The Graf Quad Squad had a busy last week. Last Friday, we headed west to God’s country, Colorado. Moni worked the night before so we left around 5 in the morning. Before we got to our cabin, we stopped in Colorado Springs so the kids and I could meet the newest member of the family. Moni’s sister, Emily and her husband, Andy had their first baby, Veda Maxine, around a month ago so we stopped there for lunch and to visit. The kids were all very happy to meet their new cousin and acted pretty decent.
We got to our beautiful cabin in Lake George, Colorado late that afternoon and the kids, Moni, and I were all ECSTATIC to get out of our van. We spent Friday evening waiting for the rest of our cabin mates (Kelly and Russ, Courtney and Jason and Solomon, Aunt Gloria, Mom and Dad, Ryno, and Lainie and Adam…it was a full cabin) and exploring our lot of land. Saturday morning we ate breakfast and went to check in at the dude ranch owned by my Dad’s uncle that we were having the reunion. It was great seeing so many long-lost cousins, aunts and uncles. Everyone was excited to meet the squad, and the squad was happy to see everything…especially the dogs at the ranch.
Sunday was full of activities. There was the family picture, the kids had a carnival, and I had to embarrass myself in horseshoes and 3 on 3 basketball. Monica spent the day wrangling kids and laughing at me trying to regain the athletic form of 10 years and 50 pounds ago. My personal thrill was the kids getting to see Uncle Bill and Aunt Armella. They made a surprise visit. They are my great-aunt and uncle from Colorado who have always been my personal favorite since I lived there from the age of 4-7. We aren’t going to be able to make a Denver Bronco trip this year, and not getting to visit them along with our Schwartzes is what will bother me the most.
Monday morning we made the trip home and the kids were so excited because we had been telling them that the day after we got home we would go get their new puppy dog. My friend, Wendy, works at a vet clinic and they had a boxer pup that they had nursed back to health. He had suffered from anemia and had parasites and wasn’t supposed to make it. When she was telling me about this dog, I couldn’t help but notice the parallels between him and my own kids. Forrest and Danna had been praying for a doggie for the past three months so I figured it was time. (Now they pray for Champ).
We brought Champ home on Tuesday and he has adjusted very well. The first day he was a little overwhelmed I think, but here we are, three days later and he is playing with all of them (when he isn’t sleeping, which is a lot) and already trying to eat us out of house and home. The kids are doing great with him and love having him come in the room and wake them up with me each morning.
(This is one of their favorite games to play with him.)
As for the letters segment of my title, they all got ahold of our computer and now we are also missing the buttons for the letter e, the space bar, the tab key, and 2 other keys I don’t ever use so I don’t know what they are. This is to go along with the letter c that they pulled off a couple weeks ago. No one to blame but ourselves, but it makes typing a lot harder. We’ll see you guys later.
Love,
Billy, Moni, Pius, Forrest, Danna, and Laine 
