Just another weekend...

It's Saturday and my kids just went down for a nap at 3:50 in the afternoon. Crazy some may say, but hey, sanity is something we take seriously! Hah!
Petie is at my feet. What a sweet dog, he follows me everywhere and I take him everywhere I can. I just love him to pieces!

Last night we went to dollar movies on post at Ft. Lewis. Met up with a Tyler, Andrews friend from school and his mom Shannon. Her husband has been in Iraq for over a year now and I seriously dont' know how she does it?
We saw Ratatoully (sp?) It was great, especially if you like to cook. But what I remember most from the evening was what happened before the movie started. We had our seats and Troy was getting whapped in the back of the neck with licorice ropes by some "dad starved" kids behind him. All in fun, Troy thretened to eat the licorice. I was worried he might knowing his sweet tooth! Then a vet wheeled himself in with his family. He situated his spot in the aisle and got his extending leg situated. It was being held together by rods and pins with metal halo's around it in 4 different spots. Freakish looking, like somthing out a sci-fi movie. Just glad he's back with his family for dollar movies. What sacrafice.
Before the movie started a film of our flying flag played on the screen...the National Anthem started and everyone was at thier feet (maybe not wheelchair guy?), hats off and hands over hearts. No more licorice whips hitting my husband, kids were shockingly quiet (and this place is big and noisy!). Everyone stood as the song played out... Then everyone clapped and appluaded Applause! How cool is that? It's one of the things I love being part of the military family.

Some people don't know that every day on Military bases something called "Retreat" happens. The flags are taken down (ones that arent lit at night) and the National anthem is played over a Loudspeaker system (How Orwellian! huh?) well, AS it plays, everyone on base comes to a standstill. They face the nearest flag or towards the nearest source of music and men take hats off, hands over hearts, uniformed men salute and all cars pull over to the side of the road. Parents coming out of the commisary teach their young ones what to do. Often times you'll see an old timer vet get out of his car to pay the proper respects. It makes me choked up every time I am there around 4:30. Once when I was at the pool at 4:30 all the men/ women/parents/teens/kids hopped out of the pool and stood at attention with hands over hearts. Silence- and the Anthem played. When the song ended the pool cacophany resumed and people jumped back in. I LOVE moments like that. IT makes being on base special. Not too many kids get to grow up with things like that just being normal. I am glad our kids do ;-)