Marine Cookies

Last week was Marine Week in St. Louis. I wanted to take the girls down to the Arch grounds to experience it. As the week went by, my plan came together in an unexpected way.

Being raised in a household that was heavily involved in veteran's affairs, I saw Marine Week as a good opportunity to get my girls involved. I found out that on Friday, there was to be a "Land, Air, Sea (Mississippi River style), Combat Demonstration". Sounded exciting, so I invited my father-in-law and husband to come with us (my dad had to work).

I not only wanted my girls to observe the various military vehicles and technology our military forces use, but to also interact with the actual Marines. We talked and with a bit of prompting from me, we decided to make homemade chocolate chip cookies (with espresso!) to give to the Marines we encountered.

We shopped, baked, and then packaged the cookies in red and blue bags and tied them off with white ribbon. I told the girls the cookies would be a nice way to meet the Marines and say, "Thank you for serving our country".

We arrived on the Arch grounds and it was sunny and exciting. This combat demonstration was about to start and we all waited to see what was going to happen. There was a stage with a speaker system that described the events as they unfolded.

First up, air. Parachuters descended and landed in between the legs of the Arch.

Can you spot the Marine? Camouflage at work.

Osprey

One of the lucky cookie recipients looking on.

Refueling. I've seen this before and I still think it's amazing.

The announcer described this as the Marine's version of Monkeys in a Barrel. Eric called it Marines on a string.

With our encouragement, the girls approached the men and women (two!) in uniform and said, "Hello". They then handed them a bag of cookies and thanked them for serving our country. Sometimes they remembered to tell them what was inside the bag. Everyone told the girls thank you and most shook their hands. One Marine even ripped the bag open, ate a cookie, bent down to eye level, and told Ava (with major enthusiasm), they were the best cookies he ever had. It was interesting to watch my girls get bolder with each bag of cookies they gave away.

I hope to continue to keep my girls involved in veteran's affairs. Showing respect and gratitude to our military is also a way of honoring their father's and grandfather's service to our country. There are many ways to support our military and our veterans. I look forward to finding new ways to keep my girls active and interested in this.