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Saturday, October 16, 2010

I love a parade.

Homecoming 2010:  The band has arrived!

Today was our town's annual Homecoming parade. It's the biggest event of the year in our community, and seemly everyone in town turns out wearing their gear to show support for our high school team.

This was the first year that Lauren had the opportunity to march in the parade. She could have marched with either her primary school or her dance school, but because she loves kindergarten so much, she chose to march with her school. I volunteered to march with her.

We arrived at the meeting place a half hour before the parade started so that we could queue up and get our big bag of candy to toss to the the parade onlookers. Lauren's school has a student body of around 300 kids, so I was disappointed when only around 15 kids showed up to march. Nonetheless, the low turnout gave Lauren the opportunity to carry the school banner.

Since Mark was going to be watching from the sidelines, I entrusted him with photog duties. This lead to a small freak out moment when the parade started. It went something like this:

OHMYGOD BAGPIPERS!! THERE'S BAGPIPERS! AND CLYDESDALES! MY CAMERA!! MY CAMERA!!!

So I pulled out my phone and sent him a text:

PLEASE TAKE GOOD PHOTOS FOR ME. LOVE, YOUR WIFE.

And I wasn't disappointed - Mark did a great job! He gets the credit for almost all of these photos.

So without further ado, he comes the parade!

Homecoming 2010:  Vets.

This year's theme was "A Hero's Welcome." Our neighbor Ron, who is a veteran, was one of the flag bearers. He's in the middle carrying the State of Pennsylvania flag.

Homecoming 2010:  Clydesdales.

Here are the aforementioned clydesdales. The fearless leader of our group warned us to watch out for the poop. Nevertheless, one of the kids stepped in some just as we were at the end of the parade route. As we all let out a big groan, one of the onlookers yelled, "That's okay! It'll wash off!"

Homecoming 2010:  Bagpipers.

Here come the bag pipers - YAY!

Homecoming 2010: Highlanders.

So cool...

Homecoming 2010:  Vintage car.

Like every parade, there were lots of vintage cars.

Homecoming 2010:  Vintage Truck.

Mark wants to get one so that we can ride instead of walk. I think I'm going to investigate how your car qualifies. Maybe they'd let us ride in the MINI.

Homecoming 2010: Mini cheerleaders.

Speaking of mini, here are some mini cheerleaders.

Homecoming 2010:  Super Leotardmen.

Unlike that Phillies fan, these spandex men were welcome in the parade.

Homecoming 2010:  Littlest parade participant.

Here's one of the littlest marchers. Alumni march in the parade as well. The oldest was from the Class of '36 (Do the math!).

Homecoming 2010:  Vintage train.

There was also a colorful kid sized train.

Homecoming 2010:  Our school's banner.

By this time, we caught up to Mark on the sidelines. Who is that women who is far to happy to be in the parade? Yeah, that would be me.

Homecoming 2010:  The view frombehind the banner.

When Mark saw how small our group was, he decided to join us!

Homecoming 2010:  The masses.

This one has a good perspective of the crowds.

Homecoming 2010: Me and Mark.

When we got to the end, my dad took a photo of us. Then, we got to enjoy the rest of the parade.

Homecoming 2010:  Superman.

You want tissue paper floats? You GOT tissue paper floats.

Homecoming 2010:  Buzz and Woody.

Buzz and Woody!

Homecoming 2010: The band!

Then the band finally arrived!

Homecoming 2010: Squeezes for Daddy.

The best vantage point - Daddy's shoulder, of course.

Homecoming 2010:  Walking home.


And when it was all said and done, we marched on home.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

wonderful pictures you took - Melissa really looked like she was having a great time marching and Lauren did great with the banner - loved the picture of Mark and Lauren on his shoulders - also the one with Mark and Lauren walking away - you should get all your pictures of when Lauren was younger with the two of them walking away and compare then to today. Adorable picture......