Happy Memorial Day!

What did you do for Memorial Day?  Ella and I?...Oh we were just in a parade!

A tad belated, but Happy Memorial Day to you all.  My objective for this day was to take Ella and get out of the house and stay out....Because Jason was trying to finish out the bathroom which includes (prime, paint, frame doorway, install closet door, trim door, trim floor, paint and in stall hwbb cover.)  That's a lot my friends.  He's amazing and I'm so grateful to him.  But we sure did miss him on this glorious day!

So, I was looking for parades that were close by. I found one that had a "Bike Decorating Contest" before the parade.  Well, Oooo BOY does Ella LOVE her new bike!  So we grabbed some crape paper and ribbon and went to town.  We had a ball and loaded up our bike. 

It turned out there was no real CONTEST (although I'm pretty sure we would've won darn tootin' cutest!), everyone got a free certificate for ice cream...pretty much Ella's #1 love language!  And little did we know...all the kids then get to ride their bikes IN THE PARADE! 

I was not so sure about this proposition.  I envisioned some little three year old so far behind she'd be holding the whole thing up, or perhaps a major collision, or even better, a serious melt down/freak out when the loud noises sounded.  I mean, only this spring did she learn to ride a bike and she was the youngest child there by at least two years.  I explained the plan and asked her if she wanted to do it.  She answered with an emphatic "YES!".  So, still questioning my parental judgement, I figured let's have at it!  Worst comes to worse, I'll just wheel her off and hit the sidewalk back to the van and leave my child scarred for life regarding parades.  It's cool.  Parades are fairly easy to avoid if need be.

SHE DID AMAZING!  She rode a whole mile all by herself insisting that I not put a hand on her because she "didn't need any help".  She kept up with the rest, stayed right where she was supposed to and totally made a group of old ladies day when they were oooing and ahhhing over her cuteness and she gave them all some adorable waves without missing a beat. 

I was pretty much tearing up with pride and joy at how much she's changing and growing.  Thankfully I had on some honkin sunglasses to hide the tears :)

She also did really well at the small ceremony.  A lollipop kept her quiet enough to be respectful during speaches and such.  I'm not sure how much she understands but she can tell you that we were clapping for soldiers who have kept us safe.

Some other highlights for her...getting to climb in and explore a fire truck and ambulance...as well as getting to see and hear a REAL LIVE marching band.  (The girl is pretty enthralled with them right now...especially the drum section.  Oh boy!)