garrettcaleb - Stories

At a time when our president and other politicians tend to apologize for our country`s prior actions, here`s a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our country.
JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when DeGaule decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaule said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.
Rusk responded "does that include those who are buried here?
DeGuale did not respond.
You could have heard a pin drop

When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.
He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'
A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'
Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, 'Maybe it's because the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...
Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.
"You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically.
Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.
"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."
The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."
"Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !"
The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to."
You could have heard a pin drop.

6/20/09-While sitting here Garrett is eatting a bannana and out of the blue he asks, "why do I always have to go first through the door"? I never see these funny things coming.

When I tell him I love him to the moon, he replies, " I love you to Nebraska". I'm sure that is a really long way away in his eyes.

9/19/09-Today at graduation, when asked by Ms. Mercy what his favorite part about school was, he replied, "Centers-playing with the Doll House". I Love it!

Matt and I met for lunch at Whole Foods down the street. When we got there Emeril http://www.emerils.com/ was filming a cooking show there. Then he walked around the store and interviewed shoppers. I had not showered and had a hat on so I went the other way. He will be here all week filming shows. Pretty cool!

Last week our friend Bobby was in Georgetown after work and in walked Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nice as could be, said hi and was even nice to the security that was with him. Two thumbs up for old Arnold!

1/25/09 We didn't have much time together this weekend, but we got to a lot of places. Matt had to work Saturday and got home around dinner time. We are all batteling colds and needed some much needed rest Sunday AM. Sunday we were off an running. After having lunch at Potbelly's we ran downtown. We made it to the White House, the Capital and the Air & Space Museum. Then Matt was back to Winchester for another week.

Life here is good. We are busy each day and now on hunt for Elephant. He is missing as of last Thursday. We may resort to the computer to find another if need be. Garrett has been praticing writing his name. We are getting better at letters, but the not quite there yet. We got a dusting of snow Monday AM and again sat in lots of traffic because of it. It's like the movies here, cars on fire, few miles later a traffic pole came down on traffic (hwy 66) and people were out of their cars yelling at each other. Then a couple more finder binders. You just have to laugh and know you aren't gonna get anywhere fast here. Learn to love the radio, what else are you gonna do?!

1/4/09 Friday Garrett and I went to Bull Run Festival of Lights. This was 3 miles of Christmas Lights through Bull Run Park (see link on front page). We also got his hair cut by a women that pinched his cheeks like fish lips to keep him still. Did not sit well with Mom and we will not be returning to her. Today we went to the Air and Space Museum at Dulles. Aunt Cheri joined us and we slid right into a guided tour and learned more then we could ever imagined. Garrett was less then thrilled about all the talking and no running, but I think he still had fun. How could he not, they had a McDonalds right inside the museum.

12/29/08-Well we almost made it through December, yeah! Well, after a horrible beginning to our move to VA (roaches and all) we landed in the place I wanted to be. We ended up getting the apartment I originally wanted. At least that worked out. I have transitioned into work pretty smoothly (except for the other cars aiming their car at mine). I have enjoyed driving past all the monuments while on my way to other places. Garrett is finally liking his new school. It was a bit rocky at first-he actually said he didn't like his school and wanted to go back to NE. It broke my heart. He still will not eat lunch there. He has only had lunch once there. The rest of the time he refuses to eat. Now I know why, they feed him Spanish rice and kidney beans and chicken noodle soup. Garrett is not a fan of cereal or soup and I don't know any 4yr old that would eat Spanish rice. Today their snack was a whole grilled cheese sandwich and he eat the entire thing. He will not starve. Matt made it home for Christmas and we had a wonderful Christmas together and learning our way around in a new city. We also made it to MD to go to the beach. We had a great time. Life is good -again and finally we are getting back into our routine. For those or you who know the real story pass along the details to those who do not. We signed up for an adventure and we got it, right from the beginning. I will learn to handle it better next time. Thanks Mom for all the help. I would never have made it through that week without you!!!!!!! Miss you all!

10/21/08 Ms. Nicole was teaching about Noah's Ark-Garrett asked if that was the "old man with the boat!"

Ms. Nicole also asked Garrett where he got such a cute belly button, he replied, "the toy store!"

11/1/07-Happy Halloween! We all had a very fun night. Last year Garrett was running from house to house with his cousins Lauren and Peyton and this year he couldn't keep up with them. He did not get a nap today at school and was pretty tired by trick or treat time. The gals at school said he likes to chat with other kids through nap-I wonder where he got that from? After we walked down the street we were on the way back up the other side he asked to be carried or as he says, "I want to carry you Mommy." He was unsure when one house had spooky music playing. He said, "I don't like that music" but he still went to get the candy. He is such a trooper-he worked through it!

Garrett is growing up so quickly. As Aunt Deb says, you don't mess with the words. Some of my favorite phrases are.....

-A Rhinoceros is called a..... ri-nop-ress-es (this is my most favorite to hear)

Today we went potty two times at school and again would not think of trying at home. He also finally figured out he has to close his mouth in order to get snot out of his nose. We had productive nose blowing today!!! Should be a GREAT cold season, can't wait! He also had fun learning to spit while and after brushing his teeth. Brushing teeth is fun again, wear a rain coat, you could get wet! He has learned to finally eat M&N's and loves them.We are working on eatting one at a time. We drop a lot less this way. As you can see in some of the photos he is learning that sore knees require icing and we often have to ice them together. I should give my physical therapist a copy of this photo. He also moans when going up the stairs and says his legs hurt. We are really teaching him all kinds of things.

Life here is wonderful and we are counting the days until Santa is here. He is busy circling all the toys he would love to get from Santa. The entire Toys R Us catalog is circled-all except the dolls. How do they know they don't like dolls, I don't get it. It keep offering and he doesn't go for it, " no dolls, Mommy!" I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. See you after Christmas with tons of new photos.