weekend update

For this blog post's purposes, our weekend started on Thursday (like any decent weekend should). 

Dan had a plane to catch. He flew to Alabama to help my parents drive back to Utah. He's pretty much going to have to win the Son-in-Law of the Year Award for that one.

Cate was so sad before we left. She tried hard to not let her tears fall though. I traced her body on a big piece of paper. We cut it out and decorated it to look like her. Then we folded it up and stuck it in Dan's suitcase and instructed him to hug it every night before bed. And every night we call to say goodnight and Cate asks if he's hugged the paper yet.

After successfully finding my way home from the airport, we picked up some cousins and headed to the farm and the dinosaur museum. The farm was a big mistake because it was already hotter than hades outside. But I'm an idiot and we did it anyway. 

Later that evening we walked down to the park so the kiddies could ride in the parade. I walked behind the float for my exercise for the week. The float was built to look like the Frontrunner commuter train that zooms past our little town. The kids did a great job just sitting and looking out the windows. I tried to get Cate to wave at people but she just kept saying, "But I don't know them!"

Then the parade was done and we walked home. I was pooped.

Saturday morning we walked the few blocks to Main Street to watch another parade. This one has the same floats as the night before plus extra bands and big floats from banks and princesses from neighboring cities. 

I took pictures of the winning floats from the night before. This is mostly for Dan because he missed the parades and he'll want to know who won.

The Sweepstakes winner was the yellow submarine. There was actually a kid poking his head out of the top. First place was the purple people eater. The second place winner was a square donut. 

And here's our ward's float. I think it deserved to be in the top 3 but nobody asked for my opinion on the matter.

We didn't survive the entire parade because, surprise! It was so dang hot. I told myself that I'd stay as long as the kids wanted to and not mention anything about how it felt like my legs were baking in an oven. We left when they were ready, mostly because Danny said his legs felt like they were on fire. 

Yesterday we went to church and survived without Dan. And could my kids BE any cuter? My goodness. I can't stand it sometimes.

We ate dinner at the cousins' house and then had a little fun in the backyard kiddie pool. 

And that brings us to today. We're so excited that Grama Bama and Grandpa will be here for good! No more 2,000 miles between us. More like 3.2. They've lived in that house in Alabama for almost 35 years. That's a long time. We're lucky that we finally convinced them to be closer to us. I will do my best to not abuse their powers of free babysitting.

And Happy Canada Day to my mother! Sure, she's lived in Alabama longer than she ever lived in Canada but she's still got a green card.