Riding Quad's and Horsy

Caitlyn was showing off her new helmet for riding on the quads. We spent the day at Mike's brother Brad & wife Patty's house. They live in the country in Cook Washington so we took the quads up so we could hit the trails with Mike's nephew Nicholas. We had a great ride but just as we cleared the woods on our way back to the house the rain hit.
Caitlyn got a very special gift this day. Mike's stepsister Cyndi gave Caitlyn a rocking horse that his dad made years ago. Cyndi has not had any kids and with none in the future she thought Caitlyn might enjoy it. What an amazing gift for her to have, something made by her Grandpa Gallagher that she never got to meet. It will truely be a family treasure for many generations.

American Flag Ceremony, continued

Here are a couple pics of Caitlyn before and after the ceremony. Hopefully next year she will sit still a bit more! She sure had fun waving her flags around though. And of course she was dressed for the occasion in Red, White & Blue.

American Flag Retirement Ceremony

On June 10th my parents had their local (Boring OR) Boy Scout Troop perform an American Flag Retirement Ceremony. As I am sure you all know, when an American Flag becomes worn the respectable thing to do is to no longer fly it. But then what do you do with it. One of the proper ways to dispose of the flag it to PROPERLY burn the flag. We had quite a few veterans present including two family members that were in WWII. Both of those veterans had a flag that needed proper disposing of. One of the flags was actually flown on the Arizona during the war. The ceremony included adding certain wood to the fire to symbolize certain things as well as the flag being cut a certain way. Each of the stripes were cut into their respective strips and the blue square with stars was cut as one piece. Due to the length of time this takes they did the full ceremony on the two war flags. The other five flags being presented for retirement were burned whole. It was a very interesting and moving ceremony and the boys did an amazing job. They even have one member that played the bugle. I think my parents are going to make this an annual event so if you would like to be included in future years or have a flag that needs retiring please just let me know and we will add it to next year event.

Rose Festival

This year the Rose Festival had a special meaning to my family. My Great Aunt (teal coat in front waving) was in the Grand Floral Parade. She was a Rose Festival Princess during WWII and because of the war there was no parade. This year being the 100th year of the festival they had a float for all the Princess' and Queens from the war years that never got to be in a parade. The whole family went to the parade. Some of the family watched in the Memorial Coliseum but the rest of us wanted the real parade experience. Unfortunately that meant battling the rain. Caitlyn had a great time. She waved to everyone that passed by. Every time a horse went by she said "orsy" and she danced and marched to all the bands. Afterwards the family gathered at my parents house for lunch and cake.

Spending the Day Helping Daddy in the Garage

This is what Caitlyn can look like after spending the day in the garage with Mike. At least she was having fun.

Mother's Day in Roseburg

This year we spent Mother's Day traveling to Roseburg. Mike's mom has been very ill and has been in the hospital for a little over two months. (She was just moved to a care facility) She is doing better then she was but will have a long recovery ahead of her. In between visits to the hospital that day we went to Mike's sister Laurie's house to spend some time with the rest of the family. Caitlyn played with her cousin Tanner in the yard while the rest of us made sure they stayed out of the pond construction. Caitlyn was very interested in her newest cousin Grace too.