Roses and Rising Stars

On Saturday, my dad invited us to attend the Portland Rose Parade. Besides going to Powell's book store in the Fall, this was our family's first time in downtown city Portland together. We were a little worried what the weather would be like since it has been raining a lot the last week or so, but it actually wasn't too bad, with our winter coats on ;)

We arrived at the parade pretty early and picked up some breakfast at Cafe Bonjour. Then we secured a fantastic spot before heading out for a walk around the town. We had about an hour and a half before the parade would arrive to where we were so we enjoyed a nice stroll in the garden, took a ride on the Max and kicked it at Borders for a while. The boys were surprisingly good through the whole thing. I was have expecting to arrive in Portland, unload our stuff only to get back in and go home again ten minutes later....okay maybe thirty mintues later...he he he...(as many of you with toddlers can attest, it doesn't take much for the little ones to 'lose' it :) But we lucked out and the boys had a BLAST with their Grandpa Brown who always goes out of his way to spend extra time with his grandkiddos :)

Here are some pictures from my Dad's cell phone:

The floats were nicely constructed. Drew especially loved the marching bands. He sat and watched the whole thing with Grandpa Brown at his side, giving him the details on each entry.


Before the parade started, there were a ton of promotional gimmicks by companies using the "air time" to entertain with their products. Perhaps the funniest moment came when I was approached by a cute little kid, no more than seven or eight years old who handed me the following flier. (This was hand-made, not copied, and it looked like he only had a couple of them. I felt very privileged. I even asked him if I needed to give it back to him. He said it was mine to keep. Gorilla marketing at its best :)
I had to weed through quite a few Jonas Brothers videos to find it, but how can I NOT include a clip on our blog?? I was one of like three people invited so I'll pass my exclusive invitation on to you. (The blonde is the one who gave me the flier) :P



In other news, Forrest learned how to climb out of his crib. I thought it was a fluke the first time, but when it happened again we pulled his mattress out, and put it on the floor. He's such a little monkey. Looks like we'll be planning yet another make over for the boys room.