Memorial Day Weekend

At the M's game Friday night

Adam on the cop's bike before the game. Kat was NOT Interested in getting on the bike.

Sunday at the Folk Festival. Kat had fun watching the crazy dog retrieving a bottle in the water. She got wet only from the dog shaking the water off. It's a cool fountain, though.

Kat and her daddy (and Laura on the far left), leaving the festival.

Kat & Laura at Zeke's Pizza after the Festival. That's Kat's hat, but I doubt that she cares.

Apparently, they don't have Memorial Day parades here in the west. At least I couldn't find any.

Aside from personal thoughts, we didn't do anything that paid tribute. I hope that next year we can find a parade and begin to explain to Kat that untold numbers of men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice and given their lives (or limbs) to make this, her adoptive country, the land of the free and most definitely of the brave.

In talking to one of Dan's (younger) co-workers, it came up that our Grandparents are deceased. This surprised her, as hers are all alive and well, and on e-mail. I thought about it and told her that my Mother's Father, my grandfather, served in World War I. That's not a typo. I can't imagine how miserable the fighting (and the elements- they didn't have gortex, polypropelene, fleece or fruit roll-ups back then) would have been in 1917 France. I wish that we had some of his stories on record. Mom and Dad did (tape) record him years ago, but that tape is long lost. So many stories, so much history is being lost every day (though the WWI vets are likely long gone), as our WWII vets are leaving us at an alarming rate. If you have a vet in your family, now is the time to record some of their history, some of their stories, before it's gone for good. It's also a good time to say Thank you.

One thing is certain- that is most definitely when men were men, and they were made of tougher stuff than most of us can fathom.