Veterans Day Parade

We were so honored to be invited by Adaptive Adventures to be in the Veterans Day Parade today. They are the group that we rode recumbent bikes with this summer at Wash Park and who hosted the day camp at a local lake where Jake got to waterski. They are such an amazing organization giving disabled kids and vets the opportunity to participate in various sports. We took our two bikes and they let us borrow two of theirs. Luke wanted to try the hand cycle, so he and Todd rode those and Jake and I rode ours. They got quite the workout powering their bikes through Denver with just their arms!

I haven't been in a parade since I was in marching band in high school. This was quite a different experience. I was on the verge of tears the entire route seeing all the people along the way who had come out to honor our veterans and were waving flags. I wished we had been able to watch the parade. They organized it by different conflicts in military history: Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, etc., we were in the Desert Storm section. There were so many groups participating and the organizers did a great job taking everyone through our military history. My mom and dad came and said it was a great parade. I was so glad they were there and able to take all these pictures for us. It's not every day you get to ride a recumbent bike on the streets of Denver and go by the capital! You couldn't have asked for a nicer day in November, it really was an amazing experience. I feel very fortunate we were able to participate and help honor our veterans.

I think their dad serving in the Air Force and Air National Guard has definitely had an impact on both the boys, especially as they are getting a little older. Todd was deployed twice since they were born, once when Jake was 3 months old and again in 2009 when Jake was 6 and Luke was 4. We were lucky he was only gone for about three months each time, but I remember it having quite an impression on the boys at the time. Both Jake and Luke are taking part in their respective schools Veterans Day programs this week. 

I would like to thank all the veterans and active military for your service and sacrifice to protect our country.