before we wrap up the birthday week celebrations, i have a few more posts from the fourth of july. as if bebe's first baseball game wasn't enough of an experience, we also treated her to her first parade! and when we do firsts around here, we don't screw around. this parade happens to be the oldest, longest (both in elapsed time and in physical length), and most amazing parade in history! all, some, or none of that may be true. don't know, don't care. it's definitely one of the hottest. as in heat. from the sun.
what it also is, is an excuse for a red, white, and blue breakfast at our friends the sawyers'!
if you were to pull up in front of their house early on the fourth, you'd be greeted with the sounds of john philip sousa blasting forth from the windows and rows of american flags lining the walk.
once inside, we have our choice of blueberry muffins, or strawberry shortcake with whipped cream- red, white, and blue breakfast! this is our friend charlie. we've got to eat a good breakfast, we're going to be out on the parade route for a while...
after we sunscreen up,
it's time to head out.
watching this parade is no joke- people get up at four and five a.m. to reserve spots with chairs and blankets. lucky for us the sawyers reserved plenty of spots for all of us.
baseball game, parade... could we squeeze in some circus action?
as we walked up to the main drag, we passed parade entrants fine-tuning their floats
plenty of cool vehicles to get a sneak peek at
cheer leaders warming up
floats corralled in the distance
marching bands getting some last minute practice
and of course plenty of people selling souvenirs and food stands just beginning to cook up their food for the day.
but wait- what's this?
hey! it's the pittsfield colonials! coming right at us! hey guys, great game! mommy explained to some of them that it had been bebe's first, and to everyone's surprise, beebs threw out a few more high fives. the team was really excited to have met her. i heard a few of them saying afterwards, "hey- that was bebe! did you guys see that? i got a high five from bebe!"
one thing i forgot to mention in my game post is that the coach for the colonials is none other than former red sox first baseman Brian Daubach, or Dobber, as we affectionately called him. i think he was happy and a little taken aback at how into the previous night's win we had been. he probably doesn't hear a lot of cheers. just a guess. but he's a great guy and he loves what he's doing, so i'm jealous.
before the parade officially starts, there's a 5k road race to kick things off. a ton of people enter every year, and it looked like so much fun that next year uncle ben, teed, and i are going to run it!
all that running made bebe tired. she grabbed some water bottles and a snack, and headed to our seats.
here comes the parade!
there were lots of cool, old-timey cars.
and one really old-timey car, complete with an old-timey driver.
Uncle Sam made an appearance
...but this little girl is a communist and she wanted no part of what he was selling. no way!
after about twenty minutes we were all soaked with sweat. and it wasn't even ten o'clock yet.
nothing says "happy birthday, america!" quite like... whatever this is.
the first of many fire trucks. and i have to say that bebe was less than impressed. i think it was because she's so used to seeing them in their natural habitat, rushing to fires, lights blazing, sirens wailing... it must have seemed strange to just have them slowly roll past.
over it.
hey, it's the governor!
so over it.
yet another blase reaction. i think the heat was getting to her.
this thing was cool. three wheels and a windshield front door? why aren't there more of these things on the road?
this pic made the cut on account of my man representing the truth, right there. number 34, the captain, paul pierce.
clowns are creepy. and yet, put them in the back of a pick-up truck, surrounded by all their little balloon-animal minions, and they get CREEPIER.
a little left-over jingoism, courtesy of 9-11. when someone airbrushes bad art on the side of ANY vehicle, it's like letting the terrorists win. we can do better than this.
and yet
somehow
i'm left wishing that fire truck would swing back around.
okay folks. if parade posts are like wine tastings, it's time for you to clear your pallet and get ready for the next bottle. or whatever. unless, of course, you've already read the second parade post, which will have been posted above this one, blogillogically. in that case, you've had WAY too much to drink. i think you should look for some bread or something. just sit down and relax...
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