Children's Parade!

The Annual Provo Children's Parade ... that's right ... 500 kids walking, riding bikes and scooters down the middle of Center Street in Provo. Sound like fun? It sure was! Sound like a zoo? It sure was!

We really did have a good time. It was a stake activity and several families from the ward made an appearance. We probably had about 30 or 40 people from our ward alone. Yesterday we had a bunch of kids come to our house to decorate bikes and scooters and strollers for the occasion and today we got to show them all off!

It was pretty hot at first but Marley put her spray / fan bottle that we bought at Disneyworld to good use - she gave everyone even close to her bike a good spray, if they wanted it or not.

Marley (meaning me) decorated her bike and even her helmet!

What do you think?

I think that if there had been a contest for best helmet she would have won! Hands down.

Of course the whole concept of riding her bike down the MIDDLE of the road was a completely new concept for Marley. She knows she gets in big trouble if she even looks at the road while she's riding bikes let alone actually get on it.

So ... instead of riding down the middle, she kept veering towards the sidewalk, by the parked cars and spectators. She kept getting so close I thought she would run into someone or something or even fall into the large gutters along the side. AND THEN ... they started throwing out candy. Well, not only were we getting behind the group because of her sidewalk tendencies ... now she was stopping for the candy! And not only would she stop to get it, she would stop to open the wrapper and put it in her mouth. Silly girl!

The best part of a parade, Marley knows, is when the people on the floats wave to those along the side of the road ... so she knew what to do! She rode along, waving to everyone watching on the sidewalk. She really has that wave down ... I think she must be an "Onion Days Royalty" in training (or Strawberry Days, or Art City Days, you know - one of the fifty small Utah town festivals during the summer). We kind of lost our group towards the end, the other wards kind of pushed their way through us and scattered the group, but we found them at the end of the road. AND Marley didn't crash once! I am very proud of her riding skills - especially only getting her bike on Thursday!

Everyone had a great time ... even Ethan can you tell? Seriously - the parade lasted about 7 blocks, he fell asleep after about 2. Silly boy! Too much excitement for him, I guess. He even missed out on the treats at the end. He didn't wake up until I was putting him in the car.

* Added bonus - we didn't get run over! I thought for sure we would get creamed by at least one or two crazy kids on a bike or scooter, but we stayed skid mark free!