For any other normal family going to a holiday parade you would bring lawn chairs, a blanket for the kids to sit on, and a candy bag (again for the kids). They would find a spot on the parade route and then watch the parade. The children can collect whatever candy is tossed at them and the adults on the chairs would collect all the advertising flyers and coupons. Then they would leave when the parade was over.
WE ARE NOT YOUR TYPICAL PARADE GOERS! We don't go to collect candy, we go to toss it back. We don't sit, we stand the whole time and we yell. ALOT! We yell things like, "_______ you're our favorite city!" and "Will you marry me!?!" Yep, we also get dressed in red, white and blue attire which some years have included a cape and wacky sunglasses. We find enjoyment of being the loudest people on the street. Dad and R come home exhausted and their voices are shot. We place chairs early in the week to ensure our spot. We buy a big breakfast of fruit, muffins, juice, chocolate milk, yogurt. There is no way you leave hungry. It's much like an Olympic sport by how much we prepare. This year we made big signs so that even if you didn't hear all the yelling, at least you could read the giant posters. This year we also went to two parades because R's son J was in another one and we went to support.
That night we watched the Murray fireworks at the park. We were some of the last people to leave once it was over because we didn't want to sit in our car to wait to get through the crowds. Then as we sat there on our lawn chairs, it started to rain. We shouldn't have needed to seeing as it is July, but we were prepared with umbrellas.
