Jr. Rose Parade

once again we ventured out to see the jr. rose parade. the real rose parade is a big deal in portland, but pat hates parades and i am not brave enough or motivated enough to haul 2 young children into the mass chaos that is that particular event. soooo, we settle for the jr. version. this means that the floats are homemade and mostly consist of decorated bicycles and cardboard attached to wagons. the bands are all middle school instead of high school and the audience is mostly the 6 and under crowd. what this means is that it is PERFECT for us!! we have a whole system of eating lunch at one of our favorite breweries (fancy micro brew included!) and then timing it just right so there is no waiting and no crowds. the best part is watching how excited the girls get. they clap, dance, and stare in awe the entire time.

it really reminds me how simple it is to impress them- the littlest things are so cool to them. rory's favorite part is that the mascots stay in their cars (unlike various sporting events where benny or blaze try to come talk to her) and all the dance teams. every one that passed was accompanied by "ooh, mom- i am going to do that when i get older!" lucy just loved the bands. she was big into clapping and dancing and has pretty good rythm. it was supposed to be thundering and super rainy, and ended up being perfect. now we have done it 3 years in a row- officially a maloney family tradition! next year, come join us!!