Pennies In My Couch: Other Stuff That Happened Last September

On the anniversary of September 11, Dave had the special honor of being invited onto the field at Angel's Stadium as one of the heroes who would unfurl the flag for a ceremony before the start of the game. I was so proud of him (and just a little jealous that he got to go down on the field!). Lucky for me, though, one of Dave's buddies who was also chosen to hold the flag had already bought tickets for his whole family to watch the game and he let me have his since he was getting into the game for free. I was really excited to get to watch him strut about in his uniform!

Coming onto the field (that's his friend walking next to him)

Getting ready...

Handsomest guy in the world up on the Jumbotron!

Aaaaaand FLAG!

It was a nice ceremony... even if I can't seem to recall who sang the National Anthem. The sight of my hubby in uniform tends to make me forget anything else ;)

Our next September event was pretty dang exciting (and somewhat patriotic), too! We were so excited that the Space Shuttle Endeavour was going to pass by on its final flight. I was disappointed that Jack was going to be at school during it and that I wouldn't get to share that amazing historical event with him, but Sam and I had picked out what we thought was a pretty great place to watch the shuttle from. We headed to the park and waited up in the walkover for it.

And we waited, and we waited and we waited. Then Sam pulled out his "No pictures, please!" pose and we waited some more.

We played dodge-the-cars, we counted how many big trucks would honk their horns for us...

...we even met a stranger who had the same idea as us and unwillingly learned all about her family history until I couldn't wait any longer and I had to leave in order to get Sam some lunch before it was time to pick up Jack from school. So I packed Sam up into the car and I had just set my camera down on the passenger seat and started my engine when I looked up and saw it flying towards LAX from Long Beach, exactly where it was supposed to be (though it was obviously behind schedule!). It was pretty cool, and I was stoked that I saw it though I was bummed that it wasn't quite as close as I thought it would be and Sam missed it. So I started driving and my phone rang... it was my mom telling me to look up. I started by saying "I know, I just saw it!" and she said "NO! LOOK UP NOW!!!!" So I glanced towards the sky, and then glanced out my driver's side window and it was RIGHT THERE!!! I told Sam to look and quickly pulled over and whipped out my camera!

I knew the plan was for it to fly over our city after Long Beach and before landing at LAX, but I hadn't realized that it was going to be making a U over our city before making a U over Disneyland (where Dave was that day) and then making three passes at LAX before finally landing! It was pretty stinkin' awesome that it was visible 5 times from our area :) Oh, and I didn't have to be disappointed that Jack missed the shuttle... when I got to his school the first thing he said was that he had seen a space shuttle flying on top of an airplane with two jets right by it! Apparently the U turn was made right over Jack's school while all the kids were out at recess! He said everyone was screaming at it and he was so excited! Both of my kids still talk about that shuttle and I'm so excited that we were able to witness that moment in history- the last flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour!

Our last September event ended up being a patriotic one as well. Dave and I brought the boys to check out the USS Iowa, a battleship that had recently been anchored in San Pedro and opened for tours! Dave and I were excited to see it and we knew the boys would be too. We had a really great time!

I couldn't help but transform the photos I took of the ship itself... I couldn't picture it any other way.