The Floats

In one of those moments of reminiscing, I asked Phil, “Do you remember when we went to see the Rose Parade floats when the kids were teeny?” We shared a laugh over it recalling that we very likely had more fun that day than the kids who maybe might have been bored out of their little minds.

In any case, we woke up the next morning and Phil decided we should go again and maybe the kids would enjoy it more now that they’re older.

Famous last words.

Because seriously, what’s there to enjoy when there’s only stuff like this to look at?

A couple of birds, big whoop.

There was just a touch more excitement over seeing this float because 1) they saw it on tv the day before and 2) Trader Joes!

This was the only time that day where there wasn’t a crowd of people around us so I grabbed a quick shot (still the Trader Joes float).

Not ten minutes there and already they were too hot. (Granted, it was a very warm day- the start of a very long heat wave with temps well into the upper 80s. In January! But apparently, these are beach kids who can only tolerate temps 75 +/-3 degrees.)

Not entirely pleased with Daddy’s method of cooling him down.

Then they decided they were hungry. We thought this small Jonah-sized snack would tide them over. For a little while.

So we pressed on.

Like I said, it was crowded.

Thankfully, we still have the tank-like stroller that automatically creates space around us. Just the baby sitting on top of the stroller is different now.

But despite the heat, hunger, and crowds,

still totally worth it

to see all the different floats

 and so much creative detail in each one.

Depending on who you asked.

Paying homage to his motherland.

Do you hear the theme song in your head? No? Yeah, totally me neither.

Seriously people, what’s not to love about this thoroughly enjoyable day?

A cute, crazy labor-intensive duck!

This sweet, I’m going to say, donkey, made of kernels of corn and red kidney beans among other things!

This big doggy looks like he’s licking Jonah’s head.  Har har.

This random bucket of potatoes among all the flowers that I still find puzzling now as I look at it again.

But no, none of my enthusiastic commentary or Phil’s antics were enough to make them want to linger longer.

They were ready to leave.  Shocker.

Big brother lending a helping hand to his sagging little brother.  Anything to get us out of there faster.

He wanted to push the button and did it the way he’s seen his siblings do it- with the back of his hand instead of his fingers. Illness averted. Well done, son.

The biggest smiles of the day? On the way running back to the van.

Hmm. It’s looking like we’ll not be back anytime soon. But give us another four years to forget the moans and groans, the heat, the hunger, and the crowds and we’ll get to reminiscing again about how teeny they were and do it all over again.

Because you know, they’ll be bigger then and would enjoy it more, right?

Right?