Adventures in Family: A Special Day

This weekend my family celebrated a very special man.

My Grandpa Seger turned 80!

Celebrating him and Memorial Day go hand in hand. He served over seas as a Marine when he was younger. And while I have never heard him talk much about his military years, he teaches everyone in our family what it means to be a proud American! He almost always has cowboy boots on, and the apples on the cake have a special meaning too. You see the church my grandparents belong to in MN send a mission team every year to Guatemala. My Grandpa has many soft spots in his big heart, and one of those happens to be for the children of Guatemala. For years he mad the trip down to put his amazing carpenter skills to work building homes, school, and playgrounds for kids who have so little. A few years ago, the trip just got to hard for him, so he contributed in the fundraiser for the trip. Making apple pies to sell. He rounded up and peeled enough apples for over 1,000 pies! (With the help of my grandmother too). They do this every year to help raise money for the trip. 

If you can think of it, my grandpa can build it. This is a "train" that he made out of water barrels that he pulls behind his four-wheeler. The great-grandkids LOVE it....and the grandkids (me and all my cousins) secretly wish he had built this 20 years ago so we could have ridden in it too! 

I mentioned last week that my family was working on a special project for him. 

For weeks I have been collecting memories about Grandpa from family and friends.

80 memories to be exact.

And we used them as decoration for the party, and as a gift for Grandpa.

Using large print, I printed the memories on colorful paper and hung them around the cabin. 

This is my sweet Grandma reading around the room. It was fun for us all to read what other people remember about Grandpa, and there were lots of fun stories told!

 I made the streamers by sewing together 2 different color crete paper streamers. 

 Just force the paper a little faster than the feed...

And you will have a nice little ruffle! 

I also numbered and printed out the memories and put them into a little album for Grandpa to take home with him. 

I named it "80 Years, 80 Memories"

One of my memories on the list was my junior year of college, at the national swim meet, Grandpa and Grandma surprised me and drove all the way to St. Louis to watch me swim. Not only that but they dressed in crazy orange and blue outfits along with the other Wheaton parents. But there was no doubt in anyone’s mind who had the most team spirit when Grandpa showed up with a big “W” painted on the top of his bald head! He was always there to cheer me on, no matter that I was doing! 

What did you do on your Memorial Day weekend?