Memorial Day Miscellany

Don't worry....I didn't know what miscellany meant either.  I wanted something that meant a bunch of different things (I was leaning towards mishmash but wanted something a bit snazzier)....thanks to Google, I learned that miscellany means a group or collection of different items.  And THAT is exactly what this blog is!

 C and A ran in the Coopersburg Fun Run yesterday.  They were so blown away with the idea of running on the road!! 

I was falling over during this picture...

Heading to the start line!

"Let's do this!"

"All done!!"

600 yard finishers!

 A few weekends ago, Mike took me on a surprise adventure for my 35th birthday.  We headed into New York City to see the 9/11 Memorial.  This is something I've wanted to do for a long time.  We don't have many pictures to share because it was just so intense and emotional.  But I have a few that especially stood out to us.

Each of these squares was hand painted by an artist.  Each square represents the loss of a person in the 9/11 attacks and also the World Trade Center bombing in 1993.  The quote is so profound for anyone who has lost a loved one.

This is a tree that survived the collapse of the World Trade Center and has now flourished again.

 We then continued north to Connecticut.  Mike had taken me to Connecticut for a weekend getaway for my 25th birthday.  He said soon after the fire he decided to take me back to celebrate my 35th.  The reason he got this idea is because we lost a wine bottle oil lamp from a winery we had visited in Connecticut 10 years ago and he wanted to try to replace it while on this trip.  It's amazing to think about all of the things that have happened to us because of the house fire.  We never would have gone on this great get away if it weren't for the house fire.

The weather was just perfect.

Warm enough to go kayaking!

Discovered a great beach while kayaking - we collected a bunch of shells to decorate our house with!

The reason we discovered this beach while kayaking is because we saw a man kayak over and stake this flag.  Great idea!

Here we are at the winery where we had gotten the wine bottle oil lamp 10 years ago.

Unfortunately, they don't make the wine bottle oil lamps anymore...but they gave us these great stemless glasses and we had a delicious dinner!

 And finally an update on our house.  The siding started going up yesterday!!!  We are about a month out.