memorial day

the visit to the farm was every bit of fun and relaxing as we thought it would be...we headed home a day earlier than we would have liked (to beat the dreaded holiday traffic), but we didn't leave without paying a visit to keith's grandma and grandpa at the town cemetary. it was their beloved farm that we visited and where my hubby spent many happy days of his childhood.

my kids were blessed to have met their great-grandma velma and to recall some memories of her. (she called them little sacks of sugar and read their favorite books to them). there was always a smile on her face and a kind word for everyone. as a sidenote, she made the best homeade doughnuts and strawberry jam (which we got for christmas every year, my very favorite gift).

grandma velma was married to grandpa george, who passed away when keith was about 11 years old. unfortunately we never got to meet grandpa george although many stories have been passed on and retold. he was a wwii vet and fought at the battle of the bulge and contracted malaria during his service. i know that he never talked about his time serving in the army, and that he was broken hearted when grandma velma, his longtime childhood friend, married another man. sometime after, grandma velma's husband who was also fighting in wwii, died in battle. when grandpa george returned home, he proposed..and the rest they say was history.

something that's easily lost.

so that's why we stopped to remember and pay our respects this memorial day. we hope that the stories that lana and little man hear will stay in their hearts and be engraved into their memoires so one day they will pass everything on to their little ones. and that they pause every now and then in life and on special days like today...

and appreciate the sacrifices that were made by their great-grandpa george and countless others throughout the years that risked their lives and everything that they had. and to also know their grandpa george, the man.

happy memorial day to all,

dawnie

three day weekend (here we come)

[photo by friendly made

www.friendlymade.etsy.com]

this memorial day weekend, we’ll be headin’ up to keith’s grandma’s farm for some r&r, hiking and fishing (and if it’s warm enough, swimming). i’m also looking forward to partaking in some of keith’s uncle’s famous bbq ribs, which I happen to get only 4-5 some odd years at a time.

so, in preparation for the two days, I have my lists in hand: my grocery list, packing list, and my master "to-do" list of things that must be done before we leave. anyone else like this? it drives my husband crazy because his idea of packing is throwing one clean pair of tidy whities and a toothbrush in a bag. in this respect and many others we balance ourselves out.

between the two of us, we did remember to pack the important stuff:

the kids
dog
cooler full of cold beverages
sleeping bags
inflatable lake floaties
fishing poles
cameras
roasting sticks
and s’mores-homeade (yeah!)

and there i go again with my lists...

have a relaxing memorial day weekend!

dawnie

milwaukee museum

as promised, i wrote earlier last weekend, that i would share what the fam and i did over the weekend. the kids are titanic nuts- they've pored over countless books about the titanic. we missed the last exhibit in chicago, so when the titanic exhibit made it's way to milwaukee we jumped at the opportunity.



when you arrive at the beginning of the exhibit, you receive a white star line pass to "board" the titanic. i learned a couple of new things that day; one being that one first class tickets cost about $4000, the equivalent of $69,000 today. holy dang...that was a lot of money. i also didn't know that a lot of passengers (who were scheduled to board other white star line ships), in an unlucky twist of fate, were transferred to the titanic because of a coal strike.



the neat thing about the boarding pass is that on the other side, it has the name of a passenger who was on the titanic. there are facts about each passenger, where they were originally from, where they were traveling to, their class, age and family. throughout the exhibit, it was interesting to watch people "own" their ticket. they would say things to their companions such as, "who are you?" and "i am so and so; i'm in the second class." and "i'm going to _______."

lana recieved the boarding pass of lady lucy duff-gordon from london, england. she was thrilled that "madame lucille" was a famous fashion designer who traveled to her businesses in paris, london, ny and chicago. did you know that she coined the word "chic"? above, is a photo of madam lucille looking very chic, holding a very cute dog.

keith had the ticket of an 18 year old from the u.k. named percy andrew bailey and fordy had the ticket of a male named frank thomas andrew, both who were in second class and making new lives for themselves in the states. as for myself, i held the boarding pass of mrs. stephen hold (annie margaret hill) from england. she was 36 years old and traveling back to her home in sacramento. it was interesting that i would receive a boarding pass of a lady who was the same age as myself and also traveling to my home state of california.




there were many artifacts in the exhibit, like a toothpaste well, leather suitcase, money, watches and even perfume in their original vials, which supposedly you were able to still smell. see the plates all lined up in a row at the bottom of the sea? the same dishes were displayed in the exhibit, looking as brand-spanking new as the day they were placed in the kitchen cabinets of the titanic. being in the same room with all these objects, many still intact, was humbling.

in the last room, there was a large list on the wall that organized all of the titanic's passengers by class and then further separated by who survived and who perished that fateful night. the discrepancy between what class they were in and how it influenced who survived and who didn't, was staggering. lady duff-gordon survived as did mrs. annie hold. mr. bailey and mr. andrews, who were of course men and second class passengers to boot, did not.

in all, 706 passengers survived and 1517 passengers died. when you take in account that these passengers had families who loved them and many had bright hopes for the future, it really hits you.

if you ever get the chance to experience this exhibit, i hope that you will. i know that we were happy that we took the time to go. of course now this has resparked the titanic craze in our house, so you can only guess what we're going to watch tonight?

dawnie