Memorial Day 2015

I'm elated to have had today off work. I love that we were able to spend just a little extra time visiting with our friends and family in Illinois. I love that businesses around the country closed down to "celebrate" today. BUT, in the midst of all that, I want to stop and THANK.... those who are beyond my reach to physically thank. The ones who gave all, so that we could have the liberties we have.

amen. 

For the families of those who paved the way and gave their lives to do so, today is to honor the memories, courage and ultimate sacrifice of your sons and daughters, husbands, wives, siblings and friends. I salute them, and I salute you.

My day started earlier than I'd expected; the air mattress gave way at some unknown point in the night, so there wasn't much sleeping between that realization and the sun rising. I took advantage of the silence to dig into some of my own sustenance, which was a perfect way to reflect on what Memorial Day should signify for us.

perseverance, tenacity, hope. 

I was finishing up with my devo time when Jesse and Rob starting moving, and in a matter of about 40 minutes, we had breakfast ready..

not too shabby! 

We ate and relaxed while the dogs did the same..

we don't wanna get in the car! :( 

We hung out at Jesse's for a little while longer, until we finally loaded up and hit the road for the trip back to Ohio.

on the roaaaad again.... 

Fast forward about 5 hours, and we're here, home, safe & sound and ready to nestle in and do nothing for the rest of the night. We made some dinner, lounged around for a couple of hours and are ready to call this one a night :).

Gooood night!

xo | cmd

Holiday Shores On the Water!

Today started off with breakfast at Lenny's with Rob's mom and Don, before we headed back to Jesse's for a nice long bout of laziness. The morning hours crept on past, and by noon we were ready to rendezvous with the rest of the group on the lake for a day in the sun.

We drove up to Dillons' dad's, where we hitched a tow from one of the clan out to the pontoon, and from there, it was the rest of the day at our disposal.

this guy! ♥  

There are few greater things in the world than spending time with either family or friends, or both! Today was an awesome day, filled with sunshine, refreshing lake water, friends and good times.

not sure... not sure.. hahaha

courtney & matt 

Even the ducks were out to play: 

little family! :) 

We floated, we stopped off at some of the lakeside dives, and eventually found ourselves rounding out the night at Gilliganz. We ate a late dinner as we compared our after-sun skintones and laughed about random things, before parting ways in the downpouring rain back to Jesse's. 

It's so nice to have one extra day of leisure time; Sundays for us here are usually spent driving back home, but since we both have tomorrow off, it'll be one more day. 

See ya then! 

xo | cmd

Memorial Day 2014

First things first:

To my cousin Jeremy, my other family in service, my friends back at Scott AFB in Illinois, and to the ranks of men & women before and after them who have laid or are unconditionally laying down everything to serve our country, THANK YOU. Today is for YOU, your families and the service you give to the rest of us.

thank you. thank you, thank you, thank.. you.

Our little family started the morning off with breakfast out, since nobody felt much like cooking.

little toes by little flowers out to breakfast!

After breakfast, we took our time deciding what to do for the afternoon. With it being Memorial Day, the possibility of canoeing was immediately nixed once we realized the rest of the city was out on the same mission and rentals were booked through tomorrow for the most part. We defaulted to the boat, which seemed to be the best alternative.

Brittany, Chad and Kalyn met us at East Fork, where we loaded up, dropped in and prepared to haul out for a day on the water.

That went just fine until about 10 minutes into the outing, when a part on the boat prop broke and left us floating in the middle of a wake zone. It seemed like it may have been a sad, premature end to our efforts, but then I was reassured that my friends are a lot like me in the spirit of attaching to the bright side of even the most annoying circumstances.

So what did we do? Well, we tossed anchor and hung out! Sydni had a blast swimming, showing off her crazy fish-like skills to the rest of us, and of course got to practice her casting with the fishing pole that has been repaired since the little hiccup two days ago with Papppy.

We laughed, we swam, we ate lunch and hung out. For having zero horsepower to move us through the water, I'd have to say it was nothing but a fun time and I'm not complaining!

love those girls!!!

All good things eventually do end, and when it came time for us to haul in, we managed to flag down a passing boat and grab a tow for the short ride back to the dock.

womp womp womp... haha

favorite girls!! ♥

Well, boat.. it was a good start to the summer, and this is just a hiccup. It's the end of the night now, and Rob's already got a tentative plan built as to how he's going to fix it [one of the many things I love about him!].

Today wasn't wasted, at all. After we hauled off the lake, dropped Sydni off for her week away from our home and tied up our poor dead boat, we headed to Brittany's for the most delicious veggie burger I've ever had. That, plus friends and Brittany's adorable dog Daisy, proved to be the best unwind for the day.

c'mon, aunt kalyn... just a bite?!

Happy Memorial Day to you, your family, and most importantly to the service men and women who have rightfully earned the praise due their way. We salute you!!

xo | cmd

Memorial Day, 2013

beautiful.

 It's Memorial Day, and I wanted to make sure that in the midst of aaaallll the fun we've had this weekend, that we payed homage to the most important part of it all. This was the second half of the day, but I'm sharing it first because it's the most important. When I posted this picture, I captioned it:

"I know she's little, but she will know about those who gave what they did so that she could have what she does. For those who gave ALL, and for all who we pray won't have to, THANK YOU. Happy Memorial Day."

I couldn't help but just sit and look at her, as she knelt patiently beside the rows of crosses, each individually tagged in remembrance of a soldier who never came home. She seemed to realize that it was something important, even though she doesn't grasp the gravity of it all just yet. She will one day, and I'll do everything I can to make sure she understands just how thankful we should all be, not just on Memorial Day, but every day. So to all of the men, women and families who have given to keep us safe and free, thank you.

Rewind now to the beginning of the day, which equaled Sydni and I taking a trip down to the Newport Aquarium! I honestly can't remember off the top of my head actually going to the NA ever before, although I'm sure we did, so it was something of an adventure for both of us.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[MORE] Picture time!:

sharks!

my personal favorite : puffers :)

animal time

After the joy of the aquarium, we did lunch and a mini photo shoot to cap it off at Bar Louie at the Levee. I realized as soon as we ordered our food that I had meant to take us to Tom & Chee, but having been away from the Levee for a few years now, I completely forgot it was down there. Until today. Noted. Haha.

mini time ♥

Aquarium, lunch & some light errands completed, I toted a very sleepy Sydni back to Becky's for a short nap [or at least an attempt at such], before we refreshed and headed to the park for a little while before I dropped her back off.

I can't even convey in words how much I enjoyed this weekend with Sydni. I was thoroughly bummed that Rob wasn't be able to join all of us.. since it's a holiday and everyone had planned to be out and about, there was nobody left to watch the dogs at Rob's house, so he was tethered there. We were both pretty disappointed, but I have no doubt we'll make up for it as soon as possible. Syd asked about him all weekend long, and I've promised her that we'll all hang out again together very soon. He did send me a snapshot of his day though.... remember our trip to Ikea?

Looks like it's turning into useable furniture ;) So much for me lending a hand to get this built... I guess that happens though from being so far away. Oh well. I'm happy at least that I have a man who can put this kinda stuff together without killing himself or the next person to sit on it. Haha. Small silver linings.

I'm back at Becky's now, winding down for the night and kiiiiind of not looking forward to work tomorrow. It's not my job or the people, definitely not... it's just the whole principle of going back to work again after an amazing weekend, haha. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Oh well. I hope you had an incredible holiday weekend, too, friends!

xo | cmd

Pre-Memorial Day Celebrating

This is how my day started!

good morning!! camping = success!

We left our campsite and showered for the next thing on the agenda for the day. I didn't really have a lot planned specifically, which was kind of nice, so I figured we'd start with breakfast at a place I know we both love... [First Watch!]

my little breakfast architect... ♥

With our bellies full, our first stop was a desperately-needed visit to the storage unit. That place is temporarily housing all of our stuff, and we needed to ditch some of our camping gear and decipher what did and didn't need to stay in the car for the time being. I took my time diving into the unit; Sydni was more than content to hang out outside waving to all the airplanes and kicking a ball in the grass until it was time to go.

...And go we did!
... To the park.
...... For THREE hours. :/

we love the park...

..&& we love the ice cream truck even more ;)

Haha. I don't know how we managed to lose track of time that way, but before we knew it, it was the middle of the afternoon and we decided to call it a day at the park. After an impromptu stop at Jack's Aquarium & Pets [something of a preview for tomorrow's trip to the Newport Aquarium?], we took ourselves back to Becky's with the intention of weaving a nap into the mix [thwarted of course, by existence of the iPad...]. That barely stuck, and before we knew it, Becky was back and the three of us were right back out the door northbound a ways for her cousin's Memorial Day BBQ.

kiddos (:

Sydni made herself right at home with the other kids, and we didn't have a horrible time, either! Many thanks to Becky's cousin Brandy for extending the invite to us!

just a little fire to finish the night.. yenno :p

We just made it back to Becky's, and I just put a very sleepy girl to bed. I'm about to crash, too, so we'll leave it at that and see you in the morning!

xo | cmd

Memorial Day 2011



American Flag: USAF F-117 Nighthawks



Happy Memorial Day!

Today I want to pause and THANK, from the core of my heart, the men and women whose lives were and are dedicated to protecting our rights and freedoms. You are remembered, supported, and honored.

Today started fairly early for us. We had a 7:00 AM breakfast date with KP & Sam before saying tearful farewell-for-now’s [mainly just KP & I crying like babies]. I got another parting gift from my best:



handmade book :)

Joe, Syd, & I hit the road after breakfast for the mid-length haul to IL. Time to move!! I didn’t realize exactly how FLAT the landscape actually becomes when nearing IL.



nope, not ohio, but i gotta love the name ;)



The good thing about driving from Eastern to Central time is essentially gaining an hour’s time. So, we made it to our IL home around 1:00 PM, CDT. We unloaded the final cargo and wasted no time getting refreshed and ready to head over the base [Scott AFB] to visit the Sandven clan [Kyle, Amy, & Miss Tessa]. We took a group stroll to the park and let the girls romp around together for a bit.

base park near the sandven's

Not too bad for the first day in! The Dills are officially together as a family.

I love it <3

 xo | cmd