{"id":2333,"date":"2010-11-11T18:20:41","date_gmt":"2010-11-12T02:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/?p=2333"},"modified":"2010-11-11T18:20:41","modified_gmt":"2010-11-12T02:20:41","slug":"a-day-of-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/?p=2333","title":{"rendered":"A day of celebration…"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Veteran’s Day for the past 9 years has been a day of sadness for me. 11\/11 – Veteran’s Day, \u00a0also happens to be my late husband Ace’s birthday. I normally stay home (it’s a work holiday for me)\u00a0get sad,\u00a0 release a message balloon\u00a0to heaven, bake a cake, sing happy birthday,\u00a0and then go about my normal activities the next day.<\/p>\n

Today was different. Today I decided to celebrate life – to celebrate the amazing veterans that have served my country… to celebrate freedom and the\u00a0wonderful place I live.<\/p>\n

I sprung out of bed this morning and immediately put on my workout clothes. I made a healthy oatmeal breakfast and then set about my day. I walked\/ran\u00a03 miles to watch my cities Veteran’s Day Parade.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As I walked\/ran along the path to the parade… I stopped to soak it all in.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I loved the loan American flag stuck in the fence along my path.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I made my way\u00a0to the parade route and I knew I wanted to get closer to the giant flag.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I loved taking photos of supporters along the parade route…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So many uniforms and so much pride…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The kids and dogs were my favorite…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Everyone sat patiently along the route until the parade came through…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The huge flag was pretty impressive to see up close.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first order of business – Geese in the road… Geese in the road… It was hysterical – they honked every time the fire engine’s sirens blared.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No worries, my little geese friends made their way to the lawn area next to where I was standing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The local\u00a0rotary club handed out mini flags to everyone…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Grand Marshall\u00a0was Staff Sergeant Emmett Spraktes, a helicopter medic who\u00a0received\u00a0a silver star for gallantry in action in Afghanistan. His son was so excited to be in the car with his Dad.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After the parade, \u00a0the public\u00a0was invited to partake in free hotdogs, soda and potato chips provided by the local Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis and other community organizations. I decided to skip that part to continue with my walk\/run around the park’s lake.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a gorgeous day…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It felt good to be out and surrounded by my community with a side of nature.\u00a0 According to iPhone calculations, I covered just under 8 miles. Once home, I got busy in the kitchen. I had one thing left to do for the day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Chocolate cake, chocolate frosting and a side of Budwesier (I actually bought the bud for a chili recipe – Ace was a big time collector of all things Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch, so for tonight’s dinner – we will be honoring his love and passion by partaking in big bowls of chili that include his favorite beer).\u00a0 I plan on posting the recipe tomorrow.<\/p>\n

So cheers – to Ace – who would have celebrated his 42nd birthday today… you are so missed and loved with each passing day.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veteran’s Day for the past 9 years has been a day of sadness for me. 11\/11 – Veteran’s Day, \u00a0also happens to be my late husband Ace’s birthday. I normally stay home (it’s a work holiday for me)\u00a0get sad,\u00a0 release a message balloon\u00a0to heaven, bake a cake, sing happy birthday,\u00a0and then go about my normal … <\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,50],"tags":[85,84],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2333"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2381,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions\/2381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}