Memorial Day, Small Town style.

The presentation  of the Flag

Our WW2 Vets.  The gentleman 2nd from the left was the city Mayor the year Stan and I moved here.
He likes to come to Stan's office and sit and chat with Stan.  He will be 90 years old this year.

Arlington High School Band

I love this picture of these little guys trying so hard to keep their flags erect.  Good thing our Main Street is only about 6 blocks long.

Girl Scouts are active in Arlington also.

A car holding our dignitary.  I could not see inside very well and there was no sign on the car, but I am thinking Mayor Margaret Larson may have been riding inside.

Motorcycle Club.  All Combat Vets.

The festivities moved to our Cemetery.  Just had to take a picture of the backs of a couple of the Motor cycle club Vets.

The speaker is a retired Navy Seal.  He gave a great presentation of how the Seals work.  He told a very emotional story of one of the Seals who lost his life disarming a bomb.  The young man is number 38 on the Seal's Memorial Wall.  There are now 49 brave young people there.  He also made it a point to thank everyone who was involved in the killing of Osama.  With one exception.  He did not in any way at all reference the other "O".  Believe me, I listened.

The flag at 1/2 Staff

Retiring the Flags.

One of the roads into the cemetery lined with flags.  Each pole has a tag on it honoring a service person.

Arlington High School Band leaving the Cemetery

Another view of the flags in the Cemetery.  They lined every road inside the Cemetery.

There really was a much better attendance at the parade than it looks from my pictures.  Most of the viewers had congregated two blocks down where the parade culminated with a small ceremony in the town square.  I just did not make it down there in time to take pictures of that event.  Needless to say, our town is proud of and supports her veterans.

Dinner at PF Chang's

Gina and her new baby boy.  I cannot show his face because he is a foster child and we must protect his identity.
I can say he is a darling baby and the entire family is in love with him.

Tricia

Olivia, Angie and Amanda

Kris is putting baby to sleep.  It turned into a long night for him.

Gramma

Tricia and Shay.

Tricia was in town for some training this week.  We were able to meet in Bellevue and go to PF Chang's for dinner.  I had never been there.  Must say it was nice, food was good.
But the 18% gratuity kind of grated on me.  I really resent having the gratuity added to my bill.  I am a very generous tipper and had they not added the gratuity, they certainly would have received more than they did.
That rant over, I must say we had a good time.  Sadly, Chelle could not make it because she was having a meeting at her house that night.  Gina and I shared a dinner for two which included soup: Egg Drop, appetizer: Crab Wanton, 2 entrées: Mongolian Beef and Crunchy Honey Chicken and dessert: 6 layer chocolate cake.  One huge slice that we divided between all of us.
Tricia finished her training today and is planning to go play for a while.  Since Dave has to work this weekend, the boys are flying down on Thursday to spend the weekend with us and then will fly home with her on Sunday.
Dang, I thought I was posting this on my fluff blog.  It is so late and it takes so long to download pictures, I am just going to leave it.  Maybe I should have gone to bed hours ago and left this for tomorrow:)

OSAMA THERE ARE 71 MORE VIRGINS JUST LIKE ME

Good photos ? Excellent points????.           Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like  Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of  immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas  of Europe to come to the United States,  people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented.  Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground.  They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times.  They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households  and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.  They had waved goodbye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did  everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.  Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them.  All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for  a future of prosperity.  Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out.  My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany,  Italy, France and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any  thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting  Hitler, Mussolin and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of  America as one people.  When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French American,  the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans.  And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.  And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges.  Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the  entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not  what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in  the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.  And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING. FOR THE WRONG THINGS TO PREVAIL, THE RIGHTFUL MAJORITY NEEDS TO REMAIN COMPLACENT AND QUIET. LET THIS NEVER HAPPEN! I sincerely hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation