Memorial Day

Let me begin by saying that our Memorial Day weekend was absolutely wonderful!  We began with a busy Saturday at the zoo.  Sunday we went to church and then went with my husband's family to take a tour of a few different cemeteries throughout the area where different family members from many different generations were buried.  It was quite fascinating for me to hear stories about our family that I will hopefully one day be able to remember and pass down to our children.  For example, Ezra's great-great grandfather had 11 children with his first wife, who died young, and then married Ezra's great-great grandmother (who was about 25 years younger than him) and had 11 more children, one of whom was Ezra's great grandmother.  This same great grandmother and one of her sisters married a set of brothers, and the two couples are buried next to each other. 

By Monday we were ready for a traditional family cookout.  We did the basic hamburgers and hot dogs, but we were blessed to be able to pick our first mess of squash and green tomatoes just in time for our cookout.

I fried these babies up

After slicing lengthwise, I drizzled with olive oil, salt & pepper and then grilled them to perfection!  Some of the best squash I've ever eaten.

 I promise that I intended to take pictures of the food, but by the time everything was cooked, the kids were rustled up inside and washed up and we sat down to eat, the last thing on my mind was to pull out the camera.  It was time to EAT!  I remembered the camera when we started on dessert....

As you can see, fun was had by all.....but we did have one uninvited guest....

After determining he was a king snake, we decided to let him go about his business of keeping the poisonous snakes away.

After lunch, Ezra and I took the kids and our 2 nieces down to the pond for a swim.  Trust me, this is a rare occurrence around here (which I have never taken part in), but the kids were so excited.  My official job was to stand on the dock and watch kids bobbing in the water and help them over the rail to the ladder leading into the water....as well as taking pictures.
 

My husband demonstrating the proper way to enter the water....

Like father, like son....almost.

Demonstrating the proper dive technique

Attempting the proper dive technique...more like a belly flop

Treading water with a 3 year old attached to his neck

Look Mom....no hands!

After the kids had their fill of pond water (and Ezra was exhausted from treading water for 1 1/2 hours), we headed back to the house and got to work in the garden.  We planted the okra and pumpkin seeds, completing our garden.  Below are a few pictures of the garden thus far....

Cantaloupe and Watermelon

Stand of corn

20 hills of squash x 5 plants per hill = LOTS of squash this summer!

Tomato plants just starting to put out green tomatoes

Despite the hard work involved, the garden has become one of my favorite things about living out in the country.  And as the kids are getting older, some of that hard work is being passed off to the younger generation.  :)   I don't think I had ever even eaten squash until I met Ezra (seriously), and now it is one of my favorite vegetables.  Every time I walk through the produce aisle at the grocery store, I am reminded of how blessed we are to be able to grow so many of our own vegetables.

I hope everyone was able to enjoy the holiday weekend with their family as well as take time to remember our fallen soldiers and the reason why so many of us are able to enjoy a 3-day weekend every May.