Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day


Today we celebrated Memorial Day.. a weekend that typically means "three days off from work".. but ever since our son in law, Nate, having served with the Marine Corps for four years... my view of Memorial Day is very clear. We also know several young men and women who are currently serving our country.. and I am very grateful to them and the ones before and the ones to come... thank you just seems so small compared to what they do for us... but I sincerely mean it.










And so Miss Abbie, we bring you to your first parade, and though this is a celebration today, I can assure you that your "Grandmother" is going to teach you what this holiday is all about. And how blessed you are that you were born here in the United States!!!!








Before the parade, we had a tail gate party of sorts... coffee and donuts!!! The day was just beautiful and this was a great way to start it out...










The honor guard opened the parade... it was "interesting" to see how many people paid their respect when the flag went by. I did see a few hats removed, hands placed over the heart.. and some even stood up from chairs... but not as many as should have. Maybe people don't know what the "rules" are anymore.. and that's a shame... but, you teach by example, so I made sure that I was paying attention when the colors passed by.





This was also a good opportunity for Chester to do some training. He was quite interested at first, but by the time the parade was about half over, he just sat and watched. No big deal......











After the parade, the kids came back to the camp for a cookout and a swim. Nate helped Ed get all the lawns mowed (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!). Everything looked so nice and neat at the end of the day.












Charlie keeping a careful watch on his Mom and baby Abbie.....














tired little girl.. it was long and exciting day....












We then went down to the farm. Ed had asked the boys if they would help him move the cabinets in. Both Nate and Tom were a great help and got them all inside for us. Now I can begin to paint them and get them ready to be installed..










Ed did a rough lay out, and this certainly gives me a good idea of what my kitchen is going to look like (so exciting!!!). Tomorrow we plan to get the tile put down in the kitchen area, and as I already said... it will be a big week of painting for me... but it's getting close~~~~






And it's because people chose and served our country.. and keep us "free", I get to enjoy things like building a new home, and living in the place that I chose... and though it does seem "small".. I truly say THANK YOU to our wonderful "service people" and God Bless America!!!!