Last year, Punkin had her first taste of the July 4th Holiday. She saw her first fireworks. I thought she might be afraid of the noise, but she loved it. The city had put together a fireworks "concert" with music, and of course, we were too close to the speakers. The best part about it all, I thought, was the William Tell Overature. I bounced her in my lap to the "horsey" part of it and the big, thundering booms of the lighted sky was really great. She wasn't the least bit bothered by the whole thing.

Yesterday, we took Punkin to her first parade. Yep, she's 2-1/2 years old, and saw her first parade only yesterday. She seemed to enjoy it despite the incredibly overcast skies and the hungry mosquitoes. Before the parade started, she busied herself by pretending to put "tan lotion" on Mommy and Daddy. (I remembered to bring the bug spray, (score one 'Mom point' for me!) which she thought was sunscreen.) As long as she kept the cap on, she could play with it.

The fire trucks were pretty loud and after a while, she covered her ears when she even saw one coming. It took her a little while to get into the swing of the "people in the parade come out and give you candy" routine, but once she did, she kept telling me she wanted more candy. She didn't want to eat it, though. She just wanted to get it. She's never been big on sweets. She's not crazy about cake or ice cream or even pudding. Her only other exposure to candy was from her most recent Easter baskets a few months ago. She'll pop a piece in her mouth, take a bite, and spit it all back out. Yesterday she topped a 'candy in the mouth' record by holding a red and white striped mint in her mouth for about 20 seconds before spitting it out. (while me, the over protective "SMother" watched her like a hawk to make sure she didn't choke on it) So, she just kept handing over the candy and The Parents alternated between putting it away and eating it ourselves.

The parade began at 1:00pm, which is unfortunately her nap time. She did great though, waving and smiling to the parade marchers, watching the dancers and the Jesse White tumblers. She didn't even flinch when the Helping Paws brigade strolled by with about a dozen dogs on leashes. (Punkin had what we will forever refer to as "The Beagle Incident" last year and really doesn't like dogs. Even little Shih-Tzus cause her to clamber up Mt. Mommy or Daddy as quickly as her little legs can carry her).

The people in the parade had squirt guns of the Super Soaker variety, and we got sprayed with water. (I heard this morning that one ten-year old had waltzed up to the mayor, asked for candy and proceeded to drench him.)

Then it began to rain, just little drops at first, which became more insistent. The parade was scheduled to run for only another fifteen minutes, and we asked Punkin if she wanted to go home. She said yes, so we began to pack up the folding chairs. A little circus wagon float went by, and I wished for the hundredth time that I had a digital camera so I could add that picture to my Three Ring Circus pages. We were all packed, Hubby hoisted her up and we began trekking back to our vehicle when the rain let up a bit. We stood under a tree and watched for a few more minutes until Punkin said she wanted to go home again, and off we went. She was so very tired, and hadn't had a 'proper' lunch. (more 'Mom points', I remembered pretzels!) I was tired just looking at her and the way she was just draped over her Daddy as he carried her.

We asked her if she had fun and she answered yes, and told us that the "tiger" was her favorite. (A local high school's mascot who waved to her).

She was off to dreamland, after putting up a token fuss about nap time, when we got home.

This year we skipped the fireworks because of the weather, and found out this morning that they had them earlier because of the impending rain.

Oh well. Maybe next year, we'll make it to both the parade and the fireworks.

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