Untitled from Kristina Rickard on Vimeo.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Bonnie Springs (Old Nevada)
Last Friday was Jayson's Presidents Day off, so we decided to do a family day. I have heard of Bonnie Springs Ranch since we've moved here, but somehow we just have never made it out there to see what it was all about.
Bonnie Springs Ranch is considered Old Nevada. It was originally built in 1843 as a stopover for the wagon trains going to California down the Old Spanish Trail.
There are old buildings 'town' to walk through, watch dramas and reenactments, a petting zoo, horse and pony rides, and a restaurant to eat at.
Bonnie Springs Ranch is considered Old Nevada. It was originally built in 1843 as a stopover for the wagon trains going to California down the Old Spanish Trail.
There are old buildings 'town' to walk through, watch dramas and reenactments, a petting zoo, horse and pony rides, and a restaurant to eat at.
Jayson and Gwen feeding the ducks outside the restaurant
Gwen loved doing this
Riding her first 25 cent ride
Love Love Loving the Petting Zoo
Petting a Goat with Daddy
A very LARGE Bull
Enjoying her time on the pony 'Bubbles'
Walking through Old Nevada
Decided to not mind the ropes and sit at the old, very dirty school desk
Steel Mill
More of the little town
Checking out her stamp
Melodrama
Hanging Re-enactment
Jayson's TDY to Germany
Tank at Mardasson Memorial (a memorial of the Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne, Belgium)
From the God's eye view, this structure is a five pointed star (U.S. style). From the top you have a great view of many of the places the Americans were dug in and fighting from all five points on the star.
Note the crystal blue skies. Not typical that time of year (February). The rest of the trip we were greeted with freezing fog and drizzle.
Read this closely. There were over 76,000 US casualties (killed, wounded or missing) in the defense of Bastogne in a little less than a month. Kinda puts Iraq and Afghanistan into perspective.
This is a crypt below the memorial. Really just a place of worship, not where soldiers were interred. We visited in February. The bitter cold was just a taste of what our troops experienced while they were fighting there in December 1944/January 1945.
This is the town of Bastogne. We sampled some great Belgian Trappist Ales here! Just part of our expedition to have a different beer in each of three different countries on the same day. Yes, we worked at this TDY, too.
This is the American cemetery in Luxembourg. Over 5,000 U.S. casualties of the Battle of the Bulge lie here, which is less than 20% of the number who perished. The rest are buried at other cemeteries. Below is the chapel.
There were several of these murals depicting the war's progression.
One of the many breath-taking views of the cemetery.
One of the Air Force headstones I found. All of them I found were bomber air crew. There were also two medal of honor winners buried there.
One of the 101 headstones marking unknown remains.
George Patton's headstone. His dying wish was to be buried with his men. His headstone is at the top of the cemetery and in a perfect place to overlook all of them.
View of the Chapel's ceiling.
Altar in the chapel.
The next stop was the city of Luxembourg (yes the same name as the country). What a neat place. The old part of the city looked like a gigantic castle with a moat to boot.
No wonder this place survived a bunch of sieges throughout history.
Better view of the "castle."
There were several of these murals depicting the war's progression.
One of the many breath-taking views of the cemetery.
One of the Air Force headstones I found. All of them I found were bomber air crew. There were also two medal of honor winners buried there.
One of the 101 headstones marking unknown remains.
George Patton's headstone. His dying wish was to be buried with his men. His headstone is at the top of the cemetery and in a perfect place to overlook all of them.
View of the Chapel's ceiling.
Altar in the chapel.
The next stop was the city of Luxembourg (yes the same name as the country). What a neat place. The old part of the city looked like a gigantic castle with a moat to boot.
No wonder this place survived a bunch of sieges throughout history.
Better view of the "castle."
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Horses and Goats OH MY!
A couple of Fridays ago.... I know it's been a while. Anyways, a girlfriend of mine invited Gwen and I to join her wives group for a couple of hours for some fun with animals. Gwen got to ride two horses (Rosie and Jasper), brushed some goats, fed some goats, jumped around with some bunnies, and well just plain old had some fun.
Before we got there I told her what types of animals we were going to see and she kept saying horses mama horses. I told her she was going to be able to ride them as well. She got really quiet after that, so I wasn't sure if this play date was going to be successful or not.
She loved saying hello to the horse, but getting close... not so much until she saw her good friend Eva get right up there and have no problem. Gwen couldn't wait for her turn. She absolutely LOVED them. To this day she is still talking about horses and riding them. I need to go back and do it again with her and daddy.
Riding Rosie and stopping for a quick picture
Listening very closely and repeating how to get Rosie to stop and go
Loving every minute of it
Waiting patiently for her turn on Rosie
I love the very large hat they had to wear riding
Getting a quick kiss on the check from a good friend Mr. Goat
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)