Memorial Day - Mango Style

The Mango's have a Memorial Day tradition of going to the park to eat breakfast and then watching the parade.  This year we moved away from that town, but Elizabeth was certain that we needed to keep on with the old tradition.  She and Michelle were up early Making GF Raspberry coffee cake muffins, scrambled eggs, bacon and orange juice,  The first time or two we did this we tried to cook our food on the grill at the park.  It just took tooooo long.  Now we cook our food at home and eat it there.  It works much better for us,

Michelle brought the dog.  This is also part of our tradition.  Thomas carried the food. It was strange to only have three children along.

My DH and Thomas posing before breakfast.  They look pretty good for being so hungry!

When you grow up in a town you see friends at these community gatherings.  Here is Mr. D with his little Sweet Pea.  This was her first parade.  This family always comes to the parade as well and we usually meet up with them along the way.

Here are the girls waiting for the parade to come.  Dallas behaved very well.

We also see people we know in the parade.  Here are the twins from the family that JoAn nannied with the last few years.

  

There were old fire trucks....

and old cars....

Sweet Pea looked so patriotic with her flag and beads.

We always sit through the Memorial Service and once more my Junior High principal, Al Smith, was still there reading out all the names of people in our community who had died in one of the wars.

The flag was lowered to half mast.

Here are some more friends that we met at the parade. The girls are growing up so well.

After that we went home and worked around the farm.  It takes a constant effort to keep the chicks fed and watered and doing well.

Elizabeth and Eli

In the evening we headed over to Mom and Dad's house to have a picnic.

The children had a lot of fun playing in the back yard.  There are swings and room to stretch their legs.

The women sat and visited.

The grandparents enjoyed their grandbabies.

Ian showed off his space where he lost a tooth.

Miss President was all dressed for the holiday, very patriotic!

Elizabeth kept the little children entertained as she pushed them around the yard.  You go Girl!!

My Dad and brother as well as some of the other guys worked on cooking the meat.

The food was yummy as always!

Paul and Michelle enjoyed some time chatting and holding little Liam.

Isaac and Car could hardly wait for the ice cream to come out so they could get their cones!

Is it coming soon?!!!

My youngest sister was looking good.

Our friend Andy, was teaching his boy how to get every last drop out of an ice cream container.

Phillip did a good job and enjoyed the experience!

Some people just want to see everything through rose colored glasses.

Apparently, Thomas is one of them.

Sadie and Miss President couldn't resist the baby.  They even shared their baby with him.  When Liam started to fuss the put the doll's hand in his mouth to suck on.  One of the adult's suggested that it should be washed.  But the girl's assured them that they would be sure to wash it when they got home.  The two cousin's have almost the same color hair now.

Everybody was loving Mr. Liam.

He was a good sport about it and never really fussed.

Truly, almost everybody took a turn with holding the baby.  Babies are such a blessing and so much fun.  They are one of those things that are right with the world!

Took a picture of Thomas and Phillip was the perfect little photo bomber. It was a really nice day and was enjoyed by all! Perfect weather and good friends and family.  What more could you ask for?!!