Memorial Day

Marcus visiting Great Grandpa

Memorial day is a lot of things to a lot of people.  It is the official start of summer to most- including us.  The event is actually bigger than the day.  It is actually an entire week-end- an event.  It means a lot more but I will get into that a bit later.  Marcus was lucky enough to get an extended Memorial day week-end when his Grandma Jackie came down and spent Friday with him.  He likes daycare and all but I can tell you he likes his grandma a heck of a lot more.

They did lots of stuff including going to visit with Great Grandma and help her with the grocery shopping-  well I am sure he was a big help (just like he is for me.....laughing).  They went out to lunch at Panera and had a grand adventure.  In the afternoon they went and visited Great Grandpa's grave at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.  He loved his day with grandma and wants her to know he is willing to hang out whenever she wants!

The Landing- Website

Saturday was another special day- it was Grandpa Harvey's birthday and he told us that he wanted to hang out for his big day.  He picked visiting The Landing (used to be called Murphy's Landing) in Shakopee.

This is an old time 1860's village site that has volunteers who are playing the historic time.  It is a great place to bring kids because they can run around and learn a lot of thing.  Marcus loved it but his favorite part was the animals.  They are raising heritage animals now.  These are cows, chickens, ducks, pigs, etc that are historic and rare.  They are not the common every day animals that you see at a farm and they are really cool.

I didn't take a lot of pictures- mainly because we were having so much fun but we got about 2 hours of entertainment out of this visit and I highly recommend it to others, 

Another thing that Marcus and I did on Sunday is go to the Minneapolis Farmers Market- He loved it and we will be going again.  This was an easy way to entertain him and have a good time.  He loved walking around and looking at all of the vendors.  He really liked picking out fruit and veggies and soap (we like soap a lot).  I forget  how much fun it can be to go to a place like the farmers market- easy entertainment, inexpensive, and a great way to keep a toddler busy.

The Minnesota Zoo

Sunday was another fun day for us- The Minnesota Zoo just got some new animals-  Monk Seals and I was super excited to see them.  So bright and early Sunday morning we went to the Zoo- here is a secret when you get to the zoo early the crowd is smaller so you get better access to the animals- so we always try to go at 9 am!

Marcus and the Penguins- One of his great loves!

One of the main reasons we decided to go to the Zoo on Sunday (besides the monk seals) was because it was going to be rainy most of the day and their is plenty to do inside.  We looked at the new exhibit and eventually walked outside to see the farm animals- These tend to be trend this month.

Even the bear was over the rain!

Overall it was a great day at the zoo-  the rain was light so it wasn't a huge deal.  We watched the bird show, looked at the animals, and had a great time.

Memorial Day

After a long and fun week-end it was Memorial Day.  This is the great American day for BBQ's, beaches, and beer.  But it is so much more than that.  This is the day to celebrate those who have passed- and specifically the soldiers who died while protecting the US, and its ideals.  I have been blessed in a lot of ways, but one specific blessing is that I have never known anyone personally who died in such a manner.  But just because I lack that personal connection doesn't meant that I don't understand or respect it.  I know that we would not be here in this place, with these freedoms if the battles had not been fought, and the price of this is not free.  Thank you to the soldiers for fighting.  You are not forgotten.

I really want Marcus to know this- I think that we are farther than ever before from the pain of war and death- not because they are not happening in the world but just because they are not on our doorstep.  We see so many images of death and war that they are almost ineffective- they are images but not real.  But death is real and people have died and continued to die for all of us to maintain our lives.   One day years of reflection is not enough but it is a start.

On Memorial day we decided to do a few things-  we wanted to visit Great Grandpa Warner's at Fort Snelling National Cemetery- which is a military cemetery and it would be set up for the event.  We also decided to visit the Fort itself.  They also do it up big for the holiday event with lots of volunteers in dressed in 1840's attire.

We drove our way over to the cemetery and quickly learned we were not the only ones who planned on visiting (it was massively backed up) so we decided to go to fort first.  It was a BLAST!

We made it there in time for morning drills.  I don't think I have talked about it but Marcus is OBSESSED with drums, drumming, and drumsticks so he could not get enough of these guys.  It was pretty awesome-  look at this face he is concentrating so hard on what they are doing.

A view of the fort..

After we left the fort we headed over to the Chapel-  it is a really neat place and I had not been in it before.  Worth checking out when you are in the neighborhood!

Marcus and Mommy with his new wagon.

We ended our adventure by going to the cemetery to see visit Great Grandpa-  Marcus knew right were it was (he had been there just a few days before) and it was a beautiful and it was a very busy place.  Lots of people payed tribute to those who have passed.

We did actually end our day like most Americans and grilled out and enjoyed the sun.