We Love A Parade

Started Parade Day (December 1) with breakfast at McDonald's. It was crazy in that tiny place, seems everyone wants breakfast before the parade. Thank goodness Jodi and Robert were early birds and were able to save a couple of tables. Got all our food ordered and had a nice meal. Riley was a little piggy and had two pancakes and half a sausage patty. Everyone else enjoyed their breakfast also.

Divided up into two vehicles and headed out in search of a parking space. I think we drove all over Saint Cloud before settling on a great place. We walked to the corner, set up our chairs and blankets in a nice shady spot. We had about a half hour before the parade started but it went by very fast. Riley did lots of exploring, checked out the leaves, moss and dirt. He was also much more interested in my chair then his little chair.

The parade started with police sirens and for the next hour and a half Riley was completely mesmerized by all the things in the parade. That included horses (although if you asked Jessica there were lots of cows), beautiful old cars, floats, bands, clowns, fire trucks and only in Saint Cloud - cement trucks. It was really a lot of fun.

The kids - Jared, Nick (Jared's friend), Jacob, Jessica and of course the big kids - Andy, Nikki and Ashley - had a great time collecting candy that was thrown during the parade. Some ot the kids could be a bit cut-throat when it came to getting the good stuff.

All in all a really great morning.

What Did You Find Under Your Birdfeeder Today?

Dan was out in the backyard and this is what he found under ours. It is about 5 feet long. Wonder if he ate a good meal right after shedding the skin. We have saved the skin so Cole can see it the next time he is at the house.

So how was your day?

John's Frocking Ceremony

A picture from John's frocking ceremony. For those of you not familiar with this practice, it's a custom in the Navy to let sailors who have been selected for promotion wear the uniform and accept the responsibilities of their new pay grade with out getting paid for it right now. John will get his pay raise sometime in the next six months, we hope it is sooner rather than later.

Congratulations again John and we are all very proud of you.

Enchanted

Went to see this movie yesterday. We were quite the group - Tammy, Sami, Cole, Breann, Nikki, Jason, and me. Decided to take our chances on the theater at the Loop. Didn't know what to expect when it came to parking. But when we arrived there were hardly any cars at the end with the theater.

Not many people were seeing movies at 0950 so we were pretty much the only people in the theater. We walked in and the previews started just after we sat down. I want to go see all the movies we saw previews for, but then I remember how much it costs now for a ticket and the concessions are just outrageous.

We all enjoyed the movie, it was very funny and had a happy ending, what more could we ask for.

After the movie we were heading up to see Chris. Stopped at the first Burger King we came to for his lunch. Pull up to the drive through and Tammy orders 5 hamburger, no pickle and the voice comes back with their broiler is broken and they have no burgers. So off we went to the next Burger King. We crossed over from John Young to the Trail and this time we were able to get burgers, but the girl handed the bag to Tammy and it only had one burger, well we finally got all the burgers and off we went. Got as far as Sam's and the traffic really wasn't moving so we crossed back over to John Young and went up to Sand Lake to get to Chris's store. This was really easier in the long run because we were on the right side of the street.

The store was very busy so just dropped of the burgers and Tammy picked up the package she needed to get. Found out later from Chris he was working on pulling merchandise for a family from Brazil, took him 3 hours to get it all. Guess how much they spent!!! Seven thousand dollars, you read right seven thousand. Guess the store did pretty good yesterday.

We got out of Dodge and onto the turnpike, dropped Nikki and Jason off and went to get the kids some lunch. Sonic and McDonalds took care of that. Then over to my house to work on some Christmas Crafts although Cole and Breann were much more interested in playing with the rocks in the Navy room.

Pretty much called it a day ofter that.

John's Promotion is Official

John's promotion is listed in the Navy Times this week. It is definitely official now.

Kim's Thanksgiving

Now we have proof that Kim got a turkey dinner. Still would have liked to have had her at ours, next year for sure.

(I stand corrected :-) - Kim had prime rib for dinner, not turkey. )

Happy Thanksgiving

What a great day! It was so wonderful to talk to Leesha, she called just after everyone arrived and talked to everyone. Still hard to believe she lives in Omaha.

Sami and Breann came early and helped me get everything ready for the day. Made place cards and decided where everyone would sit for the big meal. Breann hung the candy canes all over the house, never knew where you were going to find them.

Then we got Elfed. Office Max had the cute and funny program that you could put you face on an elf and it would dance. We had lots of fun with that. I'm sure we will be seeing a few more of those popping up.

Everyone started arriving at about noon. Munched away on pepperoni, salami, cheese, crackers, veggies, and some wonderful fudge (Jeannie made that, where did she find the time).

Turkey was served just a little after 2 - it was a great meal. My turkey tester (Dad) was right on with checking for turkey doneness. Sami made some delicious carmelized onions, I think they were my favorite part of the meal, well beside the pies.

Got the table all cleared and served up the pie. Your choice of Key Lime, Peanut Butter Cup, Pecan, or Pumpkin or any combinations of those and we had lots of different combos. Topped them off with cool whip and we had some mighty satisfied customers.

Then it was off to watch football, Green Bay won, take a nap or clean up the kitchen. Mum, Tammy and I were the cleanup crew. It went pretty fast so that wasn't to bad.

The last of the guests left at about 1830 or so, it seemed so much later. It sure felt good to just sit down and relax.

Will be back later with the exciting tales of Friday.

Just remembered John is getting frocked on Friday, pretty exciting.