Memorial Day

We spent Memorial Day morning at SClarita's ceremony at Eternal Valley Memorial Park, where our Young Marines staged a special reenactment of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. It was pretty cool, as were the flyovers by WWII aircraft.

The girls did well during the ceremony. Violet slept through it, and Cora did the best she could as a three-year-old at a grownup event.

Toward the end she got the blanket out and relaxed - it kept her quiet and calm for a good 10 minutes, so I was fine with it!

It was good to take time to honor and remember the soldiers who fight to keep us safe. I struggled to keep my tears from showing as the band played the fight song for the Navy, in which my Grandpa served a 20-year career. He's been gone nearly 11 years now, as has Stace's Pop, who served in the Royal Army.

I told Cora about what we were doing, about how soldiers fight to keep us safe from bad guys. She then said that she would protect us from bad people by fighting them, by throwing things at them, like toys and airplanes. I said, "Airplanes?" "Little airplanes, toy airplanes," was her answer.
(This is similar in vein to her announcement that when she was in Aladdin, she hit Jafar with her pool noodle, and he died.)

After the ceremony, we we picked up a Subway lunch and picnicked at Placerita Nature Center.

And after Cora's nap, we headed down the street to Genia and John's, where they had some friends over for a barbecue.