We celebrated a pretty significant date on the calendar a few weeks ago...significant because for the first—and last—time this century, it was 11/11/11! It was also Veterans Day, which is a very special day for us considering the long line of service members in my family.
Since it will (presumably) be the only time in our lives that we'll see the date 11/11/11, and being that my parents’ street address is 1111 (a pretty cool street address to have growing up!) they decided over a year ago that it'd be fun to throw a big 11/11 bash and honor our veterans at the same time.
We didn't plan on going at first, since a 6 hour road trip to Pennsylvania with a 2-week-old and two toddlers is sheer craziness. But when Peter had to schedule an interview in the area at Wharton (one of the MBA programs he applied for), and I wanted the chance to see my grandma who wasn't doing well, we decided it would be worth it. As I
mentioned before, it was more than worth since we got to see my grandma one last time before she passed away and let her meet her new great-grandson. And I'm so glad that we were also around to join in on the festivities and have some fun at the 11/11 party, reconnecting with family and seeing lots of old friends!
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Who knew my mom
could carve butter?! |
My parents never cease to amaze me with their creativity, and throughout the evening they found some great ways to work in the 11/11 theme. Posted throughout the house were some interesting historical facts about November 11th, and the menu included some 11-grain bread and 11-bean soup. Guests were instructed to bring or do something creative with the number 11: for example, wear 11 pieces of clothing. (We claimed that we were trying to get up to 11 kids in time for the party, but didn’t quite make it in time…). The big hit was a musical toilet paper roller that a friend secretly brought and installed in the bathroom...so whenever someone grabbed a piece of toilet paper, they were met with a lovely digital rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. My dad conducted an 11/11 trivia contest, and finally at 11:11pm (and 11 seconds, of course) we lit the candles on the ceremonial 11/11 cake that my mom made, said a prayer for our veterans, then together sang each of the Armed Forces Songs for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard to honor veterans everywhere.
All in all it was a fantastic celebration...and we're happy to know that we were there for the party of the century!
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| Becoming road trip experts! |
We didn't plan on going at first, since a 6 hour road trip to Pennsylvania with a 2-week-old and two toddlers is sheer craziness. But when Peter had to schedule an interview in the area at Wharton (one of the MBA programs he applied for), and I wanted the chance to see my grandma who wasn't doing well, we decided it would be worth it. As I mentioned before, it was more than worth since we got to see my grandma one last time before she passed away and let her meet her new great-grandson. And I'm so glad that we were also around to join in on the festivities and have some fun at the 11/11 party, reconnecting with family and seeing lots of old friends!
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