The Third Annual
82nd Avenue of Roses Parade!
ahem.

It's a bit lame, I am afraid. But it's just down the street and it's fancy for the kids.
We headed down to get a good spot, not in front of the Unicorn, breakfast in tow.

I don't think we have had the Kells people in the parade before, so that was exciting.
Of course, P and I met at Kells, so it's a little special.

This was the other big deal. I think.
Here is Moon, looking perplexed at my excitement over...

The "One More Time Around Again Marching Band"!!!

I really, really love these people. They have a full, swinging band with color guard and all kinds of fun band-nerdy stuff. But the best part is they range in age from 18-85.
Patrick promises me we can do this when we retire. You can take the nerd out of the band, but the bandnerd lives strong.

Here is where I am going to say a few things that only locals will probably understand. But it should be said. I think that this parade is an excellent try. I think that last year they did a much better job of representing our neighborhood(s) though. Honestly. This year there was no Chinese Dragon, few other Asian groups, no Russian groups. No Chuck-E-Cheese float. No masses of coupons for Papa Murphys. No excitement over new local businesses.These are things that make up our neighborhood, for better or worse. It seemed like they really had to phish around to get businesses to participate :( And that sucks. Because we all know our neighborhood sucks, but we have to TRY!!! The progressive things like the Montavilla Farmers Market didn't do anything this year either. Unless I missed something, I am unsure if this parade will have another year. Are all of the neighborhoods financially struggling this obviously? Am I over analyzing? I am worried for our little 'hood.