Wreaths Across America

Saturday morning was the annual wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. The event is actually part of the Wreaths Across America program to place wreaths at the graves of service members. This is my 4th year participating - and by far, it was the warmest!

They always start the day with an opening ceremony. This photo is of the start of the chaos that follows as people start spreading out to find the sections of the cemetery being covered and the semi-trucks of wreaths. I think last year there were about 5000 people at this cemetery.

Elle and I placing a wreath for an Unknown  Soldier.

Full disclosure - she started the day with a hat and mittens. She tried losing one of the mittens by throwing it out of her stroller at one point...and wore me down about the hat. After I put it back on her about 10 times, I gave up. The cold didn't seem to bother her, thankfully!

Elle, me, and our friends Sam and Jacob.

Jacob's mom (also Erica) and I met through our breastfeeding moms group - the kids have known each other since Elle was about 3 weeks old. They also were in the same room at daycare for a while! Good thing they get along :)

This is how Elle spent most of the morning. When she was in her stroller, I hadn't noticed how long her snow pants were on her...a little slow on the uptake some days. At one point, she was rolling around on her back like the kid on A Christmas Story...

When we were finished.

Every year, there have been more and more volunteers. And, every year, we've been able to place less and less wreaths... The first year, everyone in the group I was with placed about 10 wreaths. This year, we had 3 adults and 2 kids. We placed 5 wreaths TOTAL. Oh well, we decided it was more about the thought and the meaning than the number of wreaths.