2008 Holiday Parade

Today was our town's annual holiday parade. It was a balmy 35 degrees out with a strong wind (coming from every direction... seriously), and a never ending rain/snow mix. In other words, it was COLD! Now, if you know me, you know I love winter. I also love snow, and it takes a lot for me to say I am cold, but I can honestly say I think I was colder this morning than I've ever been in my entire life. I think the rain was the biggest problem. Cold is one thing - cold AND wet is another ballgame entirely. We dressed for the weather (about 4-5 layers each) but it didn't seem to matter. Brrrr! We sat out there for about an hour and forty five minutes.... Double brrrr!

Here are some pictures of our morning. This is Mom and Henry waiting for the parade to start. Darrin stayed home with Jack, and Grandma said she'd watch it on tv from the warmth of her home. Smart thinkin', Grandma!



This is Henry and me, about three quarters of the way through the parade. By this point my mittens were totally saturated and I was kicking myself for not wearing those stadium mitts I have with a plastic layer between the fabric to keep wetness out. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And I love that I look like the stay puff marshmallow girl. I had so many clothes under my coat that I could barely move my arms! Henry had three layers under the coat, two pairs of mittens, a full snow suit, and a double layer fleece blanket, and he was still cold to the touch by the time we got back to the car. I thought for sure that would have kept him warm.

Here's Henry, waiting for the parade to start. He's almost too big for the stroller, but it sure comes in handy for containing him or giving him a place to sit on days like today!

We met up with Henry's godparents, Julie and Ryan, and their son Caden, while we were there (on purpose - we planned it a few days earlier). I think they were colder than we were. Ryan couldn't find his winter coat, and we're pretty sure he lost feeling in his toes about half way through. lol! You'd think with all these complaints about the cold that we would have just left, but we actually enjoyed ourselves. Ryan was sitting next to me, and we made a game out of deciding which candy was worth getting out of our semi-warm seats to retreive. :) There was candy all over the street. Usually kids are swooping in left and right to pick all of it up, but no one wanted to move this year! Finally the people started putting candy right in our laps, so we didn't have to move. lol! Here is a picture of Ryan, Julie, and Caden. Ryan's coat was totally soaked by this point:

We did bring umbrellas, but it was so windy they didn't help one bit. We were so excited when we saw Santa and the reindeer coming on their rotating sleigh, because we knew we could finally go home. Here's Santa... the sleigh platform spins slowly in a full 360, and also moves up and down. This is the second year they've had this at the end of the parade, and both times I've seen it I've thought that those reindeer would never survive if they had my motion sickness!

The marching bands were a big hit with Henry (that's my favorite part, too), as were the animals of course. There were lots of horses and dogs in the parade, and he loved it. The local animal shelter had adoptable dogs out again, and darned if two of them weren't beagles. Oye. My friend Jenn's Mom volunteers with the shelter and was walking a chocolate lab in the parade. She asked if I wanted to adopt her. I'm pretty sure she would have given her to me on the spot if I'd said yes. lol. Am I right, Jenn? ;o) I'm a sucker for the beagles though. If she'd have had one of those I probably would have taken her up on her offer!

Henry cried when it was time to leave. He wanted more "ho ho" (a.k.a. Santa). I've been home for a little over two hours now, and I'm still cold from this morning. It was a good time though, and I can't wait to go again next year. But seriously, I could reeeeally do without the rain. Cold rain is the worst!