Who needs a parade?

On Saturday, we all participated (to one extent or another) in a Volksmarch in Saline. Stefan organized it in conjunction with Saline's German Christmas Market. It was SOOO cold that the boys and I, along with my in-laws, cut out of the walk a bit early so we could warm up.

So we spent the afternoon sipping hot chocolate and tea and eating popcorn at Jim and Gustie's while waiting for the highly anticipated Saline Christmas parade. Last year we took Sylvie to this event and the kids loved it. Or at least they loved all the candy that the parade participants throw to the audience. Let's be serious here... how exciting can float after float be for two five-year-olds? CANDY is a better draw!

As we stepped outside to load up the cars to go to this parade, it was just WAAAYYY too bitterly cold. The adults made a command decision to skip the parade. So we put on our own parade for Alex--each of us walked past him and pelted him with candy!! (thank goodness Gustie had some Halloween candy)

He wasn't totally satisfied with this solution, but munching on a piece or two of candy on the drive home did help alleviate the disappointment!

In other news, Alex and I attended a birthday party for a classmate of his. It was a small party at a HUGE gymnastics facility, where the kids were essentially turned loose to go play on everything! Alex ran around and tried it all... he was in non-stop motion for nearly the entire two hours. (how hard should it be to get him to slow down and eat pizza and cupcakes? turns out... very hard when there are foam pits around)

Luckily, the adults were turned loose to play as well! I tried to relive my grade-school gymnastics experience... however two kids and twenty years makes a big difference! This morning I'm sore in a lot of new places... but it was well worth it.

Alex and I both really enjoyed the huge foam pits... there were at least eight feet deep and filled with large foam chunks, making it nearly impossible to hurt yourself as you jumped in. The only problem is that getting out feels approximately the same as getting out of quicksand!