Halliday Family Oktoberfest

We held our second annual Halliday family Oktoberfest this past Saturday. It was loads of fun and the food was sehr gut. It was fun to make all the food with my mom, and it was even better that it took about 1/3 the amount of time as it did last year. All my family gathered for dinner at around 5. After we ate, we did the Chicken Dance and had dessert. Then, we all gathered in the dining room and listened to my dad tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in German. It was a hoot! I videotaped him this year so we can burn it onto a CD for each of my siblings.

I'm not sure how many of you know, but my dad has had two heart attacks. Because of that, I've been in this mode of trying to capture a lot of memories to keep as part of our family history. A couple years ago, I started writing my memoirs. I still have a long way to go before that's finished. I also polled my siblings about their favorite songs and stories that my dad sang and read to us in our youth. I then set out to have my dad sing, read, and record himself so we can have these stories forever. I think it was for this reason that I wanted to record my dad telling the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. As hard as it is to think about your parents not being with you forever, I've realized that death is inevitable and I want to do what I can to capture as many memories as possible.

On a lighter note, here are a couple pictures from Oktoberfest. The first is of some of the food we ate (rouladen, wiener schnitzel, bratwurt, and kartoffel klosse). The second is of Tanner, who fell asleep in the car because he was so wiped out from the day's activities.