Parade of Champions

It seemed like the whole town came out today for Opening Day Parade, one of the most beloved traditions here in the local Little League. While we walked down to the firehouse where the parade was starting, we kept seeing doors open and parents and their kids - in full-on baseball regalia - heading outside, until there was a whole mini-parade of us heading in the same direction toward the firehouse.

The parade was another chance for Coach Dave to shine as leader of the Angels. One kid even refused to hold his dad's hand and insisted on holding "Coach Dave's" hand as they walked through the streets. Luke kept up team spirits by banging on his tambourine and shouting the team cheer (it has something to do with being "louder...a little bit louder" but you'll have to ask Dave for the official version). The parade ended up at a mini-festival, complete with moon bouncers, a dunk tank, a home run derby, and of course the In 'N' Out Burger truck.

At this point I have to stop and confess that while it was one of those events that was objectively fun and looked good on paper, the actual implementation with real-live kids was nowhere near perfect. Zach had a total fit when he saw some team members with balloons and he didn't have one. To make the parade marginally more enjoyable for me, I dashed into the grocery store to buy a balloon ... and the only ones they had were mylar balloons that cost $8.65 with tax. So if you hear me talking about us putting money into a "balloon fund" we're not talking about some fancy new investment vehicle.

Luke was having a good day until various things happened and, well, let's just say he was exhausted from all of the parading and partying and kind of lost the plot. I think he's going to have a great time playing with the Angels but we are going to have to try to keep everything somewhat mellow and balanced and not add too many Girl Scout cookies to the mix. (Speaking of girls, Luke announced last night that he wants lots of girls to come and watch his t-ball games.)

There are lots of things to say about Zach, and he certainly has lots of things to say about himself, but the main thing that is affecting me and Dave right now is that he keeps waking up at 5:45 am. And he's just not able to take the hint about how unpopular that makes him. Then when I bring him into our room he'll be all cute, saying, "Daddy asleep!" and "Take off jacket!" (his sleeping "jacket") and "Snuggle Zach!" Or he'll point to Dave sleeping and say, "Name - Dave." I know Dave is technically asleep at this point but sometimes he can't hold it in and he'll just crack up.

Yesterday we were driving around town and we happened to drive by Luke's friend Hatcher's house, from a completely different direction than we normally approach it. As soon as we drove by, Zach got super-excited: "Hatcher's house!! Hatcher's house!!" he shouted. I'm so glad he has such a good sense of direction. On the flip side, he doesn't always get things right. He always calls cereal "cereal food" and for some reason he calls a pineapple "vegetable." The other day I bought a whole pineapple and it got knocked over on its side and Zach said, "Uh-oh! Vegetable!" We are so close to age two I can almost taste it...