I LOVE a good parade!

Once again I dragged my family to a parade, and once again they complained about it. But then again they still go. The kids have no choice really, but Tom, well, he must love me to indulge my parade fixation. But the Falls Church Memorial Day parade is always a big hit. This year, like last, it was wicked hot out. But we got there about five minutes before the parade started, found a shady spot with no one else around towards the end of the parade route, and plopped down. It was glorious. We saw our absolute favorites - the Bolivian dancers. There were several troupes there this year - one of them new - but all fantastic. From the wee ones to the old ladies in full garb those dancers move and groove and bring a big old smile to my face.

This year there was a stilt - walker, and a bunch of clowns. Lucy wasn't quite sure what to make of all the clowns, then again she wasn't sure why we were there in the first place. Guess to a two year old the whole world looks like one big parade.


Ian was all over that red wagon. We grabbed it to drag our stuff in, and once the chairs were out he hopped in, relaxed, and watched the parade. Can I just say - best. wagon. ever. I don't know how it handles kids, honestly, as we didn't let anyone sit in it, but it can hold all of our chairs PLUS our little cooler, and my purse in the back!
We brought freezy pops with us to keep the kids cool and happy. ;) And they did indeed do the trick. Twelve freezy pops later they were all coming off their sugar high, and Lucy sunk into the chair, and eventually rested her head on her daddy.

As the parade went on...and on...and on...Lucy totally ran out of steam. She liked the music and the colorfulness of the parade, but clearly wasn't plugged in to the absolute coolness of the whole thing. Me, on the other hand, well, I dig parades and this is one of my favorites.