A Memorial Day to Remember

Growing up, Memorial Day weekend was always something I looked forward to. It's a Quintana family tradition to spend the long weekend camping near Estes Park, our neighborhood pool would open, and it was a sign that summer was just around the corner. I always knew the significance that Memorial Day served, but I hadn't truly spent the day honoring the thousands of brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending the freedom that many of us take for granted. This year was different. Jordan volunteered to take part in a ceremony held annually at Madingley American Cemetery, which is located in Cambridgeshire. The land for the cemetery was donated to the United States by Cambridge University, and it contains the bodies of 3,812 soldiers who died during WWII. Many of those buried at Madingley are British-based US Air Force heavy bomber crews. They flew aircrafts with a Box-D painted on the tail, just like the planes that Jordan flies today.

The ceremony itself was very impressive, and the cemetery was absolutely beautiful. Jordan and many other men and women in uniform marched in to present over 100 wreaths for a wreath laying ceremony, and we listened to General Jimmy Doolittle's granddaughter tell some stories about her grandfather. We heard the firing of volleys and listened to taps, then we watched a KC-135 from RAF Mildenhall fly overhead, followed by a missing man formation of F-15C's from RAF Lakenheath. It was the most meaningful way that I can think of spending Memorial day, and it made me even more proud of my husband in uniform.

And as promised... here is a picture of Jordan in his nifty new leather jacket! :)

Horsing around...

On Thursday of last week, our friend Leslie (and the owner of The Bell pub) gave us a wonderful tour of the Meddler Stud. She introduced us to the new babies, some of the race horses, and the big stallions. I have never spent much time around horses, so visiting the stud and then seeing the races from the owner/trainer section was an exciting experience.

All the mommas and babies lined up.

Smiling for the camera! :) This one had just been born earlier in the week, and was still a bit clumsy. Sooo cute!

The foals tend to stay in close range of their mother at all times.

On Saturday, Russell (the stud owner) and Danny (Leslie's husband) invited us to the races in Newmarket. We were excited for the free tickets, but did not expect the first-class treatment that we received. Russell had two horses racing that day, and he wanted us to truly experience horse racing from start to finish. As we walked in, he handed us a button-toggle pass, which allowed us access to the owner and trainer section located right at the finish line. Then he led us to the club level area in that section and bought us a drink. We quickly finished just in time to go down to the paddock, where Laminka (Russell's horse) was being saddled and prepped for the first race. We listened closely while the trainer briefed the jockey on her tendencies, and then watched her trott around the parade ring. It's incredible to see such powerful animals up so close.

We did the same routine for the last race, as Russell's horse named Millfields Dreams was running. This time, he came in fourth place! As soon as the race was over, Russell pulled us away, and led us down toward the parade ring. We weren't sure where we were going or what we were doing, until he told us that he was leading us to the winner's circle! So exciting! We bet small amounts on each race, and ended up picking 4 out of the 7 winners! Not bad, eh? We won enough to pay for several rounds of drinks for us and our new friends, and dinner at The Bell later that night.

All in all it was an unforgetable experience, and we feel so lucky to have met such amazing friends. Below are a few of the pictures that I took that day...

I was on cloud 9 after watching the first race.

The saddling boxes, where the horses are prepped before the race.

The July Course in Newmarket is a straight course, but the racecourses differ throughout Britain. The turf differs, and so do the course layouts. It makes for new and different competition at each and every race.

This is the best picture I could get close up, because they go by extremely fast. Pretty cool, huh?

This is the view from the owner/trainer box, where they serve complimentary tea and sandwiches. No big deal. ;)

Congratulating Millfields Dreams in the winner's circle!

It's been a while...

Sorry for the delay in posts (again). I know I keep saying this, but we have been really busy! The weather has been beautiful lately, so we have been spending any "extra" time outside.

To start off, I must tell about our trip home from Spokane (which I am now realizing was nearly three weeks ago!). I was lucky enough to sit in the cockpit of the airplane when Jordan took off! How cool is that?! I got to wear a headset so I could hear him communicating with the tower and the aircraft commander, which made it even more interesting. It made me realize how many things he has going on all at once when he's flying! From Spokane, we flew over Canada, the Hudson Bay, Greenland, and Iceland. I was able to sleep for a good part of the flight, but about half way through, Jordan came back to wake me up. It was dark outside, and he wanted to show me the Northern Lights in the distance...so sweet! It was such an amazing sight.

We spent the next few days recovering from jet lag and trying to get back on a normal schedule. Then the following weekend (1st weekend in May) we celebrated Cooper's 2nd birthday with a top-down drive to a castle called Castle Rising Castle (yes, I know I said it twice) in Norfolk, which is about an hour north of us. This time, we brought along a blanket and a picnic with a bottle of wine. We spent the afternoon playing fetch, snacking, sipping red wine, and enjoying the scenery. Not a bad day if you ask me!

Castle Rising Castle is one of the largest, best preserved, and most lavishly decorated keeps in England.

Cooper patiently waiting for his piece of ham :)

This is how you enter the castle. I thought it was pretty neat.

Cooper likes this place too!

Happy Birthday, Cooperdog!!!

Jordan has spent that last couple of weeks refueling F-16's, Tornadoes, F-4's, and A-10's over Germany, which means that he has been waking up at about 2:00 AM on a regular basis. He is now mission qualified, so he will be getting his fancy leather jacket any day now!

Last weekend, Jordan's friend Jake was in town for a day. We went and toured a huge cathedral in a nearby town called Ely, and then went to dinner at an Indian restaurant in Cambridge. We were lucky enough to visit the cathedral on the one and only evening of the year that they were offering free admission! This place was gorgeous inside and out.


This past week, we were invited to visit a local stud (basically a stable and nursery for race horses), where we got to see brand new foals up close! Tomorrow we are going to the horse races with our new friend Russell, the stud owner. One of his horses will be racing, so we are hoping to see some action behind the scenes! I will post pictures of the stud and the races later this weekend. I just wanted to be sure to keep everyone posted about what we have been up to lately. Thanks for reading!