I am preempting my post about my son cooking Jamie Oliver's BBQ burgers for a more important update.  We are huge fans of Mr. Oliver and admire all he is doing to help people eat healthier.  If you don't know about him & his mission, please look him up:  www.jamieoliver.com will give you all the info you need.  That will be my next post~this one is about our Memorial Weekend.

 We went to the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum in Titusville, Florida yesterday (Sunday) & today (Monday).  This place is truly humbling.  Not just because of the size of all the planes; it is humbling because of why they have been & are needed.  Our freedom.  Your freedom.  These machines are storytellers and this museum has restored most of the planes.  Some are on loan.  This museum is funded only from visitors donations.  Can you believe that?

Your tour guides are retired military personnel that have personal accounts to share.  I was truly honored to have been there, and I was really excited for my kids to experience this too.  What better way for kids to truly understand the meaning of the day than this place and...it was cool too!  The guides were entertaining to say the least.  They have a museum inside that showcases military artifacts, uniforms, maps, manuals and so much more, that are not replicas - they are the real things.  Personal stories with each item brings it all home, chillingly so in some cases.  God bless them all!  You can't help but read all the information posted on every medal, rations book, letter to home, boot, helmet, map...You become completely drawn into the time period, the smells, sounds, emotions.

They provided activities for the special day too.  They had fly-overs, music, photo ops, etc.  As if it needed anything more!



~Anjelica posing in a Blue Angel's TA-4J Skyhawk~











~Sebastian having his turn~
























We got to tour their restoration hanger and was even taken into one.  This plane, the "Tico Bell" flew during the Normandy invasion and other campaigns during WW II.  Imagine trying to eat & take a call in this thing?  Not gonna happen!




The wing view from inside the C-47.  (Very, very cool!)














~More of a plane restoration~









This is one I just had to blow up so you could read it...this was the bathroom sign on the same plane.  I am putting one up here at home!!!

I was so moved by it all.  All I could think of was how when I was younger I was going to go into the Air Force and become a pilot, then onto an Astronaut.  I was going to go into space and that was that!  I think I have gotten a better deal!  God knew better than we did.

Now back to the flying ~ my son & I have made a promise to take flying lessons as soon as possible!  Pray for money, that's the biggest hold-up right now.  Damian (greatest-hubby) has joined forces with us and wants to also!

To say we had a memorable day is not enough.  The moments of silence was for most of the days...lost in deep thought of what each thing represented, how one person affected so many and all so we could have our freedoms, people they don't even know.  Takes your breath away...

I absolutely love this poster.  I had to end with this one...we need to have respect for all we have and are given.  To truly honor our service men, women & their families, we need to have respect & honor for our country~no more Americans bashing America.  I am proud to live in America and more than proud to say I am an American, not just today, everyday.  And when you say that, it doesn't mean that people from other places are below us.  There is a reason people from all over the world want to live here, we as Americans forget sometimes and need to be reminded.  You ask someone who has just become an American citizen and they don't forget.  We are so blessed.  We need to continue to pray for God's blessing on us.  =) 







And with that being said...I have the freedom to choose to take flying lessons...I have a mission now...anyone know someone down here in Florida that offers lessons for a good price?  Free?  Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge...



















P.S. Is this the equivalent of the lens cap being left on?