Jubilee Saturday

Last Saturday, we packed up the kids (sort of) early in the morning and drove to the Webmaster’s hometown for the annual Loggers’ Jubilee weekend. Jubilee festivities begin on Thursday, but Saturday is a fun day to be in town because the parade is that day (the parade re-runs on Sunday, but everyone always tries to get to the Saturday one).

We actually drove straight to the Lions’ Hall when we got into town for the Lions’ pancake breakfast. Both Nana and Papa are very involved with the Lions, and when we arrived, Papa was running the pancake grill. He immediately made Mickey Mouse pancakes for both kids, which they heartily enjoyed. Once we were done eating, it was time to get a spot to watch the parade. With Nana and Papa living in town now, it’s much easier for us to park and find a spot to watch the parade – which literally starts lining up in front of their house. We staked out a spot right at the beginning of the parade route, and Tad was very excited to see this guy right off the bat:

Tad waved at him and yelled, “Hi, Smokey!” Smokey waved back at Tad.

And then Ane discovered the fact that the people on the floats could really see her – and that a lot of them were throwing candy.

Tad took a little longer, but he eventually got into it as well.

We had much ado to keep both kids from dashing into the street to chase after candy. And we hadn’t even brought a bag or anything to hold it in. Ane benefited from being a cute little kid at the beginning of the parade route who was waving at everyone, having a little brother beside her (which sometimes resulted in TWO handfuls of candy being tossed at them), and being the only kids in that spot on that side of the street.

We started by putting candy into Ane’s hoodie pockets. Quickly, we shifted to her hoodie’s hood. As Ane eagerly gathered candy, she shrieked, “This is better than Halloween!”

At the end of the parade, we walked back to Nana and Papa’s, where Ane eagerly examined her haul.

This was before I culled the bubble gum and the broken candies (several broke on impact with the ground, so I decided to toss them). Ane still had enough to fill a one-gallon Ziploc bag.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Nana and Papa’s house – though the Webmaster ducked out to the midway to pick up some food at lunchtime. When we finally left, the kids were exhausted. Tad fell asleep in four minutes. Ane took a little longer. She napped for about an hour – which is pretty good for her in the car – and when she woke, she rubbed her eyes and asked, “Are we back in our own world yet?”

Children of suburbia, they are.

Anyway, we made it back home in good time, and now all we have to do is ration out the candy. It’ll only take a year or so, I think.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 1:12 am and is filed under Children, Family, Vacation Tales.
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