St. Patrick's Parade

We braved the crowds today and went downtown for the huge St. Patrick's day parade.  It was crazy crowded like last year but this year we did it in style!  The Tootle family was so nice to include us in their 'tailgate'.  Nick's dad Lynn got down to the square at 2:30am to stake out a spot and then some of his friends got there at 5:00 to relieve him.  He went home and slept a little before going back down there with his family around 8:30.  We got super lucky and made it downtown before all the roads started closing and got in a parking garage very close to the square where everything was set up.  We were out there from 8:30-4:00 today (the parade lasted over 3.5 hours!)   Last year there was talk of there being around 1 Million people there and it felt just as crowded today.  Haven't heard any crowd projections yet though.  It started out cool but the sun came out and it warmed up quick.  We had to get out the sunscreen and shed some of our layers early on.  

Bryce and Nick

CeCe and Julia (Nick's little sister)

Hilarious!

All the kids waiting on the parade to start.  

My sweet girl!

She was marching in place and saluting the troops here.  Very cute!

As soon as we got home the kids got out these instruments and were marching around the backyard like the marching bands from the parade!  Our favorite parts of the parade were: marching bands, the groups of bag pipers, and the Clydesdales.  Being on the front row watching and feeling the Clydesdales running by was awesome!  

I want to remember this about Bryce.....he had a hard time staying still today(and by still I mean not running around throwing a ball constantly).  He enjoyed sitting and watching the parade for about 2 hours and then just couldn't sit still anymore.  I don't know how he makes it at school.  He started pacing around and for the rest of the time he had a ball in his hands and was playing catch with one person or another.  He even started playing volleyball with the next tent over at one point.  Somehow he managed to get grass stains on both knees even though there were people EVERYWHERE and it was hard to walk much less fall and catch a ball.   As soon as we got home he went outside and has not stopped moving since.  I put on a movie thinking we could all chill out for a while before bed and he lasted about 20 minutes.  Now he's in the playroom running around and throwing the football over and over.  This kid does not stop moving!!