Memorial Day Weekend

We had a really great weekend. Ryan had Friday and Monday off, so it was great to have him around more, well, sorta. He spent Friday getting ready to climb Mt. St. Helen's and left about 3:00 to get there. He camped with a group and hiked up on Saturday. You can read about his experiences here and here. He was the first one to the top for the whole day and seemed to have a good time. I would like to go there sometime before we move also. We'll have to see if that actually happens or not. Looks like a neat place.

Since he went up and down so fast, he got home pretty early on Saturday, so that was nice. We had a normal Sunday with church and family time.

Monday was Memorial Day and we decided to go on-post to the service to celebrate it.

We attended the ceremony at the cemetery. It was a nice program, not too long, just about right for two children to sit through. I really enjoyed it. They had an Army band and a tomb of the unknown solder. I never really knew before that the flag flied at half-mast until noon on Memorial Day and then gets raised to the top. The 21-gun salute really added also. The guns were pretty close by and so they were pretty loud. Our kids did pretty well though. Some others were crying. Kim just covered her ears and Glade didn't start whimpering until about the 18th shot or so. After I gave him a hug, he was all right. Very impressive.

Ryan and Glade in the peaceful cemetery.



Flags were on every grave.


The soldiers that shot off the guns. You can see the guns in the background.


Kim being her patriotic self.



We decided to stop by Burger King for lunch and then go to the lake on post. Too bad we didn't plan enough ahead. Kimberly didn't have her swimsuit, but managed to get wet and have fun anyway. Where was Glade during this time? Fast asleep in his carseat, which Dad kindly carried to the beach.



When we got home, we decided to try to make dinner in the sun oven, but it turned out to be too late in the afternoon, so we will have to finish the ribs up today. I have done a few things in there and it really works. Once when I made bread I baked 2 loaves in the sun oven and 3 in the regular oven and couldn't really tell the difference. I also baked brownies in there once. I will keep experimenting, when I have time. Washington's admittedly not the best place for this appliance because of all the clouds and rain.