Today after we did our normal Monday chores, we decided to have some fun. While we were heading to the 24th of July parade float preview show at the South Towne Expo Center (this is where you can see all of the floats that are going to be in the upcoming Pioneer Day Parade), the Andersons called. It ended up that they were going to the same place and were calling to invite us to come along. When we first walked in to the expo center we saw the Jones just leaving. We haven't seen them in a while and the kids were really excited. T in particular was excited to see his friend as he was jumping around in front of him like a monkey while his friend just looked at him (probably wondering if he was okay). We talked to them for a minute and then let them leave and headed in to meet up with the Andersons. All I can say is, I think that this should be some sort of model for future parades. I mean all parades should be like this! Why do we relegate ourselves to some smelly nasty street corner, squished in like sardines with a billion other people, only to end up leaving with gum on the bottom of our shoe and feeling the need for a shower? The solution has now become so simple. We do the walking in the parade in a nice air conditioned building and get a close up view of each float in the parade! Alright I am not a parade hate monger, but it was sort of fun and different to just see it this way (other than having to tell my kids 1000 times not to touch all the floats). The kids also got balloon shaped items made by clowns (I think most of those clowns wear the same size shoes as me). All the boys chose swords, but they also got holsters (a touch I have not seen many clowns do, I guess I will forgive the fact that they stole my shoes), while A decided she wanted a pink wiener dog. They also all had a chance to have their faces painted. One of the two Anderson boys decided to have a Spider-Man web painted on his face, while T went for Lightning McQueen and A just simply wanted a flower. The kids loved all the floats, so it was definitely hard for them to keep their hands off of them. T's favorite float was a pirate ship and A's was a huge caterpillar float. When T saw some guys dressed as pirates by the pirate float, he was really insistent that he needed to get his picture with "real" pirates. A also saw some royalty girls on some float (sorry I don't remember what kind of royalty they were, all that is important is that A probably thought it was Sleeping Beauty and Belle) and asked if she could get her picture with the "real" princesses. I think it is cool that they are still so innocent in many ways. I don't think they need to figure out all of life's realities any time soon. Sadly our time with the Andersons is coming to a close. They will be moving on August 8th to Ohio. I am sure they have become so desperate that they feel it is the only way I will leave them alone. We are going to miss them a lot and have really enjoyed hanging out with them over the last 4-5 years. We have especially enjoyed the huge amount of time we have spent with them the last couple of months. You all may not know it, but you are going to miss them too. How you may ask? Well, let me just say that while I am with them I am not bothering anyone else to hang out. I think you get the picture.
The three painted faces.
A with her pink wiener dog.
The three painted faces.A with her pink wiener dog.All the boys sword fighting.
All the boys hanging by the pirate float.
A's favorite float.After we had fun with the Andersons, we came home and had dinner. We then went to our local recreation center and went swimming for family home evening. Like most of the recreation centers I have been in or heard of this one had a huge slide and a huge kid area. The kids had a great time and did not want to leave. They wore life jackets the whole time and T instantly fell in love with the feeling of floating. He somewhat liked the feeling when we went swimming at the lake, but I think the choppy water freaked him out a tiny bit. He was completely happy to just float totally unassisted around the entire pool. When he saw some girl kicking her legs as she swam by he realized that might work for him too. So, he sort of rolled to his back and kicked his legs, but mostly he just floated around. I would play with him and check up on him here and there, but a lot of the time he just wanted to be left alone. When he would get a good distance away I would want to yell out, "WILSONNN!!!!" like Tom Hanks did in "Castaway." A screamed like crazy (that girl needs to be in some soul choir when she grows up with the lungs she has going on) for the longest time any time she thought I MIGHT let go of her. She would sort of relax for a little while and then catch herself being too relaxed. Just before we were going to head home she realized the whole floating thing (as long as I wasn't too far away) was pretty awesome. They had a great time and I am sure we will go back more in the future. It was fun to play with the kids at the pool. I love doing all of these little activities and just playing with them while they are this age. I already feel like so much time is slipping away, and time only seems to go faster (case in point: could someone tell me what happened to the first half of this year?). It was a fun day, but as I look back I am just left with a floaty sort of feeling.
