Image from www.spoonful.com

Happy Memorial Day! Today is considered the start of summer. I know summer technically starts on June 21 but who wants to wait? The sun has emerged in my neck of the woods and I think the snow has finally decided winter is over so it is time to celebrate summer. Why not celebrate with Mickey and the Gang?

These fun patriotic printables from spoonful.com will help make your first summer party a success. They even have cool Disney-themed invitations that you can print and mail so everyone will be sure to come. Toss some great burgers, kabobs, and vegetables on the grill and your party will be smokin’! Give everyone a printed paper airplane and see whose flies the farthest. Make festive pinwheels and give them out as prizes or party favors. At the end of the evening serve a delicious red, white, and blue dessert. This first party of summer will be a sign of all the good things summer will bring. Happiness squared.

Goofy Craft: At your first party of the season why not have everyone make a patriotic shirt that they can wear all summer? These star-studded shirts are a great outdoor craft and can be made in no time flat. Everyone from three to ninety-nine will want to make one.

Along with enjoying the day off I hope we all take some time to remember the people who came before us and made it possible for us to have a day off. You may have known someone personally or it may just be a concept, but everyone can be thankful to the men and women who fought so we can be free.

I will be remembering my good friend, John Siler, who died on May 25 of this year. He was a World War II veteran involved in some of the worst battles in the Pacific. I’m grateful that he fought and I am grateful that he lived and I am grateful that I got to be his friend until the end. He will be missed by many.

So celebrate freedom today and remember those who died so you can celebrate. If we only do this one day a year it is a good start. I plan to remember John every day. Happiness squared.

Goofy Quote: Walt Disney believed in the following statement and that is why he brought happiness to so many people. I hope A Goofy Idea does the same thing. This quote is said during the American Adventure at Epcot. If you have not had a chance to see this 30 minute show you should plan to. It is a great way to remember the people and the history, good and bad, that made this country what it is today…a country I am proud to call home.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – Declaration of Independence

In honor of all the men and women who have given their lives defending this great nation since its birth I am sharing a moving patriotic quote from Walt Disney recorded during a radio broadcast on Mar. 1, 1941.

Thank you for all you do. May you never be forgotten.

“Once a man has tasted freedom he will never be content to be a slave. That is why I believe that this frightfulness we see everywhere today is only temporary. Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life. All men will want to be free and share our way of life. There must be so much that I should have said, but haven’t. What I will say now is just what most of us are probably thinking every day. I thank God and America for the right to live and raise my family under the flag of tolerance, democracy, and freedom.”

Goofy Trivia: During World War II the Disney animators helped the war effort by creating training videos for the Navy and propaganda shorts that were shown all over the country. All branches of the military requested films from the Walt Disney.