Holiday Parade

Just before Thanksgiving, our community hosted a downtown holiday parade. Most of the vehicles going through the parade were carrying contestants for the local evening beauty pageant. There were a few floats from nearby businesses and the typical school marching bands. Overall, it felt like a cute, homey small town parade. Grammy and Papa accompanied our family on that chilly Texas morning-- we all actually needed jackets! ;)

Once we reserved our spots by the street, we still had a bit of time before the parade began, so we walked down a few blocks to the farmers' market tents (which they put up every Saturday). I let Cody and Jaden each pick out a large cookie-- yum, yum! 

Here's our crew, ready for the parade!

Some of the boys' parade favorites included the floats (this is the HEB one),

the fire trucks,

the army vehicles,

and the little train.

Jason and I both love watching and listening to the marching bands and drill teams, but Cody specifically complained about the drums being "too loud."

You'll notice that Cody and Jaden both claimed they were warm and didn't need a jacket at first. Halfway through the parade, they changed their minds and snuggled up next to Papa and Daddy.

Papa and Cody

Daddy and Jaden

The annual theme of the parade had something to do with the Olympics, so many of the floats were decorated along this line. Jaden and Cody maintained interest in the parade for a good hour but then seemed very ready to go home. So, we waited until we saw the Salem School float (below) and then decided to leave.

Because we left early, we missed the Santa Claus that was supposed to come at the end of the parade. The boys didn't seem to mind. We were a little bummed that no one threw out candy or prizes for the kids, but other than that, we thought the parade was a hit.