Memorial Day weekend 2011

If you can't guess how we spent our long weekend you probably don't know us very well. Of course we went to the beach on Saturday and Monday and the weather was nice - not too hot. Saturday was a bit windy which made the surfing rough but it wasn't too bad on the beach. Lots of people from the ward came and we all made our usual little "tent city." We even got pushed off the beach by the waves at the end of the day. Our usual spot got swamped a little earlier than we thought it would so we moved everything to drier ground but even there we had a rogue wave come right up and get blankets and towels and kids all wet. I thought it was just the tide but I think the wind was pushing the water up higher than normal, because on Monday there wasn't any wind and the waves didn't come up as high. Nonetheless, we put our "tent city" in a higher spot and stayed dry all day - it was great!

Sunday after church we drove down to Anaheim to put flowers on Jamie's grandparent's grave. Jack served in the Navy during WWII and several years ago he quietly told me and the boys about driving landing boats full of sailors toward beaches in the Pacific. I asked if it was dangerous and he said yes, but not as dangerous as for the poor fellows jumping out into the water. He would try to get in as close to shore as possible so they didn't have to run in deeper water (which made them sitting ducks for snipers) and could get to the sand quicker even though it meant putting himself in much greater danger. He said it was pretty scary hearing bullets pinging off the metal of the boat and watching guys go down, but he did the best he could for them and then raced back for another load of men. We said we considered him a hero but he thought the real heroes were the ones who didn't come back. It's a good reminder that the holiday weekend wasn't just about going to our favorite beach but that we should be grateful for the sacrifices of so many on beaches far away.