Freedom Rock

Yesterday we drove out to see the Freedom Rock.  Since 1999, a local man has been painting a HUGE rock with patriotic images all the way around the surface of the rock.  People come from all over just to see it.  He has amazing talents.  Sometimes he receives ashes of a fallen soldier and he mixes them into the paint he uses to paint the rock.  So moving and amazing to see.

Here are some pictures of this year's rock.  Every year is different.

This was my favorite image showing the translucent soldiers by the tomb of the unknown solder.

Here is a closer look...

This is a picture of the five Sullivan brother who all died together, because they were all stationed on the same ship during WWII.  They were from Waterloo, IA, which is where my husband Joe grew up.

The upper part had a glare from the sun, but you can see the image in the picture above.

Here is a better picture of the top part (without a glare)...

The rock is about 30  miles from where we live, and out in the middle of nowhere.  Joe was skeptical that anyone else was visiting the rock and just as we were coming over the hill he said "I wonder if anyone else will be there?" and then we popped over the hill and he got his answer.  There were probably a hundred or so motorcycles and cars in the lot across from the rock.  I just laughed and said, yeah I think so.  :)

After the rock, we went to my sister Dawn's and swam in her pool.  Here is the twins Annie and Ally and their dog Regis Philbin.  :)

 Here is Hope...

Hope was busy out in her little pool this afternoon and later on tonight we took Reilly for another walk.  She also found her lost camera today, so she took her camera along and took pictures of flowers, etc.  It was pretty cute watching her try to get the perfect shot.  She really wanted to get a picture of a bird but they kept flying away.  :)

I forgot to share this last week.  Hope and I went to the mall and as we were leaving he saw two parental geese and their babies walking through the parking lot to the pond.  It was pretty cute.  

Ok, I will finish up with a few cards.  Since this is Hope's last week of school I will share some school related cards I created using the Little Yellow Bicycle scraps.

 I hope you had a safe Memorial Day.  Thank you to all that serve (and their families) our country and protect our freedoms!

Darla