For my readers who are not local and in the know, Minneapolis has a longstanding tradition called the Holidazzle parade. Throughout the month between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, we have a parade every Wednesday through Sunday night down a street called Nicollette Mall in the center of downtown. This is not just any parade. It is a parade of people and floats covered in lights, and it’s pretty cool to watch even if you’re an adult. It would have to be pretty cool in order to attract people to line the curbside in the middle of Minnesota winters. Of course, this being the opening weekend and exceptionally warm weather, it was packed with all the yahoos who couldn’t wait for a calmer weekend to go. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Joe is not generally a fan of crowds, which tends to rule out a lot of happy-family activities. I wanted to go to this one, and I hatched a plan to lure him into complacence. We started out with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Cap’s Barbecue, which just happens to be right in front of a light rail transit stop headed into the city. Joe will agree to almost anything if it involves good barbecue. One of the few drawbacks to this place is that they do not offer high chairs for the little ones. Here, I am balancing Sophie on my lap and keeping her from screeching by letting her gnaw on her very own rib bone. I had already eaten most of the meat off of it when I gave it to her, and the thing kept her busy for a good ten minutes, long enough for me to bolt my food down. Awww….baby’s first barbecue.
We headed on over to the train station and bought our tickets. Most of the people on the train tonight were parade-goers, so some nice guy saw me taking a picture of Joe and Julie and offered to take a picture of all of us. One thing you gotta love about crowds like this is the generally festive mood.
A really bad picture of the crowd before the parade started. Between poor lighting and the fact that I just installed a newer version of Photoshop than I was previously using, all of tonight’s pictures are pretty bad. Sorry. You’ll have to take my word for it – people were at least three or four deep on both sides of the street for five or six blocks or more.
The parade started, and Joe hefted Julie to his shoulders. Our kid is not so tiny for a three-year-old, and by the end of the parade I felt very sorry for Joe and his sore shoulders. It didn’t help that she kept wiggling around and strangling him with her thighs.
Julie was pretty excited. She kept saying “What’s coming next?” Sophie, on the other hand, was pretty fussy. She wanted to go to sleep, but it was a bit cold, and I think maybe she was tired of being in the sling. I took her inside the IDS Building lobby and nursed her for a few minutes, missing most of the parade and Julie’s reactions to it. Later, Joe told me that at one point she was so excited she was singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” at the top of her lungs. Just imagining it it priceless.
We made our way home through the heavy crowds – luckily, a short walk up an extra block to the next train station kept us from having to wait in the huge line at the Nicollette Mall station, so it didn’t take as long as we expected. Down went the kids, and now I have time to finish this little project:
Any guesses? That’s my Singer LK 150 knitting machine spitting out a new felting project. I’m on a bit of a deadline with this one, and probably should have taken care of it weeks ago but the knitting part is almost done after one evening’s work and the sewing-up and felting shouldn’t take too long. I don’t use my machines very often, but it never fails to amaze me how quickly one can knit a row or twenty on the thing once you get everything set up. Makes me want to knit up a sweater for myself quick-like so I could enjoy it rather than letting the yarn fester in my stash. Maybe after Christmas. I have too many other projects on the timeline till then.
Speaking of which, I am more than halfway through my semi-secret gift project now, and am really happy with how it’s coming along. I can’t wait to show the world, but will have to wait till they’ve been given. The blankie is pouting in the corner because it hasn’t been getting as much attention as it deserves this week. I’ve been pouring all my knitting time into the gift project, and blankie is jealously waiting its turn.
Oh, there is so much more I could share tonight – no complaints, just thoughts and plans. Instead I will go and finish the current project so I can start on the next one tomorrow.
Sounds like fun! Your girls are so cute.
I know that my kids would love to see the parade some year!! We would have to stay in a hotel because I wouldn’t want to have to drive home 1 1/2 hours so late at night. You two are such great parents. Do you like having a knitting machine? I’ve never seen one in person or anything knit with one.
Julie’s face is just filled with wonder in some of those photos. You and Joe are creating priceless memories for her.
I’ll admit I’m a little like Joe: the thought of crowds and the kids makes me want to back out of things like that, but the pictures of Julie? Make me realise we have to do these things!
Hmm, I ventured into the world of knitting machines with a Bond ISM. I’m thinking it’s more of a toy than anything…Are ‘real’ machines any less fiddly? Do the stitches fall off the needles leaving big gaping holes any less often? Can you actually do “purl” easily?
(Sorry for the bombardment)
Your daughters are so beautiful , they are so full of all the good things in life ,cherish them ,they grow up in the blink of an eyelid. I have just started a blankie !!! thank you for tempting me . Blow the socks and gloves , blow the sweaters and cardigans , blow the scarves and waistcoats , they are all set aside ,who needs them ? My sights are set on the BLANKIE , comfort food for knitters.