The Parade of Lights

...Or How We Spent The Evening Visiting The Seventh Ring of Hell.

Every year I have looked forward to the Parade of Lights...I'm actually a huge fan of parades, I love the sounds, the floats...everything, this year was no exception. We started to get ready for the parade a couple of days before. We made sure we had camp chairs for everyone, the blankets were cleaned, that everyone had a warm coat etc. The first couple of times we went to the parade of lights the temperatures were FREEZING, and we always forget something (Olivia's coat one year!) so we like to be over prepared. Last year we went late and were unable to see the parade due to the large crowds. This year we were determined to do it right. It was a beautiful night for the parade, the temperature was downright balmy for a December evening in Colorado. We started off really well, we found parking rather quickly, we had remembered the change to pay for parking and nearly everyone had their coats. (I forgot mine at home, but all the kids had theirs!). We walked the couple of blocks to the parade and had no issues. The kids did a good job of holding hands and they listened as well!

Once we were on the parade route things started to deteriorate a bit. In years past we had sat at an intersection, but found it wasn't a good spot. The balloons always have to duck under the lights so you never get to see the balloon fully upright and turning around until it is further down the street. The middle of the block is a much better vantage point. Unfortunately the only spot that seemed to be left was behind a parking meter next to a light post. (Can you say 'obstructed view'?) I was afraid that if we tried to walk further we would end up with even worse seating, so we stayed there. (The nice thing was that we were just down from the May D&F clock tower and it always looks nice for the holiday season. )
We unpacked our chairs, sat down and started to people watch. At first the kids were doing well... then boredom set in, along with that came the whining. "I'm hungry", "I'm thirsty", I want some valium"... oh wait that last one was me. To pass the time we usually buy some hot chocolate. Chris, being eager not to be left alone with the children, volunteered to find a hot chocolate stand. He found one rather quickly down the street and came back so Taylor and Olivia could help him. The babies were very upset about being left behind, but there was no way Chris could take all 4 through that crowd without losing at least one...probably two.

The crowd around us was getting bigger. More and more people were standing behind us trying to get a good vantage point. Across the street the crowd was so thick people couldn't get through to find standing room. Before I knew it, the girls and Chris were back loaded down with hot chocolate. Someone handed me mine and someone handed Dee Dee her hot chocolate. She immediately dropped it next to some kids...making the sidewalk uninhabitable for the people who were sitting there. CRAP. I apologized, Dee Dee apologized, the kids who could no longer sit down were less than thrilled. Ah well, thats part of going to the parade...right? I was still waiting for the valium... or at least hoping for some rum in my hot chocolate... there was none.

Dee Dee drank the rest of her hot chocolate for a while and then started complaining about having to go to the bathroom. The parade hadn't started, but it was about to round the corner... I could hear the band coming. I explained to her that she has on a pull up and it would be OK if she used it. She started to cry. CRAP CRAP! The parade started to spill down the street, (surely she will forget that she wants to see the inside of a porta-john and just enjoy the parade.) she started to cry harder.

Lucas heard there might be a trip to the bathroom in the works. He started to cry about needing to pee as well. Now, this is the kid that can make it through the day without peeing his pants but rarely does. I KNOW he has no issues with going in the pull-up. Dee Dee on the other hand always uses the potty and has a better precedence for needing to use an actual bathroom. I decided to just stay put, after all there wasn't any way to cross the street with the parade barreling down the street. The parade isn't that long anyway...everone could just wait to use the potty. The kids began to calm a bit, Dee Dee even started to nod her head along with the music.

Then, the parade stoped...there were still more floats scheduled according to the handy dandy program we had received, but minutes passed and the parade didn't appear.

Dee Dee took this as a sign that she should start howling about needing to pee in the potty, Lucas saw that this was working for her, and joined in on the howling. Chris and I conferred, and I'm about to just take the babies and go use the porta-potty since the parade is MIA. Olivia then started wiggling around and talking about how she needed to use the potty. CRAP CRAP CRAP!

I assessed the situation. Dee Dee and Lucas have pull ups on, they had peed before we left the house, I wondered how bad they really needed the potty...I suspected they were looking for an adventure. Olivia often exaggerates how bad she needs to go pee (she's walked in a bathroom and washed her hands after claiming she was about to burst.) I decided that she was looking for an adventure as well. Dee Dee started to howl again, Olivia was grunting and the boy has started to weep silently, Taylor was looking hopeful. OK, the porta-john was down the street across from us and in front of it is a bunch of parade spectators who were standing shoulder to shoulder. So, I knew if I said, let's go, I would have ended up with all 4 kids, trying to get across the street, through the crowd to the porta-john only to have half (if not all) refuse to go in because of the smell. Or if one or 2 decided to go in, I would then have to watch the other 2 diligently to keep them from disappearing in the crowd. Plus, would I wait outside with the remaining kids, go in one porta-potty with the babies, and tell the girls to stay in the other one until they hear my voice? I couldn't have the babies go in one by themselves...more likely than not they would fall into the hole! These scenerios swirled through my head and then I thought...the parade would start again leaving me stranded with 4 kids who would have no vantage point to see the parade, next to some smelly toilets. Meanwhile Chris would be left by himself to glean some joy from life... perish the thought!)

Being a caring and loving mother, I snapped, "Olivia, you only want to go because there's a shot of getting away for a bit, Dee Dee and Lucas... just go in your diapers!" I could then feel the judgmental stare of the 50 people behind us on the back of my neck. I ignored them and my whiny kids and asked a passing parade staffer where the hell the parade was. He told me that a float has broken down and that the parade should be rounding the corner in a little bit. (great... you'd think they'd be tossing Valium to those of us who were waiting.)

Some of the joy had been sucked out of the parade. I wanted to go home, the babies wanted to go home, Chris still felt a little optimistic, Olivia wanted to use the bathroom and Taylor adamantly wanted to stay. I was watched the people wandering up and down the street. I don't have any idea where they came from, just families looking for a vantage point. Half the time there wasn't even room to get off the street the people were so thick on the curb, so the people just kept wandering. I considered the logistics of leaving. We had our camp chairs (all 6 of us) and our cooler to carry the blankets and other items. The crowd around us seemed so deep that there wasn't any way to get up, pack up the chairs, grab the cooler, keep all the kids together and leave safely, or without someone shouting at us to sit down when the parade started again. I did briefly consider leaving everything there and just fleeing the parade like it was some sort of natural disaster... but that seemed a little excessive. Plus, there would have been some nut job in the crowd who would be yelling, "You forgot your stuff!!" For a longer period I considered what would happen if I just got up and ran down the street... not sure what I would have done after that... use a port a potty I guess. (Since the May D&F building was right there, the phrase, "naked in clock tower" came to mind, but it was a little too cold for that type of craziness) All the while this was going on in my head, Dee Dee was crying, Luke was whining, Olivia was jiggling in her chair and Taylor was complaining of being hungry. I was about to lose it...no matter how cold it was. The parade finally rounded the corner.
Luckily the high school bands drowned out the chorus of complaining coming from those nearest me. The last few floats were great, and the parade was miraculously over. We started packing up, Chris ran Olivia across the street to use the porta-potty and the boy had a full on break down. He started sobbing... I asked him what was wrong and he said he didn't want to wear his coat... its not that cold, OK no coat. He started sobbing more, he wanted to wear his coat because he was cold! Chris was finally back and we finished packing up the chairs and everything else. Dee Dee was no longer crying about having to pee, Taylor had stopped complaining of being hungry, Olivia had gone pee, Lucas was still sobbing. I grabbed his hand, Dee Dee's hand and we all walked to the car while I tried to remember why I used to like parades. Once in the car everyone was much happier and calmer. Which lead me to think maybe we should stay home more often and never ever go to another parade.

But, I DO wonder what kind of floats they'll have next year... maybe if we sit closer to the porta-potties, and bring lots of salty snacks....

Thank you Secret Santa!!!

Yesterday I recieved this ornament from my Secret Santa. This cute little guy came all the way from Florida... even though he looks like he's from the North Pole. I love him and can't wait to see him on the tree!

Thank you Harlee!!!

Lagniappe

Last week my town celebrated Lagniappe. From Wikipedia -Lagniappe refers to "a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase" (such as a 13th beignet when buying a dozen), or more broadly, "something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure."

This was the first year we attended and it was fun. All the little shops were open and had some good sales. Many of them were serving a little treat to draw you inside the store. The kids got to enjoy some cookies and hot apple cider after their visit with the big guy.

The kids really enjoyed talking to him, and even Lucas warmed up enough to give the beard a tug. We got there too late to take a hay ride, or any of the other fun things, but the kids were in it to see Santa anyway.

Trick-or-Teat!!

I think I may love Halloween more than my kids do, and that is saying a lot! I don't dress up, but I do love to see all the kids in their costumes, the trick or treating and staying out until all hours of night. This year was especially fun since the night was so unseasonably warm. In years past we've taken our kids out while it was snowing, raining, freezing and icy out... and that was just one Halloween night! Luckily our kids are marathon trick or treaters and they don't let the bad weather get them down.

Because of my excitement for Halloween I often go a little overboard with the costumes. We asked the kids what they wanted to be a couple of months ago and then I have an awful tendency to try and figure out how to do whatever they request. Usually its something easy... a ghost, a princess etc. This year, Taylor wanted to be a hatching chick, Olivia a witch, Dee Dee a Butterfly and Lucas wanted to be something scary... until he freaked out in the Halloween aisle at Target, then he decided he wanted to be something safe...a fireman.

Lucas' costume was the only one from the store, the rest we made at home. I thought Dee Dee's would be easy as well, I made the wings and just needed to buy some antenna to be a butterfly. Well, as it turns out, butterflies are OUT and fairy princesses are IN. It was even hard to find a head band to make our own antenna, so we went with a sparkly butterfly princess as her costume. She turned out pretty cute! It doesn't show in the picture, but we made her wings extra sparkly!

Taylor's developed from a fairly easy costume to one that was more complicated. The trouble started when I told DiDi that she was going to be a pink chick and that I needed a pink boa to finish the project. Diane had a hard time imagining a pink chick since chicks are usually yellow. I now realize I should have made the argument that she was a pink chick because for Halloween she was going as an Easter chick that had been dyed pink for that holiday. Unfortunately I didn't think of that argument until yesterday, so Taylor ended up being a hatching flamingo which was waaay more complicated. However, her costume got rave reviews on Halloween. I sewed the neck, the body and the wings, made the mask and sewed a store bought beak onto it, she also got a pink store bought wig for her 'hat'. The girls and I made the hatching egg parts from paper papier-mache. Even if I say so myself...it was a fabulous costume.

For Olivia I sewed her a skirt and shirt from some black fabric that Diane supplied. The girls and I made the hat from paper papier-mache and glued some hair from a wig onto it. Her face was from a makeup kit from the store that included an ugly, warty green nose. By the time Chris got done with her makeup, it looked like she was wearing an expensive and realistic mask. Olivia got tons of compliments for her costume as well, which she thought was kind of embarrassing.

For the first part of the night we went to Olde Town Arvada for their trick or treat street. After getting a ton of candy there, we went to a neighborhood so that we could completely fill up their candy bags. We were out for hours, the night was so warm and the kids were having so much fun. At a certain point, we realized it was just us and the teens still out and decided that it was time for us to go home and enjoy some of candy the kids had collected. I'm pretty sure, we'll have enough candy to last us until Christmas... or at least Thanksgiving!

We saw Senators Obama and McCain throw down in Denver!

Last Sunday, Diane, Taylor, Olivia and I decided to go to the Obama rally at Civic Center Park. It was a a spur of the moment decision, and we figured we wouldn't get in, but thought it would be a fun adventure to have with the girls. The day was a little cold, like sweater weather...or so I thought when we left our jackets at home...wow that was a mistake. By the time we arrived down town the wind started to kick up, making the sweater weather, more like 'thick jacket with sweater weather'! This mistake resulted in lots of whining from the 7 year old set. We decided to push on anyway.

Since parking is a bit of a nightmare on a daily basis in Denver we decided to park on the other side of I25, walk across the pedestrian bridge that spans the highway, across the bridge over the Platte River, across the park and then across the Millennium bridge and take the 16th street mall bus to Civic Center Park. I thought it was a brilliant plan... as did about 1000 other people. The bus was packed with Obama supporters and when I say packed, I mean by the end of the trip, had the bus tipped over, none of us would have been jarred from our positions. The bus trip went on for way too long, at least the girls enjoyed it, both thought it must be what a roller coaster is like.... maybe we need to take them to one of the local amusement parks so they experience what a roller coaster is really like. On the other hand... the mall bus is free....

When we got to the park, the rally area was already filled with 50,000 people with another 50,000 or more standing in the surrounding area. From the stage all the way back to the capital building, the place was filled with people just waiting to hear Obama's voice. There were people all the way around the rally area and even on top of buildings waiting for him to arrive.

Since we couldn't see the stage at all, we decided to hang out near the Greek columns. The fountain there was empty of water, but filled with little kids 'skating' on the smooth concrete. From there it was easy to hear the loudspeakers for the rally... actually, it was easy to hear the rally for a couple of blocks surrounding the park! It was fascinating that so many would hang out just to hear a candidate's voice, there certainly weren't that many that could even see the stage.

While there we saw these 2 little boys, one was dressed as Obama, the other was dressed as McCain. As it turned out they were brothers wearing their Halloween costumes. Pretty clever costumes if you ask me! At one point they started to wrestle and it was pretty funny. It was easy to picture the real Obama and McCain kind of wanting to go at each other like that. I'm not sure who would have won in this physical contest, the Obama kid was faster and had better reach, but McCain weighed a little more and liked to fight dirty. Mom came along and broke them up... Needless to say, both ended up in a timeout for trying to choke each other!

Between the speeches from various politicos and their flunkies the loud speakers would blare some catchy tune to keep the crowd up beat. The girls had a great time dancing together to the music and playing with the other kids. All the running around helped keep them warm and less whiny.

After waiting for awhile (Obama was late) the girls started to get really bored, cold and hungry. To try to keep them busy we walked closer to the capital building. We were hoping to find a vantage point where we could at least see where the stage was located. Unfortunately that didn't happen, but I did get some good snaps of the crowd and this one of the capital.

We stayed a little while longer and listened to the beginning of Obama's speech, but the girls were getting hungry and cold, so we went to McDonald's to stem the tide of whining. The bus trip to McDonald's was much nicer. The girls were amazed that there were so few people on the bus. There was a lot of counting and announcing of how there were only 12 people on the bus rather than 2000 (this number was Olivia's inflated number...I'm fairly sure there weren't 2000 people on that first bus!)

During lunch we sat at a the table next to an older lady that had also gone to the rally. She was so excited about the whole election and shared some of her stories about how Denver had changed during her lifetime. I don't know if the girls were really listening to her, but I hope they got an idea of how historic this election really is.

After lunch, we hit the crowds as they were leaving the rally. It was still less crowded on the bus and the trip was pretty pleasant. On the way back we did a little more of the touristy stuff as far as taking pictures and the girls got to play a little. At the park they rolled down the steep hill right by the sidewalk. One lady walking by and watching the kids roll down the hill commented, 'that is something that only a kid would enjoy!' How true, once you reach a certain age, avoiding falling down a hill becomes more of a priority.

Even though we didn't get to see anyone 'famous', it was a fun adventure and the girls had a good time.

An Autumn Drive part 3

A Surprising Park

After saying goodbye to the Stanley and leaving Estes Park we started the winding journey through the Big Thompson Canyon towards home.  Right at the outskirts of Estes Park and just about the time we started thinking about having lunch little raindrops began hitting the windshield.  Since it looked like a little storm, we decided to drive and when we were out of the storm we would stop and have lunch.  We'd packed a picnic and wanted to enjoy it outside, rather than enduring it inside the car.  We wound our way through the Big Thompson Canyon... I took a couple of pictures, unfortunately none of them turned out...

About 40 miles later... we were in Longmont and it finally stopped raining.  As we were driving down the main drag I spied a large grassy area... it looked a likely spot so we doubled back.  The park we had stumbled across was Roosevelt Park and in all honesty it was THE BEST PARK EVER! 

(Sweetheart?)

As are most parents, I am a play park connoisseur.  I like the parks that have the newer equipment...easy for the kids to play on and much safer.  Most of the parks in my area suck as far as set up.  Usually there is a bunch of blind spots where you can't see all your kids playing, so you have to march around the equipment like a demented sentry to keep all the kids in view and make sure the little ones aren't trying to kill themselves...or each other...or some stranger's kid...  This park however was set up perfectly, there really wasn't a bad vantage point. 

(Climbing 4th of July)

It was kind of shaped like a butterfly, all the climbing stuff was located in the middle with 2 twisty slides, one on either end.  The equipment was flat enough that you could see either side from the ends and from straight on you could see both slides as well as the swings in the background.  As a bonus, a kid would really have to try hard to fall, there weren't many areas where a little one could take a nose dive off the equipment.  It was a great park for one parent to be able to watch several kids... which was good for Chris!  Whoever designed this playground had been to a park with kids they cared about. 

(Peace)

Wha...?  Good for Chris?... you might be asking.  Oh hell yeah, I was off doing my own thing and Chris and the kids were on their own.  Attached to the park was a wonderful Rose Memorial Garden for Veterans.  Normally I think of a Rose garden as being a tragedy of some struggling bushes on the edge of the lawn that  have been forgotten.  I don't know if it's because there is a senior center right there or if they just have well trained park personnel; whatever the reason these roses were well taken care of and very healthy.  The blooms were huge, the leaves glossy and green and many of the roses were taller than me.  It was beautiful and the smell... heavenly. 

(Pink Peace)

(Sterling Silver)

Just for the record, I am not a huge fan of the rose bush, I think they are kind of ugly plants.  Very leggy, tall and then they have large flowers located only at the top ... makes them look kind of unbalanced... bunch of green at the bottom and topped with blossoms only at the top.  Plus, I like a tight planting and roses need room to breath or they end up with all kind of health problems. And then there's the care.... roses need some.  The pruning, fertilizing, pruning, watering, disease control, insect control, winterizing, pruning ritual starts to break me down really fast.

But on Sunday, I was sure excited to see so many rose bushes in one place.  It really brought back some memories. 

For years and years I worked in and managed different greenhouses learning all about plants, their care and how to grow them.  I've missed it, and I think that contributed to my excitement.  I actually wished I had some pruners on me since some of the bushes had flowers that were faded... plus a bouquet would have been a great souvenir of the trip.  I'm pretty sure the parks dept would have frowned on random strangers doing some pruning, but eh... how much jail time would I get for that offense?  In the end, I realized I liked my freedom so instead I snapped a bunch of pictures rather than stealing a big bouquet.  A couple of years ago I probably could have told you the names of all of the roses, but now I only know a few off the top of my head.  The garden had the bushes all labeled and the smart person would have snapped pictures of the name before or after each blossom... but I took the pictures (and not the aforementioned smarty pants.)

At a certain point, I had to give up on the photographs... not because I had enough pictures of roses (strange phrase enough and pictures... individually they make sense, put them together and ???)  but, because the battery in my camera was dying.  I didn't bring any extras batteries so... I sat down and had a lovely lunch with the family.   Soon after it started to get really hot as the clouds cleared off  so we decided to head home.  All in all it was a great adventure, we had a lot of fun and I got a lot of great pictures out of the trip. 

Thanks for coming along!!

An Autumn Drive Part 2...

The Stanley Hotel (part 2)

Once in Estes Park we realized that we had never toured the Stanley Hotel and it was about time that we did that. For those of you who have seen or read Stephen King's 'The Shining', the Stanley was the inspiration for the story. Here's the really disappointing part, the Stanley isn't located high up in the mountains in a desolate area above Estes Park ... its actually behind the Safeway within the city limits of Estes Park. (Sorry to be the one to burst that bubble) Even though the location is kind of disappointing the hotel itself is very large and quite grand. We walked around the entire building and looked around inside just like all the other tourists who were there. It was a lot of fun although, I had always pictured it different... more macabre somehow. (Oh yeah... there isn't a maze either... another bubble popped, oh and no living topiary...pop!) We couldn't go upstairs (guests only) and there weren't any ghosts down in the lobby (that I could see) So, I'm assuming they were all upstairs taking midday naps...thats what I would have been doing!
The Stanley has some amazing mountain views and is worth a visit just for that. Just imagine sitting on the big wrap around veranda with a view like this:

We parked around the back of the Hotel. From there you could access many of the rooms (no view, so probably the 'affordable' rooms are in the back) There were a bunch of cute little flower gardens and these cool gates located every 20 feet or so. The Hotel was really striking because of its attention to detail. Even the fire escapes had little details that made them more like works of art rather than a tedius life saving structure.

I really can't believe that it took us so many years to really look around the Stanley, but I'm glad we finally did. I think the kids even enjoyed themselves a little bit.