As July 4th approached I started to get really nervous. My term as Parade coordinator consisted of an entire year and only two parades. I knew the right thing to do was to pull together the 4th of July parade float regardless of whether or not I really wanted to. I discussed options with my fellow board members at the June meeting and they were all very helpful. I had several board members offer to do certain things and I left feeling more confident that I would not be left alone to complete it on my own.
The theme of the parade this year was "Commemorating Our National Monuments And Memorials". We had decided to do the Lincoln Memorial on one end of the float with the Washington Memorial on the other end. We would make the middle the reflecting pool with us riding in the pool. Brilliant and easy! I scheduled the work day for the Monday after the reunion. I knew I would be back from the reunion on Sunday and would have enough time Monday to clean up and unpack before people arrived to work on the float. A good friend had went Sunday evening and picked the trailer up for me. Thank you!
Monday afternoon at 5:15 pm a couple of women had already showed up to help. I was thrilled with the turn out of help and we actually got a lot accomplished in a short amount of time. Marcie's husband had built a Lincoln chair and monument and all we had to do was paint them white, mount them and make the water for the reflecting pool. Another woman tie dyed some cheap white sheets with blue tie dye and we hung those for the water effect. I did not love the water from the beginning but if they did then I was fine with it.
The float sat in my drive way for about a week and by the time Thursday rolled around the once blue tinted water was now white. Dallas insisted that I rip the sheets off and start over with the water. I didn't think that was right since the group had helped make them. Another member stopped by with the Lincoln outfit and suggested spray painting the sheets blue. Perfect! Never crossed my mind. I decided I would need to get up early on Friday morning and start working on the float before it reached 105 outside.
I woke up early with the kids and Dallas told me to go back to sleep for a little bit. I happily jumped back in bed and did not wake up until almost 10am. Crap!!! It was already hot outside and I was stuck working in the extreme heat all day long. At least I was rested. We brought the kids out in the front yard and garage. They colored with chalk and played in the sprinkler while Dallas and I worked as fast as possible on the float.
We started with this...
This was the water on the sides.
This giant 9 ft erection was the monument which was ready to mount when we arrived.
and bringing up the rear was Lincoln's chair. Dallas' dad had agreed to be Lincoln a while back and I was thrilled. I knew he would be a wonderful Lincoln and he was!We spent all day working on the water. I made a sign to tie the theme together and we worked on getting the ball hitch on Linda and Michael's truck to pull the trailer. We had everything ready and were now going to take the float to the parking lot where the parade started. As we pulled out of the driveway and headed down the street, I noticed the float was being pulled at an angle. I don't mean a little angle. I am saying if we put kids on this float and pulled it they would be sliding off the back! I was almost in tears. Are you kidding me! Dallas said he could go get a drop down from Auto Zone and we would be fine. They closed at 10 pm and it was 9 pm. I told him to drop me and the float in the UTA parking lot and get to the store asap. I was in trouble if we couldn't get that drop down.
Dallas dropped me off and headed to the store. I started working on the final touches. By the time I was done he was on his way back to the parking lot. He informed me that they did NOT have a drop down for this truck and there was nothing we could do. I almost lost it! I called my neighbor Steve in tears and begged him to use his truck. I had used his truck at Christmas to get the trailer to my house so I knew it would work. He gladly let me use it and saved my ***! We mounted the huge monument and headed home. I was up until 2 am and then my mind was racing so much I couldn't sleep anyway. We had a busy morning and I was so over stimulated. Ha, like my children!
We woke up the next morning and were all exhausted. Paige had a rough night and was rolling all over the place. She kept crying out and I would go check on her and she was sound asleep. Dallas had apparently gotten sick from something and was up all night feeling awful. I told Dallas to stay home but he knew I needed help with the kids and insisted upon going.
We made it there in just the right amount of time. I drove the truck in and hooked it up to the trailer. I was a little disturbed because no one was there yet. We still had to decorate the truck and do a few other things. I was busy when a man walks up and ask where our number was. I instructed him that I hadn't went to get it yet. He said you better hurry they are closing the stand down soon. Crap! Where is it? Of course it was on the other side of the huge parking lot. Just Fantastic! I told Dallas and took off running. I make it all the way to the booth and couldn't talk to tell them what number we were. After I got the packet they said we weren't about to shut down. GGGGGGRRRRRRRRRR! I could have killed that man! I then get a call from Dallas and he says that we are parked on the wrong side of the line and we need to move. Okay then move it but he couldn't I had the keys in my pocket. So I head off running again back to meet him with the keys. The parade had not even started and I was sweating and exhausted.
By the time I got back to the float most of our group had arrived and taken over the rest of the float construction. The kids all glitter sprayed the sides of the float and really enjoyed it. Dallas did not ride the float he had worked so hard on. He decided he would need to wait in the shade for us to return. I was now out numbered on a moving vehicle. We loaded everyone up and headed out. We were number 36 out of 156 floats so we were hopeful to be done relatively early.
The finished float! The sign said, "Reflections of America".
Number 36 that's us
Getting ready to go...
Mr. Lincoln! We rode in the back of the truck so I could control them by myself.
Hot and not in the mood! She did like her old sun shades.
All Ethan wanted to do was drink water bottles. Here we go...
Look Mom water bottles. Ethan was so pissy the entire time. I had to wake him up that morning and he did not let me forget it.
Michael did such an amazing job as Lincoln. I told him to wear his sunshades because it was so hot. One announcer even commented on how much he liked the cool "Fu Manchu Lincoln". Michael waved and yelled to every one. He was the perfect Lincoln for our float! Thank you so much Michael!!!
The kids did well during the parade. Paige was really cute waving her little flag and smiling. Ethan did nothing but eat, drink water and throw a fit. Both the kids thought that drinking out of their own water bottles was wonderful. I think they both drank three or four bottles each. I had also brought frozen grapes for the group. Since we sat in the back of the truck we were only able to share our grapes with one other set of twins. Between my two kids and one other three year old they ate an entire bushel of grapes! Safe to say we had some diarrhea issues for a day or so. (Too much information?) :)
Once the parade was over every one helped tear down the float. I was thrilled not to have to do it alone. Dallas and his dad took the trailer back and I took the kids home. The kids took a nap and we all rested. Dallas' dad went home and we prepared for our evening plans. We headed over to Joseph and Gina's house for a July 4th party at around 4 pm. We had a really good time visiting with them and all the family and friends. I forgot my camera at home so I don't have any pictures of that event. The kids were into everything so I would not have had time to take pictures anyway. Ethan dumped an entire cup of water in the freshly made 7 layer dip as soon as we got there. It was a busy evening but fun. We ended up staying at their house until around 9:30 pm and we headed home. We got the kids in bed and I went directly to bed. Dallas stayed up shooting fireworks with the neighbors. He has more energy than me. I was completely done!
I am pretty sure we will not even ride in the parade next year. It is just too early and too dang hot! Happy belated 4th every one!
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