I’m still in a daze from yesterday’s fun. I can’t remember the last time I had such an incredibly fun, yet relaxed and relatively carefree day. The girls woke up happy and stayed happy till the very end. Joe was in a pretty good mood all day. I did almost no cooking. And there was fun, fun, fun till I started to feel like I was dreaming. This is a pretty knitting-free post, and quite picture heavy, so if you’re not interested in my family saga, move along now and see you next time. Here we go…
We slept in just a little bit, but not too late because the parade was to start at 10, which meant we had to leave the house by 9:30. Joe fed the girls breakfast while I took a shower and got dressed. We made it to the parade site at just the right time – early enough to find a decent spot and late enough that the girls didn’t get too restless while they waited. The red wagon worked out pretty well as a vehicle since we had to park several blocks away, and it provided better seating for them than the double stroller did last year – this way they both got front row seats.
I love this parade since it reminds me very much of the parades from my childhood, in downtown Columbia Missouri. It was a lot like last year’s parade, but at only once a year and with a few changes it never seems to get boring. There’s the fire engines,
The horses (there were many – I liked this one’s glitter-painted hooves.)
The men in kilts…
The war veterans…
While I am generally anti-war, I feel a strong sense of pride and gratitude for these men and women who have given so much for our country – the young veterans as well as the old. We clapped for about fifteen minutes straight as the ranks passed us by, and I explained in simple words to my girls that these were people who have done brave things for our country and we should cheer for them.
The girls got stickered up by the politicians – we accepted only the Democrats’ labels, of course.
Several flag teams…
and marching bands…
countless clowns…
more horses, or in this case really Icelandic ponies. Ponies having really bad hair days, that is…
A float full of mini beauty queens…
and a pack of tiny cheerleaders…
This family was sitting right next to us, and they had the candy-whoring down to a science. They were dressed in their gaudiest, glitteriest “patriotic” frippery, and every time a candy-wielding parade group passed by, the girls chimed “Happy Independence Day!” It never failed – every group showered them with hand-fulls of whatever they were giving out. Not that I really wanted my girls to get too much junk, and we did come home with quite our share of freebies, but a lot of people passed my cuties by altogether in the lee of this family, and it irked me just a bit – mostly because I wanted my girls to feel as lavished with attention as those two were.
This guy impressed me, riding his horse this way – and the horse impressed me even more as it didn’t even flinch when the other people in the group shot very loud toy guns.
Stilt-walkers…
These two kids in their little toy convertible, with their stressed-out mom who was trying to keep them going at the right speed.
Some hot dogs – this black one in particular – the weather was at least perfect for people this year – neither overly hot or humid like last year.
The Edina swim team with their alligator mascot…
After the parade we came home and I made BLTs for lunch. I had a giant head of leaf-lettuce from our CSA share, and recently discovered Campari brand of tomatoes from the store, which unlike most store-bought tomatoes actually taste really good and are big enough to slice for sandwiches. Yum! Then it was time for Sophie’s nap, and I indulged in a nap along with her. Glorious sleep! (She’s napping again as I type, but this time I’m sipping on a cup of coffee instead of the sleep that I could really still use today.)
By the time everyone was up, I had just enough time to make a nice berry salad – I like to toss in a little brown sugar, and for the adult version a splash of dark rum for flavor with my strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. MMMM! And we headed over to Joe’s cousin’s house for barbecue. She made some awesome ribs, and we all ate out on the deck. This time, the kids actually stayed put at their table and ate their food. My girls love ribs almost as much as I do.
Then there were cupcakes, which they all enjoyed, but Sophie especially.
The kids blew bubbles and ran around while the grownups…
played croquet! I haven’t played croquet for a very long time, but I’ve always loved it. That’s Joe’s cousin John taking a turn.
Joe played only during the first game, while I helped wrangle the kids and clean up. During the second game, I played and he amused me in between my turns by tossing a frisbee. I SO suck at throwing a frisbee. But I still kind of enjoy it.
Here’s my croquet ball.
Here’s the view from my place on the field ahead of the pack as we finished the game.
For once, I actually won – coming out of a dismal start – I felt like a little kid having way too much fun.
But it was time for the cousins to take a b-a-t-h and we decided to toss ours in with them. Please don’t mention this one in the comments or link to it – I’m hoping the creeps don’t get their hands on it, but the bubbles are doing a pretty good job here.
It was pretty hilarious, watching them all do their thing, and they loved it.
And then it was time for the fireworks. The girls – Julie especially – had been looking forward to it. I’d promised them we could go if they were up to it and not too tired or crabby. We got there just late enough that there were no parking spots left anywhere close, so Joe dropped us off and drove around while the girls and I sat and watched the show.
I only wish he could have seen the looks of wonder and excitement on their faces. They sat in my lap and watched at first…
And then Julie jumped up and did a little happy-fireworks dance.
And despite an almost-dead cell phone on my part, we managed to meet back up with Joe just a block away and hop back in the van for the ride home. At which point Julie kind of lost it a bit and fell into whinging mode till we got her to bed, but that was to be expected as it was a good three hours past her normal bed time. So I’m calling the day a wild success.
This morning was a little slower, but just as happy. Joe got up and went off to play disc golf, then the girls and I had breakfast before Joining some of our favorite neighbors for a splash in their wading pool that lasted the rest of the morning. The men came home just in time to go back out and fetch sandwiches for our lunch, which we ate out on the neighbor’s fantastic deck before bringing the girls home for Sophie’s nap time and a break all around.
Later, there will probably be more wading pool action (we had filled ours already when the neighbors invited us over, and it will be warm enough to swim in by the time Sophie wakes up). I also have a rack of ribs thawed in the fridge that need to be barbecued – I bought them before I knew the menu for yesterday’s cook-out, but I’m happy to eat ribs twice in a row anyway. Happy Happy Joy Joy!
Thanks so much for sharing your great day! I love all the photos. I am personally just not a parade person, but it looks like it was a good one! I love ribs too!
We had great fireworks put on by my brother and Dad, even though it was drizzling a bit!
What a great post! You had a really good view of the parade, no one’s head in front of you!
I was in band in high school and LOVED marching in parades.
What a wonderful day! I almost feel as though I was there celebrating with you!
We had a cookout and went to watch the fireworks, so all was good here, too.