Pet Parade and Birthday Fun

Hello people. I am a little older than the last time I posted, but not exactly wiser. This time of year is always filled with celebrations - my birthday, followed by Kaveh's, then my mom's, my sister's and lastly Nina's. And now that we live in a small town, it is also coming to be known as Pet Parade time. The pet parade goes right down the center of La Grange, which could also be called "Main Street USA". It's got restaurants, cute little boutiques (of which some are sadly going out of business), some bars, a library, a fountain and a movie theater. I have to say I love my little town, especially during this time of year. So imagine how quaint it is during the pet parade - lots of low-budget floats, groups of kids doing flips and cheers, many marching bands and the most impressive - men in fez hats:

This guy was part of a group of men in fez hats who fashioned a motorized vehicle out of a beer cooler and a scooter. Pretty creative, huh? The best part of the parade is, of course, the tons of candy being tossed out to the kids. Here are N & N clutching their free gum:


They were pretty tired in this picture, so I decided to bump up the sugar intake:

That's better, aah. The parade is followed by a cheesy carnival with dangerous-looking rickety rides (which fortunately my kids are still too little and wimpy to want to ride) and speed freaks trying to get you to play their boardwalk games over and over again. A good time to be had by all! I ended up dropping a wad of cash to win the kids horrible stuffed animals that they fell in love with for about five minutes.

My birthday was a mixed bag. I had to go to work - bad. I got an iPhone - great! I had to go to a retirement party for someone at work after school - eh. I came home to a flooded kitchen floor because the dishwasher broke - bad. Then Kaveh broke a glass milk bottle on the floor - bad. Then he jammed something in the garbage disposal and I thought for sure he was going to lose it - very bad. But we all survived the night and followed it by a barbecue and bonfire in our backyard - good!

Tonight is Kaveh's birthday and Nina has a fever. She's pretty chipper though and we all enjoyed eating a Carvel ice cream cake. No Cookie Puss but pretty close. And then tomorrow is my last day of school for the summer!! Happy days are here again!