Memorial Day.

It is odd how most holidays are celebrated in ways completely unrelated to the meaning of the holiday itself.

And so, on a day to honor those who have given their lives in service to our country, we ate snow cones.

But truly, I am grateful that none of my immediate family has died in war. They had more than their fair share of chances. Granddaddy served in the South Pacific with the Army-Air Force, I believe it was called, in WW II; Grandpa Sam served in WW I; Pop-Pop in the South Pacific with the Marines in WW II; and my dad and his two brothers were all in the military at the end of the 1960s. (How did all three survive?) (By the grace of God!) (And how did their mother survive?!?) Uncle Bob was in the Air Force in Thailand, Uncle Chuck in the Navy in Vietnam, and Dad in the Army as a helicopter pilot in the jungles of Vietnam.

I'm glad it stopped there. Too scary.

I have a vivid memory of visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. when I was 10 and watching my dad find names of his buddies on the wall. I went behind a tree and cried. Not so much out of sadness--they were his friends, but I did not know them--it was more out of absolute gladness that my very own daddy was spared.

One of my favorite memories as a kid was getting Dad to pull out his bag of Vietnam stuff. Photos. Slides. Old metal film canisters. Uniforms. His little Bible still containing Vietnam's red dust between the pages. And his joystick. Every item came with stories... We kids were in absolute awe. Still are, actually. It's definitely a brag factor. You think your dad's cool? My dad flew helicopters in the jungles and... And we tell his stories, and we're proud.

And with all that, you'd think that we'd have more meaningful celebrations for Memorial Day. But we don't. So we hang out and eat snow cones.

Our day started out with a fun family walk to Shi and Sam's, where Shi gave Richie and Luke fine, fine haircuts and Sam fed us fancy eggs along with bacon. ("Is this your normal breakfast?" I wondered.) Then off to the picnic out at church, where we--yes, celebrated with snow cones. And hung out with the whole fam, chatted it up with friends, played air baseball, got scared of the waterslide...


Our way to Shi and Sam's. For us, it was a walk. For Luke, Ex-See-SIZE!


The Happy Haircut.


Off to church for the festivities. Must. Buy. Snow cone.


Waiting patiently.


"All for me?!?"


Meanwhile, Poppy and Grammy hung out with the babies back on the blanket.


Zeke showed Poppy how he can spit!


"Oooo!"


Watch out for the beautiful Hat Ladies.


Back to the men. Zeke tries to grab Poppy's shirt. (Probably thinking, "YUM!")


Checkin' each other out.


Loooove.


Siena tastes her very first snow cone!


Must get more!


Luke needed more, too. He went down the line and grazed.


Daddy's sunglasses!




Showing off TEETH! Well, at least his left one is showing in this picture.


Showing off absolute cuteness.


Showing off mad baseball skills.




To top off our day, Richie took Luke out for a late-afternoon drive so Luke could get a little nap. He really needed one. Sure enough, he fell asleep right at the beginning of the drive, and when Luke opened his eyes again, he saw BOATS. A dream come true.


Boats, machines...


...and kites. Boyhood bliss.

What boats, machines, and kites have to do with Memorial Day, no one knows. But so went our day.