Yesterday was THE parade. The downtown Fairfax 4th of July parade. The parade was a source of serious debate in our ward. Some wanted to walk in the parade, some folks didn't. Some folks wanted handcarts, pioneer dancing and songs, some didn't. Some folks wanted missionaries, some didn't. Some wanted pioneer clothing, some folks didn't. Did we really want to perpetuate the stereotypes of Mormons that already exist? How did we want to portray ourselves to the locals? Needless to say the parade was a hot topic.
Thankfully the parade didn't go as originally planned thanks to some well given advice (thanks babe). Some old folks wore pioneer garb, some folks pulled handcarts, we had the local missionaries and then we had the "rest". Just us normal folks walking and pushing strollers with our 10 kids. We were all the stereotypes personified. As we walked along I looked over to my friend Marti and said "what do you think they are thinking?" she was wondering the same thing. There were ward families who weren't brave enough to "come out of the closet" so they watched from the sidelines and overheard some interesting comments such as "Keep rolling those carts on to Utah" or the ever popular "The West is THAT way". It was interesting to say the least.
Abbey was the star of the parade. She rode in the handcarts with her friends and walked with Daddy almost the entire mile. The crowd loved when she would vigorously wave her flag and march to the band that was in front of us. Then she spotted her boyfriend whom she hadn't seen in a week in the crowd. She took off running into the crowd, faster than lightning. Then she did it. She planted a big wet kiss right on his face. Ben turned to his Dad and said "Abbey gives wet kisses". Toddler love.
Oh and our dear sweet Jack slept in the stroller almost the whole time, we never heard a peep from him.
After the parade our kids slept for hours from the long morning and Joseph went with the guys to see Transformers. We then had 16 adults, 16 kids and 4 babies over to our house for some food and fun. It was awesome!! The kids had a blast, we ate, talked, lit sparklers and ate some more. Then Joseph cleaned the entire house. It was a great day!
2 comments:
That's so funny and interesting about the comments and issues with the parade. Sounds like Joey was the voice of reason. I like that there was a mix of dress. Were you guys the "regulars"?
When I was a missionary in Toronto people often thought we represented the Mennonites.
Did Joey like Transformers?
Chris, we were considered the "regulars" but I guess that depends on your definition of "regulars". :)
Joseph loved Transformers. The nostalgia factor was lower than he had anticipated, he says. Overall it was a good movie.
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