Memorial Day Slide

Mommy seriously outdid herself today with a  spectacular meal and all kinds of nice patriotic decor.  It was an incredible Memorial Day, where the family came over for a bit to relax and as you can see above - get a little wet!

She's been working all weekend on preparing all the food, and getting things set up.  We put a canopy out on the deck, which worked out perfectly on a hot day like today.  It was good to eat outside, and thanks to Beryl, we had overcast skies from time to time to cool things off a bit.  Daddy grilled the burgers and hot dogs, the hamburgers created from a secret recipe mix that Mommy's been using for a while.  They're delicious!  Then there were the standard Memorial Day items:  corn on the cob, macaroni salad, potato salad, cole slaw and more.  Mommy made it all, and everyone nearly ate it all!

We celebrated a few birthdays today, and even a belated Mother's Day.  Daddy's hospital stay sort of delayed a few of those dates a bit.  Daddy had the patriotic music playing - we have a few CDs, one from Disney World (EPCOT'S America Pavilion), and one is from Phil Driscoll.  It's sort of a tradition to play those on Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

We've collected some great decorations over the years, wood carved and colored red, white and blue.  Mommy even got a neat decoration to hang out by the front door, near the flag.  Outside there were red, white and blue decorations hanging from the canopy.  It was pretty festive!

And yes, it got pretty wet afterwards.  It seems to be a tradition to get into a major squirt gun fight, followed by the hurling of soaking wet sponges.  Ye-Ye was absolutely drenched.  He might as well have jumped in a pool as wet as he was.  Later on, they set up a water slide in the back yard, and as you can see from that first picture, everyone has a great time sliding down.  Madison absolutely loved it.

Everyone stayed a little later than expected - everyone was having such a good time.  It was great to see Madison's great grandma here as well.  She watched in the shade of the balcony above as everyone went about splashing and soaking.  It was a great day!

Tired from the day's preparations and events, we sat down to watch "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" afterwards.   Madison hadn't seen it before, but enjoyed watching it with Mommy and Daddy.  We had pop-corn, and of course a little later we had to have a little chocolate.  No golden tickets though.

It's not quite time for Madison to appreciate the value of Memorial Day, which of course is all about sacrifice.  We did talk about that briefly, but some day Madison will really grasp the weight of those who gave all so that we could enjoy a day like this.  Ye-Ye was in the Navy for a short time, as was his father.  No one else has had to serve - we've been so incredibly blessed for many years, all thanks to those who defend us.