We went out to Arizona for the passing of Grandpa Crocker in September.
I never really knew him completely well, but for the few times I did meet him he was always so generous and kind. Attending his funeral it made me wish I knew him even better with all the amazing stories everyone had to tell. He was in the military in his early years, so of course it was a military funeral.
I had never been to a military funeral before, and I will say it was such a neat and special experience for me.
It was beautiful and so touching and so powerful at the same time.
There were a few times I actually got chills. There were also moments it made me so proud of our country.
So here his this beautiful event.
Watching the soliders fold the flag was so fascinating to me.
It was so quiet as everyone stood silently watching. This was a moment I got chills.
They gave it to Grandpa's daughter Janice.
Grandma had passed away the year before.
Keith dedicated the grave.
It was beautiful and so spiritual
My little Pete was so good the entire time!
This is a great group family picture!
Notice Kohlter saluting below! We all thought it was pretty funny and awesome! He was watching the soliders carefully!
Grandpa's children
All the grandkids got a balloon to release into the sky to grandpa! It was so cute!
Vander with his balloon!
And of course Vander was all about it!
And Danielle with her balloon!
I wish you could see it better! But look at the closest blue balloon, When the kids let go of their balloon's Vander was so excited he reached his arms straight up and was so happy! I really wish it showed it better, but you can just see his little arm and hand just reaching as high as he can! And he was even jumping a little to! It was so so cute!
Grandpa, Craig, Keith and baby Vander
4 generations
We will miss you grandpa so very much.
It's such a wonderful and beautiful plan we have that we will all see you again.
This was the night before at the viewing.
Nancy and Allen sang such a beautiful song for it that brought me to tears running down my face.
keith and Nancy sang the same song just the year before at grandma's funeral. It's such a beautiful song.
Craig with his 3 kids
With papa and grammy!
Vander just adores his papa Crocker!
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After the funeral was over we were able to all get together as a family and do some fun activities for the rest of our stay in AZ!
And of course the 3 little bugs together!
One morning papa got out the pool and started to fill it up!
Well Vander didn't hesitate he just wanted right in!
Watching the tortoise eat his breakfast!
We all went to such a fun park called Freestone Park! It was so neat and fun!
I love my little buddy's face in this picture!
Taking a train ride! Oh boy!
Vander loved it!
He wanted to ride with papa and enjoyed every minute!
Danielle got to ride with mommy!
It was so funny! Vander would just stop and point at all the fun rides like the carousel!
Danielle very much enjoyed herself as well!
He would ONLY ride the carousel as long as I was holding him! he would not ride on a horse by himself even with me standing right next to him! He's a funny little boy!
Little sweetie even got to ride on a horse!
Popsicle time!
Don't know why this is sideways!
We all went down to the pond to feed the duckies!
But everytime I would hand Vander a piece of bread to throw in the pond, he would just pop it in his mouth!
All the grandkids!
Vander very much enjoyed dipping his french fries in ketchup!
Yummy ice cream!!! Love this picture
Hanging with the tortoise at grandma's house! This was actually Vander's first time seeing it and he thought it was so neat!
Enjoying a popsicle!
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I left these to the end purposely cause I wanted to open with grandpa's funeral.
The rest of these pics are on our way to Arizona!
And it was Vander's and Danielle's FIRST time on an airplane!
Vander was so cute! He loved it! The photo above was the morning we were leaving and Vander jumped in the suitcase! He looks like he is saying, um don't forget me please! HAHA!
Oh boy on an airplane for the first time for buddy and sister!
This was before take off and Vander just thought it was so cool!
he just kept looking out the wimdow! He liked seeing the carts that bring the luggage to the plane!
He would see them and say car!
We were actuallly taking off in this picture! At first it was like Vander didn't know what to do!
But he didn't show any scared emotions! Just surprised!
He loved trying to see as much as he could out the window!
Ok ok! This is where it got funny!
These pictures of Vander holding his mouth that way, he was actually making the sound of what the airplane was making! It was SOOOOO FUNNY!!!!
I laugh just looking at these pictures cause I can just hear him do it!
it was AWESOME!
Nap time!
Even sister got to ride like a big girl!
I'm not kidding she slept like the whole flight there and back!
I was nervous cause they say babies sometimes don't like flying , but she actually loved the jerking and the noise! It made me happy!
This was when we were leaving AZ!
We were getting on the plane here and I had to capture this cute little shot!
Vander once again loved the flight!
And Danielle once again slept the whole way!
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