My friend Stacy issued a "25 Days of Christmas" challenge.
To participate, post 25 ways you celebrate the Christmas season.
Today, same as this time last year, we went downtown to the Neiman Marcus Adolphus Children's Parade. As parade veterans, we knew what time to leave the house, where to park, and to bring our folding chairs, blankets, and snacks. We set up camp two hours early, which was early enough to have "second row" seating. It was also early enough to watch some of the parade introduction being recorded for TV over by the Adolphus Hotel, to scope out port-a-potties, to explore the rock garden, and to fight the long line at Starbucks. A group of clowns did magic tricks and organized games of hopscotch right in front of us, so the kids had plenty of play-time opportunities while we waited on the festivities to start.
We wondered if the same clown would call James out of the crowd this year, but no such luck. Still, the parade was a lot of fun, and we just love going. Bub loved seeing both Iron Man and Darth Vader. Gracie loved seeing Pinkie Pie, the My Little Pony float. My friend Randi took her family this year, but we were seated in different areas. Maybe next year, we can park near the bleachers they pick, or maybe they can pick the bleachers near where we normally sit.
Scenes from the Day
(click to enlarge)
What we didn't love about this year was the family right behind us who spent the entire parade in our personal space. Their little girl stood on the back of my chair, leaning onto me, yelling to "Bah-nee" and Santa, clapping her hands over my head, and dropping chips onto my jacket. The son leaned in between my chair and James', resting himself on our armrests. Two more kids hung onto James' other arm rests, while three others took turns climbing on the kid's chairs as they stood to watch the parade. I know the parade grounds were crowded, but these behaviors were over the line. That, or I'm just a very strict mom (which is quite likely).
The Press of the Crowd
I like the new family members. :) You're right - that's a bit close!
Did any of those kids throw a chopstick at you? ...thought that they might be from the Pei Wei family. ;)
That is so funny (actually it isn't for you). I have a very large personal space area.
At Disneyland this year, there was a family sitting behind me during a parade. One of the children was literally on top of me and eventually dumped her entire box of popcorn on my head (along with the plastic box - it hurt). I just looked at her mom and said, "Are you kidding me"!
Another kid was bored so he poured his drink on the sidewalk and it flowed down stream to me - I had to straddle to keep from getting a wet backside or legs.
Enough about my drama; looks like the parade was great.