Holiday Weekend Part Deux!

So the parade... the parade was fun! It took a bit of time to get everyone (okay, me and the kids) out the door but we drove over and found a great place... no sun in our eyes and nice people around us and when I say nice, I mean candy sharing. :)

Katie didn't like the noise, as usual, and boy, was it loud. Why does every truck seem to think that using their horn, or whatever it is they toot, is fun for all? It's not. I wish there would be "no tooting" sections on parade routes where people could sit with their kids (the ones who haven't ruined their eardrums listening to that crazy rock and roll turned up too loud) and enjoy a non-ear blasting time. Hmmm? WHYYYYY?!

Ahem, ANYWAY... back on track...

So, we found a great place to sit and while the grownups waited for it to start, Katie seemed to be looking forward to the showers of candy!

We watched the bands play, the dancers dance, the tiny cars zoom past, and the candy rain down! It was a fun time and the people next to us kept giving Katie their candy. A man at the other side of that group would come over and pick up a bunch of candy and give it to Katie. She called him the "nice man" after the first time he did that. Then the lady beside us (a bit older than Katie's grammy) would give her pieces of candy. Katie saw this and every once in awhile she would hold out her hand to give this lady a piece of candy herself. It was so cute. She was sharing! Well, then Katie held out her hand and there was nothing in it... she explained to a puzzled stranger that Honey was giving her a piece of candy too. I translated that "her invisible friend was sharing a piece of candy" and the lady smiled and took the ... well, nothing. But she pretended well.

That was about it. The horses came at the end and that was it. Dad and Katie walked home and me, mom, and Jake headed to Walmart to pick up the pictures we selected earlier.

Got our pictures and some other stuff and headed home ourselves.

We had tacos for dinner at about 11:00 (yes, that's right... 11 p.m.!) and Katie was already sleeping. Went to bed soon after that.

On Sunday we went to church. Partway through, when everyone got up for the fellowship (... or Donut Time) I did too... and noticed that Jake's bottle must have tipped over. It was still in the cold bag but tipped. I noticed this because it had somehow leaked out and made it's way about 4 aisles down in the auditorium. I didn't have anything to wipe it with so I had to drop Jake off with dad and get paper towels from the bathroom. I headed back with Katie as my shadow and started to clean up the trail that had since made it's way past another aisle, narrowly missing a purse someone had set on the floor. This church meets in a school and the aisles are child size... or maybe teenager sized but my hips are lady sized... and with each step I took, I bumped against the desk piece that tucks into the seat. With each step. And with 5 aisles to clean and about 4 seats to walk past in each aisle, both ways, it was a challenge. Finally finished the cleanup and got to the foyer only to find that there were only 4 donuts left and none were chocolate covered. I found one that was okay and got a maple covered one for Katie. They were good... but chocolate would be better.

After church we went to eat at the Ding Dong Cafe. Good food, home cooking. Very tasty. Dad got pancakes the size of a horses head. He couldn't eat them all so mom and I got to try them too. I had a roast sandwich with swiss and mushrooms and onions. YUM.

Then we went to Family Dollar for some stuff and back home.

Jake had a little formula in a sippy cup. If he could talk, he would have said "MINE" very loudly and with force because he really wanted to hold that sippy cup. Well, he used it but it wasn't as easy for me as his bottle, which he also held on his own on Saturday. I gave it to him and let him hold it for a minute, then I talked to Katie and then I channel surfed and finally realized that I had two hands free... I looked down and he was happily holding his own bottle. I want to encourage that! It was nice to be able to take a drink without having to balance the bottle with my chin. :)

Then we cleaned up and got ready to go home. Kids slept fine during the drive until Jake woke up about 5 minutes from home. He woke Katie up and she never was able to get back to sleep.

We got home and unloaded and I was outside with Jake and heard crying. Thought it was the kid next door till I remembered that Katie woke up all the way on the drive and sure enough, it was her. She wanted her Umpa. Dad went in and talked to her. She settled down. We all went to bed. She started to cry... and cry and cry. She was quiet for longer and longer inbetween cries but Dad came up, picked her up and took her downstairs for a slumber party at their house. Which was fine with me!

Everyone finally got to sleep at around 1:30 a.m.