Memorial Day Weekend

Yesterday, we headed to Old Colorado City for Territory Days. It's a huge street fair with vendors - both food and 'store' - musical acts, and some cowboy-type displays. We watched a quick-draw shootout (the fastest time was .414 seconds!) and reenactments of cowboy corral shootouts. The boys loved watching everything and the quick-draw contest was fascinating. How can you pull out your gun, aim, fire, and shoot a balloon in less than half a second? That's a lot of practice, I tell you. The day was beautiful with temperatures up in the 80s and even the wind wasn't too bad there. The crowds were unbelievable, though, and at times we were at a standstill just waiting to move forward. By the time we got home, K said he was exhausted just from constantly swiveling his head to make sure we had all five kids. I even saw JAD turn around to count kids. That made my heart smile!

Last night, one neighbor invited MED and MAD over to spend the night and CED went to spend the night at B's house. That left us with just the two boys. So, K and I went to Applebee's for dinner. We were given a gift card back at Christmas for the restaurant and we just haven't had the time (or energy!) to go, so we took advantage last night and headed out. It was very nice to go out just the two of us and not have to deal with food on the floor, kids on the floor going after the food on the floor, and the fighting and bickering. When we got home, K and I walked to King Soopers to see what Redbox had to offer for our viewing pleasure. We ended up renting Faster with Dwayne Johnson - something we were sure JAD would like to watch. The night was beautiful and it was really nice to just take that 1/2 hour walk back and forth. I really enjoyed my day with my family and night with my husband - it was a good day.

Today we are talking about going for a hike, but the wind is just raging again with speeds over 30 mph. I love Colorado, but hate the wind. It's really a beautiful day - the sun is shining, temperatures are in the upper 60s - but the wind just really puts a damper on everything when it is this strong. The trees are bending at 45+ degree angles right now and my windows have been rattling all morning long. Regardless, it should be a relaxing day no matter what we do and I hope we can find something we can do as a family without a child or two being tossed into the wind.
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I just want to say thank you to all of the men and women who have served or are serving in the military. Both of my grandfathers were soldiers - one served in WWII (Navy) and the other served in the Korean War (Army). K's grandpas were also soldiers that fought in WWII (Army and Navy). We currently have several friends that are soldiers and have been on one or more tours 'Down Range' - Nate, Scot, Sheldon, Dominic, Jacob - and we are grateful for their safe returns. I also appreciate each of the wives and families that support them and bravely say goodbye to them as they go serve our country for a year or more at a time. For all of the fallen soldiers - your sacrifices will never be forgotten. We especially remember Marine Rick Nelson. He will always be remembered and loved by my family for the sacrifice he made with his own life on his second tour of duty in Iraq.