This is part two of a three part series covering our recent busy holiday weekend – if you missed the first part, read about our berry picking adventure.
After getting everyone cleaned up, some failed “laundrical surgery” on my raspberry destroyed shirt, and a relatively good night’s sleep, we were ready to meet our nation’s 233rd birthday head-on. The plans were simple – a parade in Manlius (about 20 minutes away) and then an immediate evacuation to my in-laws house in scenic Waterloo, NY (about an hour away). It would be a Fourth to remember, for sure.
The parade itself was scheduled for a 10:00 AM start, so we figured leaving at 9 or 9:15 would give us ample time to stake out a spot along the parade route, hopefully somewhere near the beginning to capitalize on the overzealous candy tossers whose distribution estimation abilities were “not so good.” Naturally, due to a variety of comedic miscues and temper tantrums (mine was especially bad) – we didn’t get on the road until 9:40ish, leaving us with a mad scamper up the road to the parade. Thankfully the entire police force of upstate New York were involved in parades and weren’t patrolling as I flew through their precincts at what could probably best be described as “light speed.” We arrived in time and were able to get a parking spot and even a decent curbside vantage point.
We met up with my boss and his family (they live down the street from the parade) and settled in for what would turn out to be a pretty lengthy display of fire trucks, marching bands, church floats, nuclear missiles on trucks and expressionless lock-stepping Soviet soldiers who, in unison, efficiently distributed Tootsie Rolls from under their fur hats. We had Justine set up in her Kelty backpack, which provided a very convenient viewing stand for her to watch and wave to the folks passing by in front of her. It was great for us too, because it kept her from blithely wandering into the path of the oncoming fire trucks or trying to fling herself into one of the tubas from the Police and Fire band.
We were especially amazed by the volume of candy that this parade generated. I’ve been to many a parade before, but I’ve never seen anything close to the mountains of Tootsie Rolls, Laffy Taffy, lollipops and chocolate covered grasshoppers that came flying in our general direction. For the most part, the folks winging this stuff at us followed standard candy-tossing protocol, flinging their wares down and away from the parade route so as not to entice the waiting throngs of children to run dead-on into the “St. Ann’s Truckin’ Choir” flatbed. Unfortunately a few folks instead decided to distribute in a more aerial fashion, and rained Tootsie Rolls down upon our hapless daughter, who didn’t take kindly to the bombardment and let loose her only real tears of the affair.
All in all, it was a solid parade, if a bit unorganized. It also seemed to drag on a bit, which may have just been how it appeared to me now that I have a child with a relatively short attention span. The highlight for me, besides of course the delight of watching Justine sneer at elected officials I didn’t vote for, was the very end of the parade. The last “division” so to speak was the antique cars, a staple of any good parade. After the majority of the old clunkers made their way past, it became evident that the final car in the parade wasn’t moving. It had stalled out, and they couldn’t get it started again.
Thus the final image of the hour and a half parade is three guys pushing a very old, wood-paneled Chevy station wagon down the parade route, to the cheers and laughter of all in attendance.
With Justine’s first parade now in the books, we gathered our things, said goodbye to our friends and headed for the car, bound for Waterloo and a date. With a boat.
Posted in Holidays, Uncategorized.
Tagged with ample time, curbside, fire trucks, fur hats, Justine, kelty backpack, light speed, manlius, marching bands, miscues, nuclear missiles, parade route, parades, police force, soviet soldiers, temper tantrums, tootsie rolls, tossers, vantage point, waterloo ny.
Hopefully everyone has had an enjoyable weekend – we had a wonderful time with my sister, brother-in-law and their two adorable kids who came up to visit us here in Syracuse. In any case, I wanted to make the customary weekly plug for my latest Armed and Fatherly over at Dad Blogs. This week I depart a little bit from the standard fare of recommended items to take on the controversial topic of a relatively small (but for some folks essential) piece of baby gear: the humble pacifier. So, if you haven’t already, check out my thoughts on the binky.
Posted in Armed and Fatherly.
Tagged with adorable kids, baby gear, conspiracy, controversial topic, dad, enjoyable weekend, little bit, pacifier, sister brother, syracuse, wonderful time.
View the Photo Gallery
This past weekend, in addition to being a time of fireworks, hamburgers, and white bearded folks in red, white and blue striped outfits stumbling about on stilts tossing Tootsie rolls at unsuspecting children, also proved to be a jam-packed weekend of fun and firsts for us and our dear Justine. Too many notable events occurred, in fact, to cover in a single post without overloading you, the reader, with more adorable stories and pictures than I think you can handle, so we’ll attack this in a few parts.
A rare Friday off of work and some excellent seasonal timing afforded us the opportunity to pay for the experience that millions of illegal migrant workers are compensated for every year: berry picking. We met some friends at a local farm and set about the surprisingly tedious task of removing individual berries from the shrubs, bushes and trees that they were stapled too. First up was strawberries, which were probably just a bit past their prime, judging by the fact that much of the crop appeared to be in a liquid state. After we snagged what few edible strawberries remained, we moved onto cherries, which I was surprised to learn grow on trees, and not directly in the jars as I would’ve guessed. Unfortunately cherries were also at the end of their season as well, and rather than liquefy many of them seemed to instead morph into cherry nonpareils – a cherry with little balls of “something” growing all around it. “Something” that sadly does NOT taste like nonpareils. Finally we headed to raspberries, which were mercifully just starting, and thus, quite literally, ripe for the picking.
We took turns with Justine in our Keltie backpack contraption, which is a cross between a backpack and a clothes hamper, but with a sturdy harness in between to securely dangle our daughter inside. This is the first I had seen her in it and she loves it, probably because, unlike the Bjorn, she’s not dodging pitches as a chest protector when I catch softball games. The only downside, of course, is that the person wearing the contraption doesn’t really know what she is up to back there, and can only guess by the various kicks, jabs, and odd sensations that occur during use. One such sensation that hit me was a distinct wet feeling, which to my horror I believed was perhaps a leaking diaper. Instead, my darling daughter decided to crush several raspberries between me and the Keltie, which, upon removal, gave the distinct impression that I had taken a shotgun to the back. She thought it was funny, at least.
Berry picking proved to be a significantly fun activity, but we weren’t particularly efficient at it, at least that is what the snickers at the weighing counter seemed to suggest. Of course they could’ve been amused by the 8 inch red blotch that covered the top of my back, or perhaps the site of a jolly little infant with a face covered in crushed berries and an adorable smile to go along with it.
And our weekend was just beginning.
- MWF -
Check out all the other great posts today over at Fatherhood Friday!
Posted in Holidays.
Tagged with bjorn, cherries, chest protector, clothes hamper, contraption, firsts, hamburgers, Justine, liquid state, local farm, migrant workers, nonpareils, notable events, seasonal timing, shrubs bushes, softball games, stilts, tedious task, tootsie rolls, unsuspecting children.
A festive Fatherhood Friday to all – if you have a moment this holiday weekend, check out some of the other great posts over at Dad Blogs, and of course my latest Armed and Fatherly.
View the birthday photo gallery…
It’s hard to believe that it was nearly three weeks ago that we held our daughter’s first birthday/Tupperware extravaganza in our backyard. Our house is still littered with the remnants of the affair, with decorations gathering dust where they were hastily tossed, balloons hanging lazily as their nitrous slowly dissipates, and the pony still occasionally pawing at the garage door in hopes we might feed it after we locked it in there those many weeks ago. But, I’m happy to report that the fiesta was a huge success, bringing together friends and family alike to share in the celebration of Justine’s happy milestone.
I’ve previously discussed the thought process behind our party planning, especially in light of the fact that our little one will have zero recollection of the day. Consequently, preparations for the big day weren’t overly hectic or dramatic as we have experienced with other planned affairs. (the wedding, for example, or my annual Arbor Day Bonfire and Kegfest) Most of the work involved the guillotining of a garden’s worth of veggies, and of course frantically jamming our daily life into closets to give the appearance that we don’t live in a cluttered nightmare of useless junk. But I have to say that the highlight for me was getting the opportunity to take apart one of those human leg-sized pork loins from Sam’s Club and jamming the pieces into 3 crockpots full of the cheapest barbecue sauce we could find. Incidentally, the house still reeks like a Louisiana smokehouse.
The day dawned and we were up early getting everything set. All of our parents came from far and wide to help us with everything, from managing the food, to helping decorate, and above all entertaining the guest of honor who clearly had no conception of the whirlwind going on around her as everything was being situated. Guests began arriving soon after, and we had a wonderful turnout of friends who dropped by to mooch off our free food, comb through our medicine cabinet, and at least toss a ‘happy birthday’ in Justine’s general direction while dropping off most likely wrapped but empty cardboard boxes. We had the usual party elements, with a decent spread of food, coolers full of soda, an array of toys available for the kids (including a water table and a kiddie pool full of plastic balls which we had to keep shooing the parents out of) and of course cougar vs. jaguar cage matches.
The highlight of the entire affair (for me at least) was the cake. A family friend (Jennifer) , with some “help” from my wife, crafted an amazing “Ace of Cakes-esque” birthday cake that matched our “baby block” theme. Before everyone could dig into it, we presented to our little Justine (firmly strapped into her decorated high chair) her own tiny block shaped cake. It took some prodding, but she eventually tore into it, shoving gobs of the sticky cake/fondant into her hair, down her dress, up her nose, and occasionally in her mouth. This was her first real taste of anything cake-like, and as expected, she was bouncing off the walls for hours afterward.
Thankfully, the shaky weather forecast held, and only as the last guests were leaving, pilfered rolls of toilet paper shoved down their pant legs and expired amoxycillin prescriptions tucked away in purses, did the expected downpour begin. We were left to drain the crockpots, attempt to stuff the fridge with the leftovers, and perform the ritual ‘gift-assembly’ that always seems to follow the large-scale baby/infant gift-giving bonanzas.
All in all, it was an amazing day and one that we will treasure for years to come. Except for Justine of course, who will someday look at the pictures and more than likely accuse us of stealing some other kids party pictures and photoshopping her into them. Actually, that is not a terrible idea…
- MWF -
Posted in Milestones.
Tagged with arbor day, barbecue sauce, birthday photo, bonfire, crockpots, fatherhood, first birthday, garage door, gathering dust, guest of honor, holiday weekend, human leg, pork loins, recollection, sam s club, smokehouse, thought process, tupperware, useless junk, whirlwind.
Howdy folks – still trying to catch up from last week’s epic Gulf Coast adventure and sadly this blog has gotten the least of my attention as of late. I WAS able to cobble together a new Armed and Fatherly for Dad Blogs and it posted this morning. The topic du jour is appropriately traveling with infants, and is a hopefully enlightening romp through the best gear for hauling your infant/toddler long distances in the car. Check it out if you have a moment.
Posted in Armed and Fatherly.
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