2008 Milwaukee Holiday Parade

How's this from the 'Dan is very predictable' department?

I was about to write an intro sadly reporting that unlike last year, this past weekend I just didn't feel like attending the annual Holiday Parade. Because, as you know, I'm such a big fan of parades and family get-together's in the freezing cold.

The truth, however, will not stay hidden. To quote the 2007 post: Today Lisa dragged me along on a family trip to watch the annual Holiday parade downtown. It was just about the last thing I wanted to do after a long week of work

Ha!

This year, as a matter of fact, I *did* wiggle out of going to the parade, and all it took was a bad runny nose from Lump and a persistent cough by LuLu. Someone had to stay behind to take care of them, right?

Here's what I missed:



That's YaYa, Lisa, Smiley, and my niece KayKay.

It was cold enough to warrant the blankets, and chemical hand warmers. Still, I'm pretty sure these young ladies had it worse:



The family went to the parade along with some friends from school.







There were the usual hot air balloons, marching bands, and such. That's the federal building in the background, a structure I've always found distinctive and beautiful.

















They had a good time, but the kids complained about the lack of candy that was, er, wasn't thrown out over the parade route.

You'll note the lack of photos of the man of the hour, Santa himself. Again folks, don't blame me. I wasn't there taking pictures. I was much, much too busy sitting on my couch in a warm house regretting missing the parade to have left instructions on the photography ;)