Raleigh Christmas Parade

Today was a busy day. Very early in the cold, we set off to see the Christmas parade. Now, Tim & I have both lived here for a long time but have never been. We weren't too sure what to expect and quite surprised when the newspaper said it would last about 2-1/2 hours. Apparently this is the biggest parade between Atlanta and DC - who knew?! Parade started around 9:30am and we got there about 20 minutes before and found a pretty good spot. We had all bundled up in multiple layers - Eli actually had his fuzzy pajamas on under his sweatsuit, worked perfectly!! The parade started with the police department on motorcycles and horses and there were tons of things to see after that. Eli was so cute waving to all the parade people and making friends with everyone around us. His school had a float (#93 of 115 floats - that didn't include all the other bands, cars, horses, balloons, etc.) but Eli had pooped out by then. He seemed to have fun watching the entire thing. We even got lucky and were giving a 'Bob the Builder' DVD.

Post parade, we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and a shopping excursion to REI. Got Eli an awesome snowsuit (not that we expect a lot of snow, just need to keep him warm b/c we CAN NOT spend the next four months inside!) and also picked up a few Christmas gifts. We spent the afternoon recovering (all of us) from our big morning.

Lots of pictures from the day...

Family photo

Monster truck - what a great Southern Parade!

Tractors - Grandpa would have loved this

Mid parade - looking for the next float

Flat Stanley went with us - he really needs that coat!

Dancing library carts - this was one of my favorites. They had a choreographed routine and had so much fun with it.

Snowman balloon - 1 of 4 balloons. Who needs Macy's?

Pooped out warm & snuggly little boy

Every good Christmas parade must end with Santa!