Bike Ride to the Park

A couple weeks ago we went on a 6 mile bike ride. Halfway into the ride, we stopped at this park for a picnic. We got the bike trailer with some help from Nana and Gramp for Olivia's birthday. The trailer did great and Olivia made about 4 of the 6 miles before getting fussy.

COOL STORY:

While we were at the park, I(Justin) took Olivia close to the flock of geese to watch people feed them. An older guy came up with a bag of corn and began feeding the geese. After he was out of corn, I thanked him for the experience Olivia had. He stopped and introduced himself. He said, "Hello, my name is Ralph Manly. Here let me give you my card." He pulled out a silver dollar with Eisenhower on it. I was baffled and just smiled, said 'thanks', and stood there with a blank look on my face. I soon realized he used that as a way to tell people about his adventure of meeting President Eisenhower during his service in WWII. As he stood at attention before getting on a plane with his company of paratroopers, Eisenhower walked up to him and engaged him in conversation telling him he was about to go on the greatest adventure of his life. An amazing story to say the least. He was on his way to parachute into Normandy on D-Day. His message was about patriotism and his love for our country. I could sure tell he was for real after hearing that story. He ended his story by telling me he was going back to the beach at Normandy to jump one last time at age 84 next week! WOW! Sure pumped me up and made me a little more proud to be an American. Praise God!

Ralph Manly feeding the geese just before I met him.