cookiecrumbexpress.com Blog

However, very few. The camera battery died. That was the bad news. Fortunately I had a spare. That was the good news. Unfortunately it was at home. Bad news triumphs.

But here are a few photos for your viewing pleasure. Happy 7th Birthday Noah.

A guy has to have his cars!

A girl has to have her cake…..

….. and ice cream.

And at this point the camera decided it had to have another birthday. Not a good time eh? But at least I will have spares for Christmas.

{This was written by my husband, Aaron, who is currently deployed to Iraq, in defense of a recent comment made by Senator John Kerry. Pass  it along, it might inspire someone else to speak up! ~ Michelle}

Yesterday John Kerry said, “You know education, if you make the most of  it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well, and if you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq”

So I wrote him a letter:

I am a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. I am currently on my second tour in Iraq, a tour in which I volunteered for. I speak Arabic and Spanish and I plan to tackle Persian Farsi soon. I have a Bachelors and an Associates Degree and between deployments I am pursuing an M.B.A. In college I was a member of several academic honor societies, including the Golden Key Honor Society. I am not unique among the enlisted  troops.
Many of my enlisted colleagues include lawyers, teachers, mechanics, engineers, musicians and artists just to name a few. You say that your comments were directed towards the President and not us. If we were stupid Senator Kerry, we might have believed you.

I am not a victim of President Bush. I proudly serve him because he is my Commander and Chief. If it was you who was President, I would serve you just as faithfully. I serve America Senator Kerry, and I am also providing a service to the good people of Iraq. I have not terrorized them in the middle of the night, raped them or murdered them as you  have accused me of before. I am doing my part to help them rebuild. My role is a simple one, but important. You see Senator Kerry, like it or not, we came here and removed a tyrant (who terrorized Iraqis in the middle of the night, and raped them and murdered them). And we have a responsibility to see to it that another one doesn’t take his place.
The people of Iraq are recovering from an abusive relationship with a terrible government and it’s going to take some time to help them recover from that. We can’t treat this conflict like a microwave dinner and throw a temper tantrum because we feel like it’s taking too long.

Senator Kerry, you don’t have to agree with this war. You don’t have to say nice things about those of us who choose to make sacrifices for the rights of every American rather than sit back and simply feel entitled to it. But please Senator Kerry, if you’re going to call me a stupid murdering rapist, stick by what you say. Don’t tell me that I misunderstood or that you would never insult a veteran because you’re one too. Having been there and done that does not give you a free pass to insult me.

My suggestion for you, Senator Kerry, is to remember that your speeches are recorded, and broadcast to us simpletons over here. You may want to write down what you want to say before you say it, maybe have somebody look at it before you say it and tell you what others might hear. Remember that we can’t read your mind, if there are any misinterpretations in what you say, it’s because you didn’t communicate clearly.

Good luck to you Senator Kerry, if nothing else it’s always entertaining to watch you try and climb out of the holes that you constantly dig for
yourself.

Sincerely,

Somebody who is watching his daughter grow up in photographs so that
you can have the right to say whatever you want about him.

Patience while we toil to correct it.

Pete tours the home of a former dictator. Who will never come home again.

Thanks Pete from a grateful nation.

You’re lookin good Pete.  We all think so.

Gimme the beat boys to free my soul … I wanna get lost in your rock and roll….. and drift awayyyyyyyyyy

Healing time. Steaks, potatoes, a brew (well for the adults) ice cream and browies, and gettin the neices and nephews together for Karaoke. They love it.

American Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen and Coast Guardsmen, standing in front of the children to protect them. Terriorists use them for shields.

Life is Good!

The goal of Project Valor IT was $180,000.00.

But here is the story of what they received. Thanks to all of you who made a contribution.

http://valour-it.blogspot.com/2006/11/preliminary-totals.html

Well, here it is Veterans’ Day. Somehow I find that fitting. Veteran of WWII is Great-Grandpa Tom. Veterans of 60 years of love, Marguerite and Tom. Party at 2, film at 11.

Although they don’t know it the mayor of the local ville will be there to celebrate and read a City Proclaimation in their honor. The local parish priest will be there to bless their marriage.

Their 4 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, neices, nephews, brothers, cousins and friends from all over will all assemble to celebrate.

Once again, it’s all about family.  Life only has meaning if you live it for others.

Thanks Tom and Marge. Thanks for your love, your guidance, your support, and your patience. Thanks for more than we can mention.

Happy Anniversary.

Film update: Rollum CB

A walk down Memory Lane. Looking over the original wedding album.

Fr Kelly presides as Tom and Marge renew their vows. The man on the left is Doc (nickname from Army days during WWII). Doc is Tom’s brother and was in the original wedding party.

Family and friends look on as the vows are renewed

Ma and Janice read the proclaimation delivered by the Mayor, proclaiming the day to be Tom and Marge’s day in the city.

Life is good.

The quiz is now open.  Where is this?

Clue: It ain’t Cleveland.

In the early days, when we had no money (wait we still have no money) we acquired the pop up camper shown above. Pa had a slight backing problem with it, danged fence gate. Somehow a foot long tear appeared. We were about to leave on the biggest vacation in our young lives. A drive from here to California, then up the coast from San Diego to San Francisco, and back. A nearly three week camping vacation for the family.

So we had no time to get it fixed. Pa cut a small piece of outdoor plywood, and Ma decided to make it a name plate thingie (Ma has always covered for Pa). She looked at the kids eating cookies, and lettered the sign.  “Cookie Crumb Express”. The we made the tiny footprints on it. We applied seals to the back and attached it.  Presto… dignity restored

Off we went on a great western camping adventure. In the photo is Pa and Ma holding Chris. Ner (Jenny) is in back of Pambo, then Mike behind Ram ( Ram minor) and of course the trusty potty chair.

Life was good.  Life is good.

And so much for the Cookie Crumb Express, we towed it with a huge Ford LTD Wagon. And yes we did get a lot of giggles when we passed people and they saw the kids, and the sign that said “Cookie Crumb Express.”

Saddam escapes!!