Starlight parade!

So, after Jeremy's bar mitzvah, we raced to the farmer's market in time to get strawberries and other produce before heading home for nap. I did two hours of work (I had left early on Friday), then got ready for Jeremy's bar mitzvah party while Drew took Rachel to the Starlight Parade with her little friend Lila Anne and Lila's dad, Steve. Lila's mom, Suzanne, wasn't feeling well so she stayed home with 1-year-old Eva.

Drew and Rachel dropped me off at the party venue, then continued on to the parade. I stayed for about 2 hours, enough to realize that every song the DJ was playing was from the 1980s. The kids LOVED it. I found this very dismaying. It's MY music, not yours, kids!

Afterward I was able to walk to where Drew and Steve and Rachel and Lila were sitting along the parade route. The parade got started a half-hour late, so I managed to catch most of it. And Steve had scored two seats for all of us to share, so we took turns sitting the girls on our laps (this is what it must feel like to have two kids instead of one!). The parade was fantastic. I am a parade FREAK, so the sight of so many marching bands and lit-up floats (the parade begins at 8:30, hence the name "Starlight Parade) made me tremendously happy. Steve had bought the girls plastic horns, which they tooted (in rhythm, no less!) to the horns in the marching bands, and Drew bought them blow-up unicorns (Rachel's is purple, and she promptly named it "Carrot" because the unicorn likes carrots), and the girls loved seeing all the festivity float by. "It's important to take them to these civic events," Drew said, and he is so right -- it builds great memories and childhood associations. We plan to take Rachel every year, now that she's old enough, and to the Rose Parade (both in the same month, since June is the Festival of Roses), and the blues and jazz festivals, and the carnival by the waterfront....I want her to associate growing up in Portland (however long we stay here) as living in a magical place.

The parade ended at 11:30, and luckily we caught a shuttle bus straight to Lloyd Center, where we had parked the car. We were home in 10 minutes and Rachel was in bed by midnight; we followed at 1:30 a.m. We encouraged Rachel to sleep in and luckily she took our hint -- she didn't come out of her room until 9:30!! So we all had a nice leisurely morning; I met a friend for brunch, came home and commenced the decluttering (Rachel's bedroom and the kitchen are on my list today) and Drew took Rachel grocery shopping and errand-running. All in all, a good weekend.

Cute Rachel sayings:

"I'm a party person!" (right before she and Drew headed out for the parade)

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"You're the best parents in the whole world!" (right as we left for the bar mitzvah)

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Rachel, by the way, has decided that we are all superheroes. Mommy is SuperMommy, Daddy is Superman, and she is...SuperGirl. Of course.