Cost of Freedom

Our July 4th events included a couple of new thing for us starting with a local parade with other families in nearby Aurora.  Our friends' dad has a house on the main parade route and the easy parking and big lawn makes his home a perfect destination.

Look!  Here they come!

Grace and the other kids lined up on the curb, waved, and collected bags full of candy during the hour-long parade. This was my view for most of the time - backs of kids looking for the next group to come down the street!

The City of Twinsburg hosted a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans' Wall for the long holiday weekend.  The wall and other exhibits come from an organization called American Veterans Traveling Tribute.  Bringing the 80% replica wall (360 feet long and 8 feet tall at the highest point) to Twinsburg was a big undertaking for the local VFW and community.  It is at the high school and all of the schools participated in some way by volunteering and providing art work to go along with the art and photography that travels with the wall.  So, we stopped by to see it and explain a little about this and other American wars.

Grace listened and asked questions but I am not sure she could grasp the magnitude of what a war really is and why they have named this exhibit the "Cost of Freedom". I liked the mobile museum that had memorabilia from the Revolutionary War through Desert Storm all housed inside a big truck that you could walk through.   The veterans seemed very proud to share their knowledge and welcome visitors.

A little exposure and then she can go back to being a kid listening to her iPod in the car.  That's good enough for now.