Memorial Day

We had a wonderful four day weekend for Memorial Day. We had beautiful weather and we loved enjoying the great outdoors and time together as a family.

Friday, we went to Dash Point State Park in the late afternoon for low tide. We set up our spot and then we all wandered down to the water. The girls loved playing in the water, finding treasures, and just enjoying the beach.

We found some sea slugs which was a first for us. We weren't sure what they were so Nate had to look them up.

Paige kept busy finding baby sand dollars and sea shells.

Baylor and McCall loved finding the small jellyfish that you can pick up.

Time at the beach is always worth it, and it is our family's happy place.

Then I got to try out my Mother's Day gift for the first time for our dinner. I brought all the toppings for nachos and a big bag of tortilla chips. We were starting to head back to our stuff, and the girls found a crow that broke up the bag of chips and was having quite the snack. Good thing we went back when we did or there would have been no chips left for our dinner. It was the perfect dinner on the beach!

Then it was sand time. We brought lots of shovels and sand toys. Nate kept the older two girls entertained with a game he made up with burying a shovel and trying to find it. It is one of my favorite things about Nate when we go on our outdoor adventures. He always comes up with these super simple fun games that always keeps us all entertained. McCall was quite content playing in the sand.

It was a beautiful way to start off our long weekend!

Saturday, we got lots of yard work done and then Adama and Chelsea and their family joined us for a fun evening of kayaking/paddleboarding, a BBQ, baseball in the road, and smores for dessert. It was the first day of breaking the paddleboard out this year and we loved our time at the lake. It was fun to catch up with them, and I loved enjoying our yard and time with friends.

Sunday was our annual trip to Tahoma National Cemetery and this year Nona and Lily joined us. Our first stop is always to go and visit Uncle Al.

Then we had a handful of pennies for the girls to go and visit whichever grave they wanted and just walk around and feel the peace that is there. It also fills me with gratitude for all those that served for the freedom of our country.

It was cool to see a few graves with other coins besides pennies. A penny represents you visited their grave, a nickel represents the visitor and the deceased served together at boot camp, a dime represents the visitor served in the military with the deceased, and a quarter represents the visitor was with the deceased when they died. Nate also pulled up a website that had what all the religious symbols on headstones meant so it was cool to walk around and see what each of them meant.

Then we always visit Brother Carlson. He had quite a collection of pennies on his headstone.

To those who gave everything so I could have everything, thank you. You will never be forgotten in my home or my heart.