Memorial Day in Eureka

For as long as I can remember, my dad has gone to Eureka each Memorial Day to lay flowers on the graves of family members.  I'm not sure who started this tradition but for years he did it with my Grandma.  Then after she was unable, on his own.  Before we had kids, Brian and I got to spend the day with him and learn about all the people and history.  This year, the kids and I went and we loved it!  I'm hoping it will be a tradition he will share with us again next year too!

While many relatives are distant to me, both sets of my grandparents are buried in the same cemetery.  They are even pretty close to each other too.  Here are my dad's parents, Elsie and Samuel Bechtel.

My dad just sat on his walker and directed the kids where to go.  They ran up and down and back putting each pot exactly where it needed to go!

 Here are my mom's parents, Frances and Walter Osinski Davidson

 My dad gave condensed versions of the history...not much on the distant relatives but since my kids never met my grandparents, it was nice to share stories.  We also did alot of comparing and observing.  We looked at dates and decided how old people were, we looked at all the gorgeous tombstones, we guessed who was related to whom, etc.

Then we headed to this awesome park by my mom's lot at Lake Eureka to play in the puddles!  Papa just stood by the tree and watched!  Great park!

 Then we headed to my dad's farm so the kids could see where he and my Auntie Doris grew up.  While my family still owns the land, they do not own the homestead anymore.  So, we kinds snuck onto the property to take these two pics.  I thought for sure the people home would come out and ask what we were doing, but perhaps they recognized Dad's bald head.

This is our family's old barn!  I love it!  This barn is in numerous paintings and pictures that are much loved by our family!

 This is the house my dad and his family lived in for decades!

 A few years back, my dad put his father's small garden memorial marker along the property line of the farm as a small and simple way to honor Sam's farm.

 When we pulled up to the property line of the farm to stop and look at the land, I looked down and realized at that very moment, the car hit the 100,000 mile mark!

 We went to 3 different cemeteries that day and laid flowers and heard stories.  We then had lunch with my dad's cousin before heading home!  What a wonderful day it was!  Thanks Papa for sharing it with us!