A weekend of fun and a day to remember.

What a crazy busy weekend, but truly only full of fun things and special moments.  Most of this post will be told in pictures, because there are just way more then any one really wants to look at.  But I will say I got the pleasure of spending a couple of days with my "bestest good friend" and her kids.  We had no schedule, no events and no need to do anything but hang out.  That is SO rare.  We kept the kids busy and thus tired, which is not a bad thing.  Then on Monday the kids and I headed to Willamette National Cemetery where Kyle's band was playing for their Memorial Day ceremony.  As it turns out that is where my grandfather is buried, so after we watched daddy do his thing we headed on the huge search to find my grandpas grave marker. What an amazing place, and even if you have no one buried there it would be a wonderful way to spend the memorial day.  Your kids could really see a visual of the amount of people that give at least a part of their lives towards serving this country.  Not to mention there are jets and guys with guns and hummers.  Oh yeah!

Adventure #1 was the carousel and the park.  The kids had a blast riding these pretty horses, except Adam, who gets very nervous, had to ride in the wagon the first time and then practically jumped into my arms half way through the second ride he got so freaked out.  Hard to believe that kid has ever been to Disneyland.
A simply beautiful day.  Here they are checking out the water, they later got to wave at the river boat as it passed.  And the girls were so cute, holding hands and loving each other as we walked around the park.  Those two are just precious and they love each other so much.  Makes my heart so happy.
The boys really know how to relax.  
We of course had to have some water fun with this beautiful weather.  After some initial arguing over sprinkler does and don'ts they had a great time.  

I have a feeling we will have lots of pictures like this one of them sunbathing and the one of them below just looking so beautiful.  

Oh those silly boys, they spent some time poking around our creek.  
What weekend wouldn't be complete without the trip to the ice cream parlor?!  Clearly they enjoyed it!
Here are the jets that flew over at the beginning of the ceremony.  We barely made it up the hill and to the spot before they cam whizzing by.  We parked really far away and had to walk up hill to get there.  We never would have made it if this really nice couple had not picked us up in their truck and taken us the rest of the way.  What a nice couple they were.  The kids were the most excited for those jets and Sarah was actually crying at the thought of us missing them, phew we made it.
Here is Kyle's band playing the armed forces medley.  I was so amazed to see so many of his kids give up part of their day to be there.  It truly was an honor.  It's so neat to watch as each theme is played people that served in that branch stood up.  Brought tears to my eyes.  It was also very touching when they did the rifle salute and then played taps.  What amazing traditions that few people really get to witness.  
A couple of pictures of things around the cemetery.  The missing soldier, or is it fallen soldier, is always neat to see.
Sarah sitting in a hummer, the boys are in the front seat pretending to drive.
All the service guys were really nice and posed for pictures with kids.  It was really neat hearing my kids say thanks to these guys, for serving our country.  
Posing in a different Army vehicle.  
Just one of the many hills loaded with flags.  Every single marker had a flag, in the background you can see Mt. Hood if you look really hard.  It was a bit hazy out.
Here we are at my grandfather's marker.  Don N. Price.  He was on subs in the Navy during WWII.  He was also one of the most amazing men I have ever known and I miss him so much!  The kids loved the adventure of finding his marker, there are two Don Price's and the first time we were sent to the wrong marker.  They all have numbers in the corner and that is how you find them, as well as letters marking areas of the cemetery.  cc496 is his number.  I'm very proud of him for lots of reasons but serving our country is right up there.

At the end of the day Alex said he wanted to fly airplanes, or be on subs when he grows up.  But he could always fall back on his first future ambition.....mall cop!