When the 50's goes 80's in the new millenium
Today Bobbin appeared in her first ever parade. That's right - she was in the parade, not just watching from the sidelines. One of the nearby towns had their annual summer celebration this weekend, starting with a kids' parade at 10am, followed by the grand parade, and then an afternoon of food, festivities, bike races, and music, and ending with a fireworks show in the evening.
I picked up a bunch of giant purple and pink fuzzy pipe cleaner twisty things, a pink bicycle horn, some silver rope, and a bunch of plastic flowers after work yesterday on my way to pick her up at school, along with a costume, and we decorated her tricycle yesterday afternoon in preparation for the event.
This morning we got her all decked out in her costume, arriving at the parade starting point to check in around 9:15 and purchase her helmet (required attire for all kids with wheels; no exception. We lost hers sometime last fall but it was likely too small at this point anyway). The theme for the kids' parade was "through the ages" with each decade from 1910 to present time and beyond represented in a different section of the parade. We had chosen the 50's. Mostly because that was the cheapest costume I found while shopping at Target - a dress sporting a big round poofy purple poodle skirt with a cow-print glittery bodice and a big pink satin bow connecting the two at the waist. How could I NOT?!
As fortune would have it, "The Nifty 50's" was also the theme of choice for a volunteer puppy raising program and so we got to play with the doggies while we waited for the parade to commence. Which took a while, as you can imagine - a parking lot filled with 300 kids in costumes ranging from flappers to hippies to miniature fonzarellis to space cadets in purple glitter hair with tinfoil capes. Each kid sporting some sort of pedal-powered or motorized vehicle similarly themed. And all their parents and strollered siblings. It was organized chaos.
They did, however, start on time! Kudos to the organizers. And so it was with great excitement and pride that our little Bobbin, legs a pumpin' on her little tricycle, set out along the parade route at exactly 10am. She rode the entire route - an entire 1/3 of a mile - all by herself without any help or pushing. We were lapped by 60 years in the process however. Bobbin had to stop every once in a while to adjust her crinolines and to pick up candy that the kids in front of her were tossing to the crowd. On occasion she'd also stop to honk her horn. And if someone in the crowd got particularly enthusiastic for her - clapping and cheering - she would stop and stare and smile at them. And so it was that slowly but surely each decade crept up on us when we least expected it and passed us by (a metaphor for life, isn't it?), but not without some great encouragement and smiles and clapping for our little trouper on the trike. We started in the 50's and ended somewhere in 2035 as near as I can tell. I do believe we were the last to collect our 2 Susan B. Anthony's at the finish line and depart from the route. But it wasn't a race - it was about having fun. And that we did!
We found a spot along the route to watch the grand parade. It was hot though, by this point, and the shady spots were taken hours before (note to self: stake out some turf next year in advance and THEN go to the kids parade). Bobbin enjoyed the fire trucks and cheer leaders and marching bands but eventually her interest turned to food and beverage so we wandered over to the "fair" grounds to check things out.
A photo opp with a donkey named Obama claimed her attention briefly (we donated $8 to the DNC to get the picture applied to a large button pin; you gotta see it - it's pretty cute. Bobbin's still in her poodle skirt and the donkey's wearing a straw hat). Then one hot dog and a bottle of water later, she was refreshed enough for a round in the inflatable jumping house before heading back home for some much needed quiet time and escape from the midday sun.
After nap we headed back down to the town for a hairdresser's appointment made yesterday. And then fresh with a new 'do, Bobbin decided she wanted to check out the rest of the festivities we missed this morning. The main stage was in full swing and we watched a 70's group that looked like Abba but sang Donna Sommers tunes, followed by a magician that really captured Bobbin's interest (mesmerized is an appropriate term). And THEN... THEN the 80's band came on. And THAT's when the good times rolled.
Of course, that's the decade when most of the adults in the crowd, yours truly included, were teens themselves. But the 2-12 year old crowd among them couldn't help but rock out to the music too. One little girl approached Bobbin as she was watching the band and boppin' to the beat, and asked her to dance. Bobbin glanced shyly at me with a smile and when I nodded and smiled back she was off and never looked back. For a good half hour the two of them danced and grooved and had a blast.
The band, The Spazmatics, were actually pretty good! Had I known about them 5 years ago I might have tried to convince Tim we needed a live band for our wedding :-)
When they finished their set, Bobbin decided she needed one more round in the jumping house before heading home.
A few more photos of our day here. And while you're at it you can check out the rest of our July album since i've been a bit lazy in posting photos this month. Not lazy taking them though, as you can see ;-)
We do have video of her in the parade as well, which we'll post soon!
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