4th of July Parade

Hurricane Alex has left us drenched these last couple of days, but the rain let up this morning so we were able to go to the parade. Thankfully it was overcast for the better part of the morning, but there was no breeze and the humidity was beyond ridiculous.

We were out late last night, so 6:30 came really early this morning. Robert and Clara were both crabby when they woke. We picked up donuts and got there early to get a good parking spot. Most of the parade route you have to park and then walk to your spot, but we got there early enough to park in a lot that was on the route. It worked out perfectly. We put the back seats down and left the hatch up. Robert was asleep when we got there so we let him snooze with the doors open. He was in a much better mood after his little nap. He made it through a good portion of the parade and when he got fussy, I just sat in the back and nursed him and then kept him in the shade of the hatch once the sun came out.

When we got there, street performers were just showing up. There were clowns, jugglers, a guy juggling with fire, a balloon animal maker, a mime and lots of others. The mime was messing with Clara and she didn't get it at all. She was being quite the toot. A clown brought over a balloon hat for her and she about lost it. She wasn't scared of the clown, she just didn't want the hat. I was so embarrassed. She whined about everything.

She perked up and started acting more like herself once Leah and Kate showed up and she did great throughout the parade. We had told her that she needed to stand when the American flag passed and she did. Then she decided she needed to stand every time she saw a flag. (She was standing and telling Leah to stand a whole lot seeing as how we were at a 4th of July parade.) She said the loud drums were her favorite part of the parade and she's already looking forward to next year.

This was an air conditioning company's float. They were passing out free a/c and ice pops. I think this was my favorite.

Chris caught sight of this boy across the street who was eaten by his chair. Mom hadn't noticed yet at this point and it looks as if sister didn't care.

We were covering the little one's ears when the police cars ended the parade with sirens blaring.

It was a lot of fun and ended at the perfect time. The sun started blazing through the clouds right as it ended. I was glad that all of our stuff was only a few feet away from the car so we were loaded up and on our way in no time.