Happy Anniversary!

I had such a good weekend with my family.  My parents came down on Friday afternoon.  We hung out and went a little car shopping before Tyler got off work.  We had a nice supper together (made in my crockpot), and just hung out together and talked.


On Saturday morning (Mom and Dad's 28th Anniversary), we headed to the National Memorial Museum.  I didn't really to know what to expect, because when the Oklahoma City Bombing happened, I was in kindergarten.


They have an outside memorial that includes a reflecting pool (like the one in DC, although that one is way more impressive).

There are chair beside the pool that signifies each person that died in the bombing.  168 people died=168 chairs.  There are small ones for the kids and bigger ones for the adults.

Like I said, I don't remember much about the bombing, however I do remember seeing pictures like this on the tv.  I also remember talking to my mom about the guy who bombed the building, while we were in the kitchen cooking or baking something.

There were many similarities to the tornado in Joplin.  I guess tragedies have common characteristics.  The museum itself was an actual building that was a little ways from the Federal building that got blown up.  It was sad, and I fully support capital punishment after visiting the museum.


There was a "memorial room" with pictures of all the people that died.

The coolest part, I thought, was the pictures of the implosion of the building.  In the events of the tornado, we learned that St. Johns couldn't be imploded because of the mining underground.  So I was curious about how they took the Federal building down.  It was pretty cool.

They showed the first year with a calendar of everyone's birthdays who had passed away, and major events that had happened.

They also showed part of the destruction that happened to the building.  It's surreal to see what a bomb can do.

I also remember the chain-linked fence with all the notes, teddy bears, shirts, and just about anything that people wanted to put there.  They incorporated part of the fence into the memorial, which I thought was neat.

That afternoon, we met up with my brothers.  They drove down after the Guy's Retreat with CCH.  We hung out for a little while and celebrated with Mom and Dad's Anniversary cake!

For celebratory dinner, we went out to the Outback! 

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend!  It made me realize how much I miss them, and I was sad to see them leave.  This next weekend, we are road-tripping to Lamar.  It will be so good to see something familiar!