First Day of the Advent Adventure

It was a crazy day of driving here and there and back and forth, but we just do what we gotta do, right?

I made Josh's lunch for school and Ben's lunch, too. Then I realized that Drew wouldn't like what they were having for lunch so rather than mess up my clean kitchen, I just told him I'd run lunch up to school for him. That sure put a smile on his face. I like that he's not too cool (yet) to want to have lunch with his old mom.

I got Benji up and ready for school. Today Santa visited Noah's Ark so he was dressed up extra cute in a Ralph Lauren sweater and jeans. So cute, in fact, that I had to take some photos before we even left for school which, of course, made us late. C'est la vie!

From there it was to fill up my "running on fumes" gas tank and head to Walgreens to buy some more candies and such to fill up the advent bags. I had all the activities, books and movies planned -- I just hadn't had enough candies and such to fill up each day. With that done, I headed home to let the dogs out and then hit McDonald's and had lunch with Drew.

From there I went home and finished the Advent bag stuffing, hung them on the staircase. I also did some laundry, general straightening and such until it was time to go pick up Benji. From there we went to pick up Drew and then home. (Josh had math tutoring.) We were home 30 minutes and it was time to leave to pick up Josh. (Bleh, what a pain in the glutes!)

Finally, home! They went straight to the Advent bag, read it and started asking about what the day's activity meant.

Today's activity was to get bundled up to head to the Grapevine Christmas Parade of Lights. Drew instinctivly said he didn't want to do it. (What a Scrooge!) Josh still wanted to go. Benji doesn't really have a say, he just goes where he's taken.

We didn't have time for dinner but got in the car and headed to Grapevine. Traffic was a nightmare but we still went. Andy was hoping for some type of food vendors out selling SOMETHING but -- nothing. Finally, the parade started. They had over 100 floats and entries from classic cars decked out in Christmas lights to marching bands and Cub Scout Packs. Benji was in his stroller and when some floats would come through he would wave and clap. When there were characters in costume as they'd pass by he would lean up and watch them walk away almost as if he was like, "...did you just SEE that giant thing come near me? Let's make sure it leaves!" It was adorable.

Josh is in that pre-teen phase where he'll go but he's really not excited about anything (other than using his younger brother as a punching bag -- what the hell is up with that? For real?!)

It was getting a bit late (around 8) and I knew everyone was hungry and when it started to rain, I pulled the plug. The parade wasn't over -- it got held up by a train (great timing, huh?) but we saw a lot of it and it was awesome. We'll definitely go next year, too.

This is one of those experiences, like most when you have children, that it's a pain to get to, it's a pain sometimes to be there, it's a pain to wait but they'll always remember it.... and that's what we do as parents -- we sometimes just have to go through the pain to make some great memories together as a family. Was it a pain? Of course. Was it worth it? You betcha!