Mesa's Veteran's Day Parade

Today is Veteran's Day. Actually, I read this today, and really appreciated it.

"I will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.

Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.

So I will throw Veterans' Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't want to throw away any sacred things."-Kurt Vonnegut

So, Happy Armistice Day. I actually don't think I'd throw Veterans' Day away... I just like the story of the minute of silence. I think that is very interesting and awe-inspiring.
Today, we ventured to downtown Mesa to enjoy the parade. This is a fun tradition that I enjoy keeping every year with my kids. I didn't get too many pictures because the majority of the parade I was holding Noelle up as high as I could while helping Melanie balance on the stroller. But I did get a few.

The parade began with this:

Isn't that a beautiful aircraft? While we were waiting for the parade to start, a fun clown walked up to Melanie. A nice man with a family next to ours offered to take this picture. Thank you very nice man!
We met up with Cousin Liz, Morgan, and Ethan at the parade. I had to get a picture of them, because, like me, Liz spent most of her time holding one in the air. But she is super woman, because she held Morgan up the entire time. I opt to hold Noelle the entire time. She needed more "boosting" to see, and weighs a good 16 pounds less than Ms. Morgan. Liz... you are amazing!
As a part of the parade, they honor all the Arizona Veteran's that have recently died in action. I was trying to explain this to Melanie, when I over heard another mother explain it to her son this way: "These are all the people we need to say thank you to". I liked that. And it is true.

While Morgan was watching the parade on her mom's shoulders, Ethan was exploring... I watched this happen in slow motion, and when I told him he was "busted", he grinned from ear to ear. So I had to get a picture for his mom.

The parade went about 15 minutes longer than my kid's attention spans (which, to tell you the truth, was pretty long, because they lasted about an hour and a half before getting bored). The next few pictures or of them walking around while the parade was still going on.

Okay, I'm loving this "posing" picture. Seriously, what is that face, Melanie?!? Love it!

And more posing in the next picture. Hilarious!

The last thing in the parade is always a fire truck. I was happy to get this picture of Melanie with the fire truck in the background.

It was a great parade. I appreciate that the City of Mesa puts it on every year so that I can feel a little more patriotic while explaining h0w special our country is to my children.

On a separate, humorous note: When we got back to the car, I threw both children in and told them to get in their seats while I put the stroller away. When I was done, I found that Noelle had decided she was driving! It definitely made me laugh.