A Reflective Post on a Cemetery

You may remember from previous posts that I enjoy a cemetery. I enjoy walking through cemeteries and just reflecting on all the names and dates on the stones. I try hard to keep in mind that each name represents someone's mother, father, sister, brother, daughter, son, etc. someone that was very important to someone else and is missed by someone.
Yesterday on our bike trip in Oshkosh, John and I discovered the biggest cemetery we had ever seen besides Arlington National Cemetery. We rode our bikes up and down the meandering little roads that ran throughout the entire cemetery stopping to check out many of the stones.
We came upon a section of the cemetery that is set aside for babies. At this little girl's stone you can see two little rubber ducks. In her short life, I imagine she enjoyed little yellow ducks so that is what they put there for her. Hopefully, they have the gift of faith that promises us a home in heaven and the comfort that we will see our loved ones again.
This statue of God's loving hands holding a baby was situated between two little babies' stones. Their last names were different but perhaps their parents were friends who decided to share this beautiful statue for their little ones. As you approached this row of stones, the hands look as if they are scooping the baby right up from the ground.

This little boy was born and died on my birthday, three years before I was born. I imagine he was stillborn since they didn't give him a name. Back in those old days, parents couldn't find out the sex or health of a baby before he/she was born, so names were not given to the baby in utero. Now, with our modern technology, parents not only know the baby's sex but they also know if something is wrong with their baby and they often name that baby so even if he/she doesn't live outside the mom, he/she has a name and they have tried to build some memories to hang on to while pregnant.

Its hard to imagine the pain and sadness these parents endured on this earthly journey that ended in this cemetery. Imagine all the hopes and dreams that were buried along with their precious little one. Again, hopefully they all believed in Jesus and had the hope of heaven.

Many of the stones in this cemetery were very old. This one is from the 1800's. It is the gravesite of a little baby girl named Maggie. On this stone it stated her age as 9 months, 21 days. Long time ago, but someone felt great sadness when Maggie died. Feelings like that don't change over the centuries. I think Maggie's parents were believers since they chose a stone with a cross and little lamb on it. Rest in Peace, Maggie. Just think, by now Maggie is reunited with her loving family.

This stone has broken due to age. It said "Mother" on it. By now, I am sure there is probably no one left on this earth to care about the broken stone, I figure the cemetery staff repairs these things as best they are able. Sometimes I wonder how many ancestors of this person even know where she is buried. I am figuring after three to four generations one's family stops visiting graves and they are left unattended.

As we rode around the cemetery we spotted hundreds of American flags marking the graves of our fallen Veterans. Being Memorial Day weekend, these flags were just placed at these soldier's graves and it was a sombering sight. As we walked around and read the stones, we found that they covered many years and many wars, WW II, the Korean Conflict, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and Iraq. Amazing to see all these brave men and women together in one place. Many different wars, but all heroes fighting for my freedom. I hope none of us ever forgets the sacrifices they made on our behalf.

So much to learn and discover in a cemetery. I wonder if someday anyone will stop by my gravestone and think about what kind of life I had and what kind of person I was. Oh well, no matter, I will be partying with the best of them up in heaven so I won't care one way or the other!
To my readers, check out the previous post if you need to read more about our Memorial Day weekend.

Memorial Day Fun

Since John is unemployed or as we like to call it, early retirement, (you know, it just sounds better that way) we decided to spend our Memorial Day weekend at Courtney and Paul's house or as we like to affectionately refer to it, "The Van Auken Bed and Breakfast." The Van Aukens were going to be spending the weekend at a cabin on the Mississippi River the B and B was vacant, so we jumped at the chance to stay there.

Courtney and Paul have been working hard on their yard. They have been cutting sod and putting in flower gardens. My favorite flowers are daisies and they have a yard full of them thanks to my Aunt Pearl and Uncle Herb. (Their daisies will live on forever!) Courtney had bouquets of daisies in each of the rooms. What a nice touch!
We took our bikes along with us and rode the Rawley Point trail in Two Rivers. This is easily my favorite bike trail. It meanders through the beautiful Point Beach State Forest and ends up right on the beach. The weather was perfect for this trail, cool enough in the shade of the forest, but hot enough to enjoy the beach. We rode this trail last Memorial Day, too, and I told John that we are going to make it an annual trip. Every Memorial Day we are riding this trail to jump start our summer of biking.

This cabin is located along the trail. We always like to stop here and take a photo and say we are staying at this cabin, but in reality I would not want to stay here. Too far from any bathrooms and the mosquitos were all over us while we stopped for the photo.

And here is the beach. There were so many people enjoying the beautiful weather and many were way out swimming. I was pleasantly surprised at how warm the water actually was. I think that it looks a bit like St. George Island on this picture. The sky was so blue, the water was the same color as the gulf, and the sand was hot and white. The only thing missing were the shells and the salt.

After our walk on the beach we rode to the lighthouse and took a few pictures there. After that we headed back to the park in Two Rivers where we had parked our car. After a diet coke we were ready to head to Manitowac on the Mariner Trail.

Of course, we had to stop at the home of the first ice cream sundae in Two Rivers. We did not, however go in and actually have any ice cream.

After the Mariner Trail we headed to our B and B for the night. All told we biked about 25 miles and were ready for our Rocky Roccoco Pizza and a few beers.

After a great night's sleep and some organizing activities by me, we biked over to the Park and Zoo across from the B and B. We saw this tortoise just wandering around by the pond. I suppose he is part of the zoo, but who knows. We then took a ride to the North side of Oshkosh and discovered this huge cemetery. It just went on and on. If you know me and follow this blog, you know I enjoy cemeteries and I was so happy with discovering this one. I am going to do a special post on this another day, but for now just look at all these veterans. Because tomorrow is Memorial Day, I wanted to say, "Thank you" to all the brave men and women who fought and are fighting for my freedom.

After exploring this cemetery, we found a DQ and were able to enjoy an Arctic Rush. John said he wanted to feel that brain freeze one gets with those icy drinks and boy, did both of us ever feel that! We were laughing as it hit our chests, eyes, and brains! The only problem was that the air conditioning was not working in the DQ so we had to sit outside and the tables left a bit to be desired as far as the view went, but the breeze was nice and the brain rush was the best.

Tomorrow we will leave for home after our fun time here at the B and B.

Water fun with Tizita

We were lucky we got to have Tizita spend two days with us for Preschool and then for the afternoon. She came on Monday so she could join the class on a field trip to Riverside Park, little did we know that it would be in the low 90's that day. Very hot for May, but we walked to the park and still had a great time.
I had brought bottles of juice for everyone and when they were empty we filled them up with water so all the kids could have as much water as they wanted during the morning. Despite the heat, we all had fun.
When we got back to our house, Tizita did some watering. She watered a few of our plants then she managed to water me a few times, too. It felt good though.

Here she is watering our garden which, by the way, is growing very well so far. We pulled out our first radishes and they tasted very good. Now bring on the peas, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, and cucumbers! Can't wait for fresh salads.

More garden watering.

On Wednesday, Courtney and I ran out to Farm and Fleet to buy a sprinkler and a swim suit so Tiz could have some more water fun. It was hot again, but not as bad as it was on park day-Monday. Notice how her Escalade is parked right there.

Enjoying the new sprinkler.

Tiz and John had a race where each one of them had to wet a sponge and then squeeze the water out of it into a pail. First person to fill the pail to overflowing won. Well, Tiz was declared the winner since Grandpa cheated by pouring some water into the pail with another bucket.

It was indeed a fun couple of days playing in the water to stay cool!

IKEA adventure and a new futon

Ever since my first trip to IKEA, I have been in love with anything IKEA. Walking into IKEA is like going on a big adventure for me. Today was a bit different though since we were on a one sleeper sofa/futon mission and my second goal was to leave said store without many, many other items. I had to put my self control into full force. We headed immediately to the futon. We knew just which one we wanted since we already own one and both girls and their better halves have said it is very comfy. I was drawn to the cute cover on the futon which you will see later if you read the entire post or just scroll down to the last pictures. If you recall, the reason we needed a futon was because I sold our 25 year old sofa sleeper plus two chairs at my rummage sale so I was left with no furniture in my spare room thus leaving no where for Courtney and Paul to sleep when they visit.

Anyway we found the futon, loved the cover, and wrote down all the info that we needed to pick it up. Of course, since we had driven all that way we had to look around just a bit. I was good, I touched a lot of things, but did not buy much. I did buy a spatula and a toilet brush each for $.99 and two wedding gifts for June weddings we are invited to. I figured the price was right at IKEA and who doesn't love a gift from there?

Here's John with the three parts of the futon ready to load them up in the trusty Taurus.

Speaking of our Taurus, here it (never have referred to "it" as a he or she) is. I couldn't help but think how many things this car has hauled for us and how good it has been to us. Today was no different as it easily held the futon.

We map quested our trip to IKEA since no matter how many times we go there, we can never quite remember how to get there. Anyway contrary to the usual map quest routes this one sent us on County roads and state highways to Lake Geneva and then into Illinois via Highway 12. We got to see some virgin Illinois sites today. We went through Richmond, Fox Lake, Lake Zurich, and Arlington Heights along the way. I love to see the part of Illinois that has hills, trees, and water, so different from either Chicago or the flatlands along Interstate 39 to Bloomington. It took us about 2 and a half hours, but we didn't have to pay Illinois even one toll and we approached IKEA from a less traveled way. It was a very pleasant drive and we are definitely going to use this route again if we remember it.

Anyway on the way home we just had to stop off at Elkhorn. Anytime we get anywhere near Elkhorn we have to pay homage to that wonderful town that we called home for three years and the birth place of my daughters. We always do a drive by at our old neighborhood, Eastown Manor and check out our old home which has definitely seen better days.

We sure did have some very happy times in this home though. Both babies came home to this house. My days were filled with the sweet smells and sounds of babies while I lived here. It is the only place I was pregnant, the only place I decorated nurseries, and the only place I used cloth diapers and often had both toilets full of soaking dirty diapers when John would get home from work. Ah, the memories! Yep, I loved that first home we owned.

After our walk down memory lane we came home and John put the futon together. I kept my distance whle he worked and I did not hear even one swear word.

And here is the finished product. Isn't it just too cute? On the next picture it looks rather small, but it is a queen bed when it pulls out. I think it is just because John is such a muscular man that makes the futon look so small on here.

At any rate, it was a great day!

Imagination Station revisited

Last Thursday was a beautiful day for a picnic and a romp in the park so we headed over to Imagination Station in Oconomowoc for a day of feasting and fun. Here Tiz is feeding Grandpa a pickle. She thought she was the bee's knees to be able to sit on the table and eat her lunch.
After lunch Grandpa put Tiz and I in the zoo car of the circus train. We both had to yell, "Let us out of here!" Imagination Station has all kinds of unique things like this circus train to explore and play in and on. It is truly a fun place for kids. The only problem John and I have with it, it for safety sake there is just one way in and one way out and it is hard to get around to the areas, but we did manage to keep up with Tiz most of the time.

Once out of our cage, Tiz enjoyed climbing the rope ladder. She is really good at climbing things like this. I remember once when at Great America when Alissa and Courtney were climbing one of these and I had to go rescue Alissa. That one was much bigger though and Lis was only three years older. I was glad I was able to make it up that one myself.

Here we are playing with one of the many games that are placed throughout the park. We weren't exactly sure what to do with this game, but we used our imaginations as we are supposed to when in this park.

Man, just look at me on this tire swing! I look like I am hanging on for dear life, probably was. I had to get off because I was so nauseous! To borrow an old quote from Grunkle, I was nausea!

Due to the nausea, I had to lay down and rest for a few minutes.

And finally, we made a new friend, Zoey who joined us on the teeter totter. Tiz likes to meet new friends wherever she goes.

Headed Tiz home to Oshkosh after our day at Imagination Station, What a fun time we had with her these last two days.

Today we are off to Ikea to look for a new futon since I sold the furniture in our spare bedroom.

Ebert's and Escalades

What a fun two days Grandpa and I just had spending time with our Tiz! Yesterday Tiz came for Preschool as she usually does on Wednesdays. I asked if she could spend the night and have an extra day of Preschool this week to prepare for our Spring sing program, so that is what she did and we took full advantage of our time together. The weather was absolutely beautiful which certainly helped our fun outing to Ebert's Greenhouse.
Look at all the pretty colors in this greenhouse! Tiz is decked out in her flower hat to fit right in with the other beautiful blooms.

Here she is leading the way in another greenhouse. She took great pleasure in leading us all around the entire place.

And of course, she chose many, many favorite plants that she thought she needed for her very own garden. Most of these did not make it to the check out.

And just look at the prettiest bloom in the place. We quickly scooped up this rare variety of plant life and took it with us.

And her favorite place to play at Ebert's was in all the different fountains. Here she is washing her hands and splashing in the water.

We ran a few errands when we got home from Ebert's which included Walmart, Joanne's, Ace, and Farm and Fleet. We were on a search for flowers for my dad's grave. We finally found some and headed to the cemetery to put them up. Tiz had fallen asleep so she slept soundly while we did the decorating.

We got back to our house, she and grandpa planted tomatoes and played outside, I made dinner.

While eating her grilled cheese, she announced that she needed to ride in her Escalade for a bit after dinner, so that is what we did.

Now, I think most three year olds would just call it "their car," but not our Tiz, she calls it what it is, her Escalade! Too funny.

This is how Grandpa has to get the Escalade to the parking lot.

Tiz also enjoys driving her Escalade on the abandoned road below our hill. She loves this road because there are three speed bumps. Who doesn't love to take their Escalade over speed bumps.

"Breaker 1-9, Breaker 1-9." And yes, this CB really works with her voice blaring out of the speakers. The radio and CD player also work! This Escalade has more features than our Kia!

After a lovely drive, it was time to push the car back up the hill.

We did some cutting and then it was bedtime. We made the mistake of calling Alissa before bed and they got each other all riled up, but sleep finally came for her and now at 6:30, she is still asleep. John will bring her to school today and then we are heading out for a picnic and play at Imagination Station before returning her to her home.