parade rookie

This week was Western Welcome Week, Littleton's end-of-summer festival. The week culminated in a parade through downtown and then a street fair all afternoon. Woohoo, we thought, a fun family thing to do! Not to mention we live walking-distance to downtown. Not to mention Jon was in the parade.

Yes that's right, my famous husband rode shotgun in the "316" car representing a pastor's group of Littleton. It was so fun to wave to him! :)

We have never been to a parade with Jonathan. And I have maybe been to about four parades or something in my life? Needless to say, Jonathan was a trooper, and thank goodness we have a constant supply of Cheerios in our stroller, and God bless the people handing out coloring books and campaign flyers to the parade watchers. I had no blanket or chair to sit on, not much with which to entertain my restless toddler, and had no idea how long this thing would last.

Some lessons I learned:

1) Find out what time the parade actually starts. First we thought 9, then 9:30, but it turns out it was 10, which means about 10:15 until the parade actually reached us way down the street.

2) Once you find out what time it starts, decide whether it is worth it to arrive 2.5 hours early to obtain a curbside seat. We did not have a curb spot, and waited about an hour. I think that it the ultimate worst combination.

3) Bring a chair or a blanket. And possibly a fenced in barrier for your child.

4) It's a toss-up whether to bring the narrow, easily maneuverable umbrella stroller, or the big bulky lots-of-storage-and-snack-tray-equipped one. We did the bulky in this case, and aside from when an elderly lady had to help me lift it over some obstacles, I think it was the right choice, if only for the snack tray.

5a) It is perfectly acceptable to watch the parade for only five minutes (once you have seen about 3 fire trucks and a couple dozen horses and fancy cars) and then just walk along the sidewalk "watching" the parade as you go.

5b) Also perfectly acceptable: sitting in a restaurant eating lunch and watching the parade out the window.

6) Living in convenient places means it is easy to walk to fun things like parades, but don't forget it also means you have to walk back.

7) Make sure you take a picture of your kid at the parade if they are wearing something cute.

This is not Jonathan at the parade, but this is the cute western shirt he wore, also shown here back when he was 6 months old. Ha!

What a great learning experience! Happy back to school everyone :)