Festival of Trees Parade

Today the boys, my mom, and I went to the Festival of Trees parade for the first time. I had never been to this parade, but had seen it on TV last year. We made sure to get there early (about a half hour before the parade was scheduled to start) so that we would be able to find a spot. Even then, we had some trouble - but we were able to find a place between some lawnchairs. I hope the people around us weren't angry - nobody said anything at least.

We parked ourselves on the curb and began the agonizing process of waiting. Yeah, a whole 20 minutes. You would have thought it was 20 hours.



To entertain themselves, the boys did some jumping.



Mom did her best to entertain them...



Nile found a stick on the street. Oh, and he found some broken glass too...


And more waiting...


Finally, the parade started! A few favorites: the John Deere balloon, the Curious George balloon, the skating Santa balloon, and the John Deere tractors set up like reindeer pulling a sleigh. The front one even had a red light for a nose!





Afterwards, Nate said his favorite part was the fire trucks and the bands. Here he is seeing a band coming down the street. ;)

Nile said his favorite was the balloons, although I can't say that during the parade any one thing was more exciting to him than another. He was actually pretty quiet. Although every time a group of uniformed servicemen went by, he pointed them out to me.

Quotes

Yesterday I spent a wonderful day with the boys. We have photo proof here.

I really enjoyed having some good quality "fun" time with them. True to form (and to his age), Nate added a few memorable quotes for the ages.

Line 1: Proving Nate also has John Deere green blood ;)
As we drive down Wolf Road, Nate sees a combine sitting in a corn field.

"Mommy, I see one of those little wiener combines!"

It was a tiny, 4-row, ancient, Gleaner combine. I could totally see where he had gotten confused and mis-spoke. I laughed hard before I corrected him (although I considered not doing so). But it did make this John Deere combine engineer happy.

Line 2: Proving that even the youngest understand things innately.
Nate: Mom, when Nile is 4, I'll be 6, right?
Me: Yes, that's right!
Nate: I can't wait to be 6.
Me: I can.
Nate: What?
Me: I am really enjoying this time. I like you being 4, Nate. I am not ready for you to be 6 yet.
Nate: (with that tone of voice that lets you know he thinks you are nuts). Mom, I'll still be here with you all the time when I'm 6!
Me: Thanks Nate, that makes me feel better.
Nate: And after that I'll be in the sky watching you! I'll be with you forever.

Okay, I'm tearing up now just retelling this story. I'm such a sap.