HEROES UNAWARE

I first saw him on a park bench
I've seen him every day
Sitting in a shady grove
Where my children come to play
Sometimes he feeds the birds and squirrels
Or whittles little toys
Sometimes he just sits and smiles
At the laughing girls and boys
And I never paid him any mind
'Till one day just this year
I noticed that he wore a frown And on his cheek ... a tear.

Well I asked him why he seemed so down
He looked up, began to say
I lost half my friends 60 years ago today
He told me of the terror
As he fought to reach dry land
By the time the beachhead was secure
Half his friends lay in the sand

That was just in one long day
He fought on for 4 years more
And the 60 years from then to now
Have not dimmed His sights of war

He said they have reunions
Just to keep in touch and share
And for each comrade who has gone on
They leave an empty chair

Well, His park bench has been empty now
About 6 months or so
And if I'd never took the time
Then I never would've known
That sitting on that simple bench
With bread crumbs and little toys
Was a man who gave his all
To guarantee my daily joys

So give thanks to all the men and women
Who're still here or have gone before
And made the highest sacrifice
In both Peace time and in War
Because they bought our freedom
Paid their own blood, sweat, and tears
Then endured the heartache of those empty chairs
For all these years

So please do not ignore them
Or speed by without a care
'Cause you never know
When you might pass by
A hero, unaware

By Mark A. Wright, HMC(SS)22 June, 2000

NO, FREEDOM ISN'T FREE

I watched the flag pass by one day.

It fluttered in the breeze.

A young Marine saluted it,

And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform

So young, so tall, so proud,

With hair cut square and eyes alert

He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him

Had fallen through the years.

How many died on foreign soil?

How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?

How many died at sea?

How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?

No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of taps one night,

When everything was still

I listened to the bugler play

And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times

That taps had meant "Amen,"

When a flag had draped a coffin

Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,

Of the mothers and the wives,

Of fathers, sons and husbands

With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard

At the bottom of the sea

Of unmarked graves in Arlington.

No, freedom isn't free.

CDR Kelly Strong, USCG (Ret).

RADIO FLYER

My mom was wondering where these pictures were on the last post - but I wanted to get some cute pictures on our walks outside, but kept forgetting our camera. So here's the awesome Radio Flyer Wagon from Grandma & Grandpa Anderson that Bri got her birthday. She LOVES it!!! Every time we go outside she runs over and tries to get in. SO FUN!!!

"Helping" dad assemble. :)

Pretending she's taking a nap.

Being a goof ball!!! Gotta love the Mr. Potato Head tongue!!!

"Let's GO!!!"

She also loves to give her animals rides!

Every little kid definitely needs a Radio Flyer!!!

LOOK WHO'S 2

That's right my little peanut turned two back on April 24th!!! I really still can't believe it - it's so crazy!!! Well on her actual birthday we were all packed into the truck driving to Seward, so we had her little birthday bash the following week after we'd got home. It was so fun to have Grandma & Grandpa Anderson here to celebrate with us.

We ended up having a Dora themed party. She would have probably liked Diego better (since he's her boyfriend) but I couldn't find any Diego decorations.

But none the less, I think she liked it.
I think we could have just gotten her the balloons and she would have been just as happy.

They were definitely the big hit of the night!

She is so grown up!!!

Playing with Grandpa - or Dale, since that it what she called grandpa for part of their visit. It was so funny.

The Triple Chocolate Birthday cake. (I think I was way more excited about the cake than she was! It was so delicious!!!)

She even blew out the candle all by herself!!!

DIG IN!!! Ha,Ha,Ha!!! She cracks me up!!!

I tried to see if she'd use a spoon...

But of course hands work so much better for this task!!!

YUMMY!!!

Present Time

She got some Dora & Diego books and DVD's. (Which we all watched about a million times on the trip down to Seward. UGH! "Isa turn the wheel - Turn the wheel Isa!" :) This was stuck in all of our heads for most of our trip.) Some match-up books, cup stackers, and a couple of cute cd's.

A cool marble castle.

A ton of cute clothes. She liked these shorts so much she wanted to put the on right away!

College funds from Nana and Grampie Walker!

Some awesome rain/mud boots. Which had to put on immediately.But were soon trumped by these cute little flip-flops.

More clothes - which even included a I Love Softball t-shirt - cuteness! She's set for summer!

Time to play!!! (She was jumping up and down screaming while the balls rolled down)

And well I guess we had a killer party...

Cause both guys were racked out after the presents were opened! What dorks!!!

Thanks to everyone for the gifts - sorry you all couldn't be here with us to celebrate. :( Maybe next year!!! Oh how I love this little girl. She is such a blessing in my life. I always knew that I wanted to be a mother, but I never imagined it would be this rewarding. I truly LOVE my little Bri with all my heart - I know it sounds cheesy - but I always think my heart can't get any bigger, and then the next day comes and it expands just a little more. Brianna is one of the most amazing little wonders and Justin and I are so eternally grateful that she's ours!!!

LOVE YOU BRIANNA!!!

Here she is the next morning. Still in love with the balloons and sporting her rain boots.

She is too funny!!! (One of her quotes about herself)

JUSTIN DAY!

Even though he's not feeling good today and has been asleep on the couch for most of it - Bri and I still wanted to wish this amazing guy a Happy Birthday!!! (and feel better soon)

Man he's HOT!!!

I LOVE this guy so much!!! He is such a great husband. Sadly I sometimes I forget how good I have it. He is such a generous and thoughtful husband - always putting his needs and wants on the back burner to make me happy. I am so lucky to have him as my husband! I am truly truly grateful every day that he picked me to be his wife!!!

Best daddy ever!!!

Brianna loves her daddy so much! And he loves her even more!!! They have so much fun together. Justin is seriously the greatest dad any kid could ask for. I always wondered how Justin would deal with being a dad - (he himself proclaims he hates children) but he is amazing!!! He is so protective of his little girl and wants to teach her about everything. I love to just sit back and watch them together - it just one of those things that melt my heart!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN FACE & DADDY!!!

WE LOVE YOU FOR ALWAYS!!!

THIS ONE'S FOR KRISTY!

Okay to give most of you a little background, this is one of my funny family stories from my childhood. When my little sister, Kristy, was about 5 or 6 she sat down in a 5 gallon paint bucket and got stuck. No matter what she tried she just couldn't figure out how to get out. She yelled for us siblings to help her and so we ended up pulling her out. Well being the mean older sister that I sometimes was, I somehow convinced Kristy to sit back into the bucket again. She eventually did and to my humor she got stuck - AGAIN!!! She just couldn't figure out how to get herself out. We all just sat there laughing and laughing at her forever, we even busted out the camera and took a picture of poor Kristy, crying and screaming for someone to help her. Finally about 20 minutes later we finally told Kristy the "trick" to getting out of the bucket was just to lean to one side and fall over, then you can easily get out. Every time I see that picture from our childhood I just laugh! It was so mean but so funny at the same time.

So the other day I was in the kitchen when I hear Brianna yelling, "HELP, HELP, I STUCK!". I turn the corner and there she is - stuck in her little Easter bucket. And, well, being the mean mom that I am, thought back to my little sister and grabbed the camera for a few pictures...

Here she is all stuck. I love the look on her face - like, "Hello mom, I need help, not a picture!".

Then to my surprise she started to lean...

Fell over...

And she was out!!!

Well I just had to post this and tease Kristy that my little Brianna was smart enough to figure out how to get out of the bucket and she's not even 2 yet!!! HA,HA,HA!!! Love you Kristy!!!

PS. Sorry for being a mean sister sometimes - even though it was just a little bit funny!!! :)

DOG MUSHING

A week or so ago I took Brianna up to base for a quick dog mushing ride. She was so stinkin cute. It was nap time when we went so I didn't know how well she would do, but she ended up loving it! When we got there, we headed down the hill to where they were doing the rides and was informed that the dogs were too tired and they were ending the rides early. A little disappointed that I drove all the way to base and woke Brianna up for nothing I told the lady we would just stay and watch the last 2 runs because Bri loves puppies so much. We stayed a little off to the side and watched the dogs - Brianna was so excited. Every time the puppies would come around the bend she would yell "Go puppies!!!" and clap. The guy that was in charge kept watching her and smiling and when the last 2 runs were over he called me over and told us that they would make one more run for such a cute little girl. I was going to go with her, but as we were about to get on another girl named Natalie walked down the hill wanting a ride too, so I asked her if it would be alright if she held Bri. I kinda wanted to go but I'm sure the dogs were glad they got to carry Natalie instead of my large behind - but it was good cause I got to take pictures instead.

At first she freaked out because I just threw her on Natalie's lap (a total stranger) and started taking pictures. But after I calmed her down and showed her that she was on a sled with the puppies she was ok.

Happy again and ready to GO!!!
And they're off!!!

Natalie said she laughed and yelled the whole time.

Here they come! The trainers had to run out there to keep them on track - they were so tired after they made the last turn they would try to run up the hill to their truck - I think they were ready to go home.

My Little Alaskan Dog Musher

Puckered up to give the puppy a kiss!

She LOVED it!!! So FUN!!!