Eaton Days-July 12, 2014

We had the privilege of taking Hannah to her first parade this morning. It was in Eaton, Colorado, a tiny town very close to us. It is where Hannah and Zoey will go to school. It is a farming community so we knew the parade would be different. All in all it was a great parade and the weather was only slightly warm but with a nice breeze. We got there about 15 minutes before the parade started. We should have gone earlier but it still worked out well. We were sitting in the sun so we covered Hannah with sunscreen. We had already decided to use our bodies to put Hannah in our shadow to try to keep her cool. A nice man walked across the street and told us we could sit on the curb in front of them in the shade of a huge tree. I was so impressed it almost made me cry. You just don't encounter that type of kindness anymore. So, we went across the street and sat on the curb, in the shade. How wonderful. Those people enjoyed watching Hannah as much as we did.

People actually stood for this color guard. The men took their hats

off. And everybody put their hands over their hearts. Talk about emotional.

 

The people stood and applauded these veterans. Many yelled

"Thank you!" to them. And the veterans all smiled from ear to ear.

This was emotional, too.

 

And what parade is not complete without Smokey the Bear?

Afterward, kids could have their picture made with him.

 

Hannah loved this one because the square dancers were all dancing

while the float went down the street. I'm not sure that would be an easy thing to do.

 

I think this is a clever idea from the town florist.

 

A living reenactment of the raising of the flag on Hiroshima.

This could not have been easy on the top of a tall float. Very impressive.

 

Would you want to ride one of these things for the entire length of a parade?

 

There were lots of horses in the parade. This team was just stunning.

We were so close Hannah really got to see how big horses can be.

 

I should have made a video of this horse prancing. He was wonderful!

I didn't mean to cut off the rider's head, but he wasn't prancing so I

guess it doesn't matter.

 

After the parade we walked to the big shindig in the city park. It was a packed house and the line for barbecue was over a block long. We passed on that. But we did take Hannah to a petting zoo.

 

Hannah's first contact with a big pig. She really liked it and was not

at all intimidated by it. It was a docile pig. She did not like the goats.

She also loved the llama because it was so soft. For the record,

yes indeed we washed her hands thoroughly and then sanitized them.

 

This is one day we will not forget for a very long time. Hannah had so much fun and we had a fabulous time watching her. She was shy at first but she finally got the hang of it. She even managed to scoop up some candy that was thrown. And she waved at every single float. The lady behind us commented that at her young age, Hannah already had "the wave" mastered. Sometimes Hannah danced and sometimes she shouted "Look, another car!". She loved the fire trucks. What a wonderful day. Her parents were going to take her to the fireworks display tonight. We watched it from our front window. Hannah had a very busy and very special day. So did we.

 

We will be resting on the Sabbath tomorrow. I hope you can do the same.