Memorial Day - Carry the Load

A few weeks ago while on my 8th grade trip to Disneyland, I was talking to my principal's mom and she shared with me the special walk that her church was sponsoring on Memorial Day called Carry the Load.  (Yes, my principal's mom goes on the trip and she is spunkier than the kids!  Love her, and it's been a privilege getting to know her at various functions over the past few years!)

I asked Eric what he thought about the idea, and he was all for it.  I found out a little bit more about the event, and we planned to attend.

This is the second year the Clovis Hills Community Church sponsored this event and it brings awareness to "put the meaning back into Memorial Day."  A lot of us might spend a moment thinking about the ultimate sacrifice our service men and women gave for our freedom, but what do we truly do to show our thanks?  Have a BBQ?  Enjoy the day off?

None of those things are wrong, but it was really nice to do something concrete and significant to show our appreciation for the those who have served and lost their life in protecting the freedoms we enjoy in this great country.  Eric and I both wrote the names of our grandpas on our walk bibs.  Eric's grandpap, John Snyder, and my grandpa, Victor Hartman, both served in WWII.  They didn't die from the war, but we are appreciative of their service and sacrifice.  I remember seeing the telegram that my grandpa received letting him know that my dad had been born!  Crazy!

Up early on a holiday weekend and ready to go!  It was chilly at first.  We quickly shed the layers as the sun beat down and the walk got longer!  (Evan stayed home.  By this point, it had already been a really long weekend and he just wanted to chill out.  However, I hated that he wasn't there with us.)

 At this point, we were still with the group.  That changed after a bathroom break!

 Happy!

Since we are fairly new back into this healthy lifestyle, we figured jumping all in and walking 13.1 miles might be rough.  We decided to walk half of the half!  Eric parked his car at the Veteran's Memorial in Clovis (the halfway point), and I picked him up and we drove out to the starting point at the church.

There were probably a good 50 men, women, and kids doing the walk.  I can only hope that the event grows each year, because it was such a great way to spend the holiday morning.

We took off at 7 a.m.  By accident we started out in front!  People get shifting back behind me.  As we started walking, we drifted to the back.  About a mile in, Hudson needed to pee, so we stopped for him to go.  That pushed us to the very back of the group.  But it didn't matter!  We were doing it!

Eric hates this picture because his mouth is open, but I was just trying to get all three of us in the frame while walking.  Ignore his funny look!

The event coordinators were great about driving by to check on us.  We assured them we were fine.  Huddy got pretty tired in between miles 4 and 5.  I carried him on my back for a bit.  But overall, he was a TROOPER!  We were all feeling it by mile 6!  Sore feet and joints were making it a true reminder of the sacrifice that soldiers give.

We stopped to take a small break under some shady trees.  The trails in Clovis are really pretty with benches, trees, and sunny patches all throughout.  The paths follow the old railroad lines.

Such a great attitude!

He's definitely gotten better about posing with me for pictures!

The same can be said for this one as well!  I love that he'll usually smile for my camera.

It was tempting to sit there for much longer.  But we had to get to the car!

After our little rest break, we got up and kept going.  We made it to mile 6.  For some reason, I really loved this mile marker and the message, "I got your 6!"

Rock Star!!

We made it to the Veteran's Hall in Clovis, got in Eric's car, and drove back to the church!  Only doing half was a really good call.  As Eric said, next year we'll ride our bikes out to the church, do the full half, and ride home.  #ambitious #lovethisnewlife

Once back to the church, we enjoyed a BBQ hot dogs, drinks, and chips.  We wanted to get home, and we were pretty wiped out.  But first we stopped by the Meat Market and picked up some yummy chicken for dinner.  Then we went to Mickey's Yogurt because we promised Hudson that he could have a giant frozen yogurt after walking his little legs 6.5 miles!

I swear there is yogurt in there!  It just felt right to load the cup up with fresh fruit.  So refreshing after the exertion of the morning.

We told him he could have as much as he wanted!

According to my Fitbit, I walked over 17,000 steps, got in over 7 miles of walking, and was active for 170 minutes.  I definitely reached my goals today!

And then we got home and I fell asleep for two hours!  The rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating the yummy chicken, and being with family.