Saturday Fun

Saturday afternoon we got to take a meal over to our good friend Leah from church, who recently had her sixth baby boy. Abby was very excited to hold Baby Roman and I was amazed when she held out her arms out just-so, as if she helped hold babies all the time! Honestly, I'm not even sure if she's held another baby other than Ben, and she certainly wasn't interested in holding him much when he was a little baby! She was so gentle with Roman and even wanted to hold him a second time. Then when we placed Roman back in his bouncy seat, she "mothered" him for at least five minutes, fixing his blanket and patting him. It was so adorable! What a difference a year can make! At 18-months-old, Abby was no help at all when Ben was born, but looking ahead it seems like she going to be quite the little helper when we have another baby.

Giving Roman a hug.

We went back home and took our naps, and then headed downtown for the annual Lakefair Parade. The kids loved it! Last year, was not so fun - Abby was only somewhat into it and Ben was only 2-months-old and cried at all the loud sounds (especially the revving of the Corvette engines). This year, Abby enjoyed waving at all the princesses on the floats, giving Smokey the Bear a high-five, clapping along to the marching bands, and watching the motorcycles drive in formation. Ben loved the horses, waved a few times, clapped his hands, and got really excited at every loud sound, especially the revving Corvettes. :) We also enjoyed the rare opportunity for Daddy to join us since the ocean was too rough to fish.

Playing with Grandpa when the parade got a little boring. :)

The parade itself was pretty good like always. Well, actually, I don't have much to compare it to since the only other parades I've been to are three small-town parades (Tumwater and Ocean Park, WA and Dallas, OR). I've never been to a big-city parade, but compared to the small-town parades, ours is pretty cool. :) The route goes along approximately 20 city blocks and the viewing fills up quickly, with people putting out lawn chairs to stake out their spots as early as the night before. The actual parade was a tad long in my opinion (124 entries in all!), but pretty well-rounded and interesting. My favorite part as a kid was all the floats, of which there are several from all around the northwest, even as far as British Columbia.

I've never enjoyed the loud, fancy cars - my sister and I decided it must be a "guy thing." And I'm not really into the cheerleaders and drill teams. But the floats are still neat. And, of course, I still get a jolt when the Shriners shoot the dummy out of a canon, even after all these years. Now, I think my favorite part is all the marching bands.

I also get a kick out of the creative entries, such as a drill team formation of recycling carts and a local plumbing company handing out rolls of toilet paper. And I'm sure we were the only parade in the northwest to have a high school football team decked out in Hawaiian skirts doing a Hawaiian chant and dance - absolutely hilarious!

Unfortunately, we were too tired out to go down to the Lakefair fireworks show the following night. But when the booming started at 10pm, I realized there was no way I could sleep anyway (I'd forgotten how loud it is at my house!), so we got Abby out of bed and watched the fireworks from our front yard. Because of the trees we could only see the top half of the show, but it was sure nice to crawl back into bed within moments of the show ending. :)