Pride!

Last weekend was again very very busy, with lots of fun adventures. We celebrated Ella's third birthday on Saturday with lots of friends and family, and had a great time! That's going to get its own post at some point in the not-too-distant future. I wanted to get a quick recap up of our Sunday adventure, though - the girls and I went to the Pride parade!

We joined my college friend and neighbor Jo, her wife Jen, their two boys Tristan and Eamon, Jo's friend whose name I forgot (oops!), and his little girl Estella. First of all... thanks Jo for scoping out a great spot to watch the parade! The kids pulled up some curb and we were on the shady side of the street the entire time, which was especially fantastic, considering that we were there for nearly three hours.

Here's Ella, Maisie, Estella, and Tristan being a total ham. Eamon was in a stroller next to Ella and I couldn't quite get him in the picture.

There was a huge Carleton contingent at the parade, of course! A woman wearing a Carleton Pride button ended up standing next to us, classmate Erin Keyes (with her partner Liberty and their adorable little girl Ivy) were in the parade on a pro-marriage float, and Carleton had an official group marching in the parade too. But Macalester wasn't left out...

 those bagpipes are really something. And that mascot's adorable. Go Mac!

The kids had a ton of fun at the parade, admiring the "pretty ladies" (drag queens) and scooping up all the candy, necklaces, and other little items being thrown from the floats. Halfway through the parade, the girls looked like this:

By the end of the parade, they were covered in stickers, full of candy, and Ella was completely exhausted. She asked me to carry her to our bus stop, and fell asleep in my arms before we even got a half a block. She slept through the bus ride, and only woke up when we got off and I handed her to Aaron, who met us at the bus stop. It was exhausting... but so fun! The girls really love parades and festivals. We're looking forward to more on the 4th!