Labor Day Celebration

Over Labor Day weekend our home town has a celebration and always has since I can remember. The weekend is filled with lots of different events that will keep you busy but not too busy that you don't have any time to relax. This year we went back up there for the weekend for a couple reasons...it is always a good time and Todd's parents were in the community play (like we would miss that!).

When we heard that Todd's parents were going to be in a play we automatically decided that we would make the trip up there this year. Saturday night we got to enjoy their very funny play "Leaving Iowa". It was great to see them up there and great to laugh at all of the funny things that you know are true about your state (we were questioning just how funny it would be when performed outside of Iowa though). It was great to laugh at all the little jokes thrown in there that only people that grew up here would truly understand. They had a great performance and turn out at each show.

A picture of the "hog farmer and hog farmer's wife"

Now Monday is always the busiest day of the weekend, packed full with events. We started off by heading out to the Fly-In breakfast out at the airport with my dad and nephew. Andrew loved being able to see into one of his most recent fascinations...Airplanes! He also loved watching them as they took off and landed right in front of him. Now he gets even more excited than he did before when he hears an airplane.

Lastly, we headed up to the city park to check out everything up there. There is always a craft fair going on in one corner with local vendors, sadly though it continues to get smaller and smaller every year. A recent addition is the book "sale". The local libraries use this day as an opportunity to clean up their shelves a little. They put out duplicate copies of books that they no longer need as the book is no longer as popular or books that have been replaced because one has been very well read. The best part...they are all free!!! Now when you say free books to a person who loves to read, of course they will be there. I grabbed a few unknown titles that looked good but the best was I was able to find all but one book to the Narnia series for my niece (I later went to Half Price Books and got her the missing one). She loves to read as well and I know her imagination will soar when reading these great classics.

Before leaving the park we made sure to walk around and find some very special flags. There is a group in town that takes time out of their busy lives to honor our local heroes, past and present. Individuals (usually family members) can purchase a flag in honor of a veteran. A plaque is attached to the pole stating their name and division of the armed forces in which they serve. Every year on veteran related holidays (i.e. Flag Day, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, etc) the flags are displayed around the city park. There are hundreds of them that fly in the center of town on these days as a humbling reminder of what it takes to live in this free country.

Amongst these flags fly five that are very special to us (among many others that we know). All four of our, Todd and mine, grandfathers served in the either the Army or the Navy and Todd's dad served in the Army as well. These flags always give me such pride in those men that went to fight for our freedom, even before any of us were here. And we can not say thank you enough.

Andrew standing next to his Grandpa's flag

It was a great weekend filled with family, laughs, fun, and just an overall great time.