Memorial weekend festivities

Don't ask me why, but I like Memorial Day. I mean, I've just always enjoyed going with my parents, helping clean off the graves, putting flowers out, and seeing the family, as it were.

It's become a family tradition. We have several members of my dad's family buried here, and so we're the ones who take care of them now. Every year, the family goes together and takes care of them.

We actually went out on Saturday, and did everything then. That's what my parents wanted to do, and I didn't ask questions, I just hopped in the car and said "Beam me up, Scotty."

In Memorial Cemetary, we have my paternal grandfather and great-grandparents. There is also a little boy there, who died when he was I think five years old. I don't know his story, but Dad said he'd ask Grandma about it. So we clean them off and set flowers there. Usually Mom gets a pinwheel for the little boy's grave--the 'baby,' as we usually call him--but she forgot this year. We ended up having to get more flowers anyway, so he did get a bouquet.

Then we went out to the other side of town to Calvary Cemetary. I think Calvary's one of the oldest cemetaries in town. There's a lot of really old gravestones there. It's actually kind of fascinating to look at them. There's even an entire section devoted to nuns and other clergy--it is traditionally a Catholic Cemetary.

If anybody actually cares, I'm a baptized Catholic, but I prefer to call myself a Christian. I have too many issues with the Church. I love theology ^_^

But I digress. In Calvary are my father's grandparents, aunt, and other set of greatgrandparents. We cleaned them up and set out wreaths on three of them. Grandma and Grandpa Rams, and another man named Jacob Selesko. He was Great-Grandma's first husband, but...well, we think he was murdered, though there's no proof. But that's a story for another day, me thinkest.

Then we had to go to another part of the cemetary to find Grandma Helen and Aunt Ginny. Now enters another part of our Memorial Day tradition: every year--every single year--we get lost trying to find those two, since they're buried seperate from the great-grandparents. Helen and Ginny were sisters, Dad's grandmother and aunt. Realize, though, that this is an ENORMOUS cemetary. It's just huge! So saying 'Look by the hill' or 'They're by the tree' doesn't exactly work. But after wandering for quite a while, we found them--and realized we didn't have enough flowers.

Trip to Shopko, got some more bouquets. We went back out and put them on the graves, and then went to lunch. It was a nice morning, a good way to spend some time with the family.

I noticed one thing--there were flags EVERYONE. In all the cemetaries, there were avenues of American flags, floating in the excessive wind (see my previous entry about the weather we've been having here).

So Sunday we went over to my aunt's house for lunch. It was GOOD. My cousin's in-laws were coming into town, and she invited us over to meet them. My younger cousins asked me to play Sega with them--the original Sonic the Hedgehog game, too. What they didn't realize was that when I was their age (six and nine), my cousin and I used to play video games all the time. And Sonic was high on our list. Needless to say, they were quite impressed when I beamed through the chemical level without a single problem. Didn't even get hit. I'm proud of that, considering that I haven't played the game in a year or so.

Then yesterday was the real deal. What did I do? Clean my room. *sigh* That's my mother's doing, mind you. But then we were invited to my cousin's house for a grill-out. That was a lot of fun, until it started raining. Once again, see previous entry about weather. So I ended up sitting in the living room and playing with the baby. Lacey's so cute! *SQUEE!*

After we left, we went and rented some movies. I got "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist." That is the most ridiculous movie I've ever seen, and I liked it! I think I might watch it again.

Oh yeah, speaking of movies, I think everybody needs to go see 'Miracle.' Best. Movie. EVER! That's the one about the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team. It's soooooooososososo good! Put it this way: I already knew how it was going to come out, I knew who won the game--and I was still on the edge of my seat, gnawing diligently on my nails during the big game against the Soviets. It's definitely a must see. I watched it with my mommy, and yea, verily, it was fun ^_^

So that was my Memorial Day weekend. Exciting, ne? Well, I'm off. Until next time, kids!

BLAAAAAAH,
Candy-chan ^_^

Memorial weekend festivities

Don't ask me why, but I like Memorial Day. I mean, I've just always enjoyed going with my parents, helping clean off the graves, putting flowers out, and seeing the family, as it were.

It's become a family tradition. We have several members of my dad's family buried here, and so we're the ones who take care of them now. Every year, the family goes together and takes care of them.

We actually went out on Saturday, and did everything then. That's what my parents wanted to do, and I didn't ask questions, I just hopped in the car and said "Beam me up, Scotty."

In Memorial Cemetary, we have my paternal grandfather and great-grandparents. There is also a little boy there, who died when he was I think five years old. I don't know his story, but Dad said he'd ask Grandma about it. So we clean them off and set flowers there. Usually Mom gets a pinwheel for the little boy's grave--the 'baby,' as we usually call him--but she forgot this year. We ended up having to get more flowers anyway, so he did get a bouquet.

Then we went out to the other side of town to Calvary Cemetary. I think Calvary's one of the oldest cemetaries in town. There's a lot of really old gravestones there. It's actually kind of fascinating to look at them. There's even an entire section devoted to nuns and other clergy--it is traditionally a Catholic Cemetary.

If anybody actually cares, I'm a baptized Catholic, but I prefer to call myself a Christian. I have too many issues with the Church. I love theology ^_^

But I digress. In Calvary are my father's grandparents, aunt, and other set of greatgrandparents. We cleaned them up and set out wreaths on three of them. Grandma and Grandpa Rams, and another man named Jacob Selesko. He was Great-Grandma's first husband, but...well, we think he was murdered, though there's no proof. But that's a story for another day, me thinkest.

Then we had to go to another part of the cemetary to find Grandma Helen and Aunt Ginny. Now enters another part of our Memorial Day tradition: every year--every single year--we get lost trying to find those two, since they're buried seperate from the great-grandparents. Helen and Ginny were sisters, Dad's grandmother and aunt. Realize, though, that this is an ENORMOUS cemetary. It's just huge! So saying 'Look by the hill' or 'They're by the tree' doesn't exactly work. But after wandering for quite a while, we found them--and realized we didn't have enough flowers.

Trip to Shopko, got some more bouquets. We went back out and put them on the graves, and then went to lunch. It was a nice morning, a good way to spend some time with the family.

I noticed one thing--there were flags EVERYONE. In all the cemetaries, there were avenues of American flags, floating in the excessive wind (see my previous entry about the weather we've been having here).

So Sunday we went over to my aunt's house for lunch. It was GOOD. My cousin's in-laws were coming into town, and she invited us over to meet them. My younger cousins asked me to play Sega with them--the original Sonic the Hedgehog game, too. What they didn't realize was that when I was their age (six and nine), my cousin and I used to play video games all the time. And Sonic was high on our list. Needless to say, they were quite impressed when I beamed through the chemical level without a single problem. Didn't even get hit. I'm proud of that, considering that I haven't played the game in a year or so.

Then yesterday was the real deal. What did I do? Clean my room. *sigh* That's my mother's doing, mind you. But then we were invited to my cousin's house for a grill-out. That was a lot of fun, until it started raining. Once again, see previous entry about weather. So I ended up sitting in the living room and playing with the baby. Lacey's so cute! *SQUEE!*

After we left, we went and rented some movies. I got "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist." That is the most ridiculous movie I've ever seen, and I liked it! I think I might watch it again.

Oh yeah, speaking of movies, I think everybody needs to go see 'Miracle.' Best. Movie. EVER! That's the one about the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team. It's soooooooososososo good! Put it this way: I already knew how it was going to come out, I knew who won the game--and I was still on the edge of my seat, gnawing diligently on my nails during the big game against the Soviets. It's definitely a must see. I watched it with my mommy, and yea, verily, it was fun ^_^

So that was my Memorial Day weekend. Exciting, ne? Well, I'm off. Until next time, kids!

BLAAAAAAH,
Candy-chan ^_^