memorial day weekend

folks, i'm kind of a terrible, horrible person. i feel like every single blog i read had a blog post this weekend starting off like this:

"Most people only think of BBQs, swimming, and summer on Memorial Day weekend. But I don't. I always remember the REAL reason why we have Memorial Day." [insert picture of a military graveyard here]

if you believed my facebook feed, you'd think that every person i am friends with feels this way--that they're the only people who TRULY focus on the real meaning of memorial day.

(side note: i am an cynical grump and i am always bugged by things that trend on facebook. i always think people are just posting things because everyone else is. when every single person on my newsfeed has to chime in with how sad/happy they are about every major event, like when everyone has to say "so sad about boston" and i see people sharing snooki's "pray for boston" pictures, i just lose my mind. REALLY, snooki? are you REALLY PRAYING FOR BOSTON????)

well, i'll just say it like it is. i love memorial day weekend because the weather is awesome, tommy stayed home, and we played and had fun together all weekend. i am that person who just thinks of BBQs, swimming, and summer on memorial day weekend. sorry if this is blasphemous. i'll get a good attitude someday.

but we still had a great weekend! on saturday, we went strawberry picking! and we made four batches of strawberry jam. we'll probably have to give some away when we move next year, i'm guessing. but we're all stocked up and our freezer is full!

we also went swimming on saturday afternoon. it was dane's second time. he's only mildly interested in the water. he is much more excited about his swim shirt and hanging out with his parents. but i think it's going to be a favorite pastime for this summer when it gets to be really hot.

and then today, the actual memorial day, we decided kind of last minute to have a barbecue. we spent most of the day chopping veggies and meat, made three different types of skewers (orange beef, italian chicken, and teriyaki bacon-wrapper chicken (SO GOOD!)), and had some friends over for a beautiful may evening. (every lovely day we have makes me kind of sad because i wonder, "is this the last nice day we'll have until summer?" PLEASE SAY NO!)

evan was cheesing it up for the camera, and loving on dane.

tommy is the BBQ master. he grilled that food good.

dane is very patriotic, even if his lame-o mother isn't.

our friend miranda, who is some five or six months younger than dane and totally going to pass him up in size any day now. she is beautiful.