Tuesday, June 8, 2010

He's Famous!

Nope, not Elliott....

My brother in law, Jacob, work for the Portland Fire Dept. At the Starlight Parade Portland Fire is what starts the whole parade. They have a bunch of guys that do a ladder stunt. Someone climbs this ladder and then falls off onto a trampoline held by the rest of the fire crew. Let me tell you, these guys were like rock stars! I couldn't believe how popular they were. Dan's best friend, Brad, has been a fire fighter for years and does this every year. We were in touch with both Jacob and Brad so they knew where to look for us. It was really exciting for Brooke, Grace and Elliott to see people they knew in the parade.

But, the most exciting is that Jacob made it onto youtube! Here's a link to watch him do the ladder stunt:

Sunday, June 6, 2010

1 Day, 2 Parades

Finally we had a sunny day in Portland! It is June and we haven't had more than one sunny day in a row in weeks. I swear, there has been more rain recently than I can ever remember happening. It's nice for all those ferns we transplanted, but not so nice for Elliott who wants to be outside all day, every day.

But, the sun gods shined on us yesterday and gave us one really nice, warm sunny day. Just in time for the Starlight Parade during our annual Rose Festival. Saturday morning Dan took Elliott to Wilsonville (where his parents live and my sister, Amy) to watch the "Junk to Funk" parade. They were joined by Dan's Mom and Grandma. Dan decided this was the perfect parade for Elliott to watch. It was 20 minutes and every few minutes he was given either a new toy or candy. Can it get any better than that? Dan received 2, 24 oz cans of Monster Energy Drink....he was thrilled!




Later that night Dan, Elliott and I went to the Starlight Parade in downtown Portland. We met up with my sister, Sarah, and her family Ryan, Grace and Brooke. As we waited for the Starlight Run to take place - a 5k that happens before the parade - the kids got to play with sidewalk chalk and frisbees in the middle of the road. Here is Sarah playing Ring-around-the-rosie with Grace and Elliott:




We decided that this parade wasn't good for Elliott. We had to wait for way too long for the floats and even though the run was fun he wasn't into watching people running. We didn't leave Portland until 11pm and he was exhausted. Maybe in a few years he'll be happier to sit and watch a parade. Until then we'll stick to 20 minute parades with candy.

On Thursday we had a non-rainy afternoon and went down to Amy's to test our her new trampoline. The three little kids, Grace, Elliott and Caleb got to play on it together. Once Grace and Elliott warmed up to it they had a great time.