Memories

This weekend has been a blast so far! It started out with an Abbie/Auntie sleep over!!! Nate was out with his Dad and brother so it was just Abbie and I at home. We did girly things! I gave Abbie a bubble bath and then we played with her doll house! She is so funny, I don't know what it is about me but she is so attached to me! Of course I don't mind at all! It melts my heart every time she says "Tee Tee!" (which is what she calls me). She and I also had a tea party. My Dad reminded me that four years ago on Friday my Mommy Kay passed away. She is my Dad's mom and is one of the most important people to me. I don't think a day goes by where I don't think of her and some silly life lesson she taught me. I was thinking about her while watching Abbie play and thinking of how much she would have LOVED Abbie!! So I pulled out and old tea set that Mommy Kay had given me when I was little and let Abbie play with it. She thought it was the best thing ever! I dragged my old kid table out of out basement and Abbie was in heaven playing tea! This table needs a new paint job, but I'm waiting until Nate and I have children... I don't want a little boy to have to play leggos at a pink table!!! So for now Abbie plays with it in it's sad condition... she doesn't seem to mind! Abbie made sure Charlie got some tea too!

It's really cool how people and animals can remember things. God gave us such amazing minds! One of my biggest and best childhood memories is Fireman's Field Day. It's a huge parade in our town followed by a muster. A Fireman's Muster is where they run all kinds of relay races and see whose station does things the fastest. Things like, climbing a ladder, hooking up a dry hose and hooking up a wet hose. It's pretty cool. It used to be a HUGE deal when I was a kid... fire trucks from all over the place would come for the parade and win prizes (they still do win prizes) for oldest and newest truck, the truck that came the furthest... things like that. Yesterday's parade was actually pretty big, bigger than last year...but they are for sure not as big as when I was a kid.

I also LOVED this weekend because it was a free for all!! We would have friends from Southwest Harbor Maine (about 4 hours north) come down for the weekend and they would pitch tents in our yard! It looked like a camp ground out there!!! It was great because our parents would have a HUGE BBQ and our whole street would join in!! We would get to play outside for HOURS and go to bed really late, which as a kid is a big deal! I can remember playing flashlight tag through the whole neighborhood, the game would last for hours!! We could come in a night with tons of bug bits and really dirty feet and exhausted after a REALLY great day!!!

Every year there is a Fire Queen, because what would a parade be with out a Miss Someone? We have Miss Flame. It used to be a big beauty contest and someone would win and get to be the Fire Queen for the weekend. She would hand out the trophies and go to the Fireman's Ball at night. Now they just kind of pick someone (I was Miss Flame in 2004!) and she still hands out trophies but I would not call the dance after the Fireman's Dinner a "ball".... more like.... well... we will just call it a dance but you know what I'm saying. There is more to drink than there are pretty "ball gowns!"

My Mom, Nate and I took Abbie and the doggies up to watch the parade. One of my oldest friends and one of the kids I would run around with all weekend, Diana joined and watched with us. It was a good parade! Abbie thought it was a bit loud!!

After the parade we watched the muster a little bit and then I took Abbie home to try to give her a nap.... (we had no luck!) Around 6 we headed to the fireman's dinner... which is a Lobster Bake!! It was very very good! Then we skipped out on the "dance" and came home :) Even though the weekend is not really what it used to be, I think part of the fun is remembering how much we used to have! I hope we can make a few fun memories for Abbie to look back on!