The leaves have already fallen in Minnesota!

We ended up flying to my Grandmother-in-law's funeral. It was very interesting to travel with my children. Not as stressful as I had imagined either. We had taken our daughter once on an airplane when she was 3 and she was really great - but this trip we would have a "lap child" also. It was fine anyway - Anderson was a good traveler considering he had to be in someones lap almost the entire time. I guess it was better than trying to drive the 22+ hours! When we got to our destination, we went to the Wake - the kids mostly played outside and tried to avoid the chapel room where the body was. They had an open casket - weird for me. Gladys looked nice, they didn't overdo her make-up... I don't like seeing a person I enjoyed while they were alive just laying there. Do you know what I mean? I understand that it does offer some closure for certain people though. I had one of my best friends die in a car accident when we were about 20 years old and there was an open casket at her wake also... I really didn't need to see her laying there... and her make-up wasn't very good - she didn't look like herself at all, so it made it too much like a cheap horror movie for me to play over in my mind. That's probably why I don't like the open casket thing so much... Anyway - the kids played outside and I got a few pix. It was nice to see my Husband's cousins - some of whom he hadn't seen in more than 6 years. Our kids got to play together and that was really nice. The funeral was very pretty the next day, and Taylor really behaved herself. Anderson didn't want to sit still much more, so he was a little rowdy, but he wasn't too disruptive. After the funeral was the burial, and I think Taylor understood what was going on, she didn't ask many questions. The ones I do remember are "Mommy, is Grandma Gladys in that box?" and then "Are they going to put it in the hole?" I answered the questions simply and truthfully, hoping she wasn't upset by it. She seemed to do really well. Any of a child's serious life questions are answered in this way by me. After the burial, we went to the church's basement where there was some food for us to eat. It was an interesting conglomeration of things... cold cuts on buttered bread, pickles, jello, fruit salad, and an assortment of cakes. It was hard to tell if it was meant to be a meal or a snack, but it was appreciated, and the women were very nice who served all of the guests. There were so many people there. The family had lived in this area their entire lives so they knew just about everyone in the town and surrounding areas. Gladys was well loved and will be remembered by many as the funny, sweet lady she was!

While we were in Minnesota, we toured the little town of Granite Falls - there were tons of ducks on the riverbank, and they weren't at all camera shy. I was reminded that we were way up north by this sign - I thought it was funny considering the daytime high was in the 90s that day (it was October after all).

The night before we left, the family gathered at Grandpa Vernon's apartment at the rest home to visit a little. It was nice and we looked at many photo albums, talking about other trips and reminiscing about the past. Of course the kids played and stayed up way past their bed times - their schedules were way out of whack this weekend. You wouldn't think one hour time zone change could make such a difference but it does. Especially around naps and bedtimes.

10PM

The day we headed back to good ol' North Cackalaky we stopped and visited with my bestest childhood friend, Anna. She had gotten a job out in BFE, MN and so had to move away from me AGAIN! (this has become a bad habit of hers) Anyway, she seems happy there, and it was really great to have lunch and visit with her and her family! She has a daughter who is about 2 months younger than Anderson, so it's really fun to get together and see the kids interact with each other. She and her mother (who was also visiting) made us lunch which was really really really yummy, and we got to play at the park nearby for a little while during our visit.

Anderson and Sylva: Here's a really pretty mushroom I found by the park:

After our visit with Anna and Sylva, we headed back towards the airport with a little detour at the Mall of America. Wow. I could spend the whole day there for sure! Unfortunately I didn't find any fabric or yarn stores in the Mall. There was an oxygen bar though - really weird thing to watch if you've never seen it! I almost got out the camera to take a picture, but then I would have to pretend I was a foreign citizen, and I'm not much of an actress... so no picture. Just believe me - it was weird. The flight home was pretty uneventful, both kids slept for a while, and overall it was uneventful. We got home and pretty much passed out - it's hard travelling!

As for my projects... I did start the little sweater, but didn't get all that far - I didn't have much time to myself, and it was not an option in the plane with a squirmy 16 month old around. I'll post pix of the WIP when I get a chance. I got the blanket back that I made for Gladys... I'm not sure what I'll do with it... maybe hang it on the wall in my sewing room... I didn't want it going into a box somewhere and being forgotten, so I asked if I could take it home. I hope you all had a great first October weekend!