Saturday 7/16/11 - Homecoming Parade 2011

This time of year 'round these parts means homecoming parades!  Each weekend a different town has their homecoming celebration.  We also have the County Fair thrown in there and a few other fun things too.   That means more candy and beads than you can shake a stick at, good ole greasy food & carnival rides!   I don't know about you, but in my book (and my kids') that combo means FUN!  We weren't able to go to the parade on friday because Jack had to work, but we were able to go saturday.  It was REALLY hot, but we managed to find a shady spot to watch the parade and collect our candy & beads.  I didn't take too many pictures, but I did take a few of some of the kids' favorite things in the parade.  Brianna was a pro this year at collecting candy.  Jacob still wasn't sure about running out into the road to get his candy and beads this year.  His sister had to help him.  :)   He was still a little scared of all the loud noises and the big animals.  He didn't mind watching from a distance though.  Fortunately, the parade tonight wasn't all that long, only about 45 minutes.  That was enough for me.  We were all hot and I was getting worn out from having to help the kids collect their candy from the street.  Glad Brianna was there to help out!   Plus, we were all hungry and ready to eat some grub! 


Brianna waiting patiently for the parade to begin.  I thought that bringing our double stroller would be a great idea.  Both kids could have a place to sit (in the shade thanks to the canopies on it) and there are so many compartments on it, we could put all of our belongings in it to hold so we didn't have to lug all of it around ourselves.  It worked out really well!

Jacob waiting for the parade to begin.  He had his bag all ready to collect his goodies!  Our local police department is usually always one of the first ones in the parade.  They blow their horns and sirens to signal the parade is starting.  This scared Jacob.  After that, he wasn't too sure about the parade for a while.

Brianna LOVED these horses!  She thought they were so pretty! 

Brianna laughed when she saw these guys in "skirts".  I had to tell her they were kilts, not skirts.  She said that whatever they were wearing, it looked funny on men...lol. 

I thought the kids would be scared of these animals.  The costumes these people wear usually look like they're worn out and the animals look kinda ratty.  They must have bought new outfits because there were new animals we had never seen and they looked newer (and better).  :)   On a happy note, the kids weren't scared of them and both even gave a tiger a HI FIVE! 

I posted this for my mom & brother.  I'm not a FORD kinda person by any means, but I DO like old Mustangs like this!  My brother has a 1965 that he's had since he was 14 years old.  This one reminded me of his so I had to take a picture of it.  Even Jack made a comment about it (he's not a FORD person either).  He said, "Man, I wonder if your brother saw THAT?!"  VERY PRETTY!! 

Jacob liked these little cars these men were riding on.  He wanted to ride on one too!  He tried yelling to them to ask if he could ride with them, but I don't think they could hear him. 

This German guy on this float is hilarious!  He's an older gentleman who sings german songs.  He usually throws in a HAHAHAHAHA!  at the end of them...lol.  Jack says this guy cracks him up! 

HIS tractor (Jacob LOVES tractors!  Especially ones that look like his dad's).

HER tractor  (this was my personal favorite)

Jacob finally got out to get some candy off the street.  Brianna was really good at helping him.  She would go get the beads and candy that were thrown their way and would share whatever she found with him.

Jacob about had a cow when he saw this!  He LOVES stuff like this!  I think this was his personal favorite!

I took a picture of this because I've never heard of the brand Oliver Standard before.  Jack said they stopped making them in the 70's or so.  I thought it was different so I took a picture of it.

This thing was cool!  We all would've liked to have a ride on this thing! 

The kids had a blast and got a lot of loot!   Hope your summer is as fun as ours is!