs and drabs, so that was just fine and led to great afternoons playing games, watching movies (something we rarely do at home so it is a treat!) and having long, deep conversations.  Our time together is just so special, it is hard to describe.  It may not seem that way to others, and I get that, but for us, we revel in it!  Here are a few pics of our summer's end:

Do you think we have enough chips and dip for everyone for five days?!?!?!
Good grief!

7 Twin Beds for a Dorm upstairs!  Perfect for the kids :-)

We read (Kenny is reading Pew to Pulpit to prepare for sermon writing!)

Played hoops...

Laughed over a new game called Linkee...

We did puzzles...

Played Monopoly...

Played a fierce couple of rounds of Qwirkle...

Had Matt as an impressive Poker Dealer...

We geocached...

And Geocached...

And Geocached!!

And we laughed, oh how we laughed!  And oh, how we needed it!

And we loved.  We just hung out and loved each other, enjoyed one another's company, delighted in having no schedule, no interference, no real "work".

We celebrated birthdays, Olesya's and mine, and she made me a beautiful special birthday cake designed to look like mosaic pieces dropped on top, as I am now beginning to learn how to create mosaics!

Olesya turned 19 years old :-)

I turned...um...a few years older than Olesya ;-)  (52!)

It was a lovely end to the summer, and fall is already feeling as if it is upon us, much to my relief.  My favorite time of year is here!  

We all grew a lot this summer in all kinds of ways.  It was far different than we planned, but it ended on a wonderful note!