Thursday, July 12, 2012

The Parade

The Boss Man and Prima Ballerina awoke EARLY on the 4th of July.  Since I was there with the girls, they snuck out of the house like a couple of teenagers and went for a walk on the beach to greet the sun.  On their way back home, they stopped and picked up festive patriotic doughnuts, which were a big hit!

The previous day, Prima Ballerina had picked up the calendar of events at the resort and had told us about the 4th of July parade.  AB was excited about it and wrangled me into agreeing to ride my bicycle with her.  She is a bit of a sleepyhead in the mornings and honestly, I was hoping she would sleep in. 

As she was eating her doughnut, her eyes suddenly got wide and she asked what time it was.  She realized that it was time to go to the bicycle decorating for the parade.  She RAN to her bedroom to change and got dressed in record time!

We weren't exactly sure about where to go so I kept telling her that we might be late and miss it, hoping to prepare her just in case.  We stumbled across several hundred golf carts and bicycles decked out in red, white, and blue and thought we had found the right place!

We decorated our bicycles and took a place in the line.  And before long, the parade began.  And I soon found out exactly what I had agreed to do.

The parade route was 2 miles long.  In several places, we had to go over bridges that had fairly steep hills.  AB would pedal for all she was worth, trying her best to make it to the top.  As she started to slow, I would hop off of my bicycle and run beside her, giving her a push to the top!

Two miles a pretty big distance for a 5 year old to ride!  There were several times that other (older!) kids swerved directly into her path and she was able to manuever out of their way.  She was a trooper and I was very proud of how well she did.

As for me, I was little worse for wear when we finally made it home!  Between the heat/humidity and the running/pushing, I was sweating like a field hand.  And I had a star tattoo on my face.  I had placed a blue star on my cheek as decoration during the parade.  Apparently, I had an allergic reaction to something in the star because it left a bright red star-shaped reminder, which took a couple of days to completely fade away.

All this and our day had just begun!

6 comments:

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

You must've looked cool with your star imprint ;-)

She's so cute - I bet she'll remember the parade for years.

George said...

I'm proud of you for riding in the parade with AB. I hope you wore your scars (tattoo) proudly. I'm proud of you for having the energy to take part in more activities this day.

Anonymous said...

The great thing about kids is they remind you how to enjoy life like they do.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Looks like a fabulous 4th of July... So glad you were there with the girls ---and how 'bout a walk on the beach on the 4th of July???? AWESOME.....

Cute pictures..... Congrats to all of you for making the 2 mile ride...... Pant Pant...
Hugs,
Betsy

Unknown said...

That sounds like so much fun : )
Well, besides the sweat dripping!
I am glad she has someone fun and cool like you in her life.

Busy Bee Suz said...

Wow. I'd say you are both troopers!!!! What lovely memories you made; again!