I went over to Lori’s daycare on Friday afternoon to watch our hometown homecoming parade with the girls.
I knew our girls would be excited for me to join them in their candy collection and parade watching but I wasn’t expecting the other kids to clamoring over whose hand I would hold as we walked to our selected corner. Lori pulled the wagon with Anika and another little friend in it. I walked with four little friends including Miss E holding my hands.
Nathan also left his work to join us in watching.
Our Daddy’s girl Miss E went dashing when she saw him walking up the street towards us and jumped into his arms.
Anika was enamored with playing in the wagon. At age 15 months, she has reached her climbing stage. She doesn’t sit still and is always climbing up, down, through and over most anything. (Those brown haired curls on the back of her head melt my heart. My mom waited and waited for one of my siblings or I to get my dad’s curls. It skipped a generation and Anika has Gpa Fred’s curls!)
Big towns have fancy parades I am sure. Their bands wear fancy uniforms and meticulously march.
Our small town parade is nothing but fancy but it is authentically small town and small school on the prairie.
Our small town parade featured our school band which includes grades 7-12 with an occasional 6th grader thrown in there to finish out a instrument section. There was no meticulously marching or uniforms but…my eyes were so welled up with tears I could barely take a picture.
Hunter is busted on the above picture for looking up to see his mama take his picture.
It was the flags, the band’s music and seeing our tall 7th grade son playing his trumpet combined with his class float that said “Class of 2016” that had me in tears throughout the parade.
Our Homecoming King was Devin, who worked at the lumberyard this past summer and our Queen was our pastor’s daughter, Andrea. Hunter voted for both and was very excited to see them as royalty as were we.
The parade’s theme this year was game show. Nothing fancy schmanzy but the back of a pick up (a truck if you are city folk) works great to hold a float.
A small town parade is not complete with out plenty of tractors…in all shades of preferred colors.
Our special friend…my grandma’s little sister in her sorority 60 years ago and bridesmaid in her wedding (59 years old this week), Miss Florence, joined us to watch the parade. She also went to her home to get me a jacket because the prairie breeze was a bit chilly. Florence is always a friend.
One of our small town’s pride and joy is this large disk (for farm fields and construction uses) that is built in our town. The manufacturing plant is a cornerstone of our local economy and very important to our local rural vitality. So naturally, it has a place in the parade!
Other than Hunter playing the trumpet, my favorite entry was the horses pulling the FFA wagon.
But Anika and Elizabeth’s favorite was most definitely the candy and beads they collected. Anika was buckled in the wagon and had suckers thrown right to her. She was one happy, content girl at our small town parade.
And late that evening our boy returned home, one happy kid after a huge 52-0 Homecoming game football win and his first dance complete.
Oh, MY! Love me some curls, Miss A!
Homecoming is such a fun time of year. So glad your son had a great game and I’m sure, fun at the dance:) Have a great night!
I love small-town parades, too! Our 1-stoplight town has a Memorial Day Parade…and I don’t think I’ve ever missed it. 🙂