Paddy's Day - Part 1!

Today was Seth and I's third St. Patrick's Day to spend in Ireland. But it was our first in this area, and more importantly, it was our first here with the kids!

Today started out like any other day - with a morning:

"I don't do mornings...."

(she is her mother's daughter!)

After a relaxing morning around the house, we headed into the city for the Paddy's Day parade. We got there and staked out a great spot for the parade, right on the street, and we couldn't have asked for a better day! The Lord was so great to us today and gave us a sunny, WARM day! Ok, warm is relative. It was probably about 60 degrees, or a bit cooler. But that meant wind breakers instead of heavy coats, which was awesome!

I colored this flag for Cailyn after Hannah came home from school with her own flag. Hannah couldn't wait to take her flag to the parade, and then once we got there she decided she wanted nothing to do with it, so it stayed at her feet in the stroller.

"Mommy, is the parade EVER going to start??"

One of the first "floats" in the parade - some police officers from Jersey City!

"Yay!! It's started!!"

"I love my flag, and I will snuggle it all day."

"I will snuggle my flag...until they hand out the lollypops!"

An actor from our friends' theatre company for adults with learning disabilities. They had an AWESOME float. One of the biggest in the whole parade, and most entertaining!

Our faithful friends, Mr. W and Mrs. D!

St. Patrick in his traditional garb, carrying his traditional staff...and...Winnie the Pooh bucket...?

Watching the festivities from a bird's eye view

Some more parade participants

Note the "flying man" at the back of the picture. This guy would do massive tricks on a trampoline that was strapped to the back of a moving truck!

After the parade we turned around and right behind us was a restraunt/pub, so we ran inside and grabbed a table to get some lunch. Thankfully it was right there, so we beat the crowd. However, they only had realllly tallllllll tables with really tall chairs. Cailyn got a bit squirmy and managed to fall out of her chair and land flat on her back/head on the hardwood floor. She ended up just being scared, but it was finally all better when the babyccinos came out:

Hannah taking that yummy first sip

"Mmmm!"

Cailyn grabbed the large marshmallow that was on the saucer before the waitress even had it on the table and shoved it in her mouth...

"There's nothing like that first sip in the morning!"

"Hehehehehe!!!" She giggled like a mad woman after every single sip!

After we finished lunch, we went downstairs to head back outside and a session of traditional music was starting. The musicians were quite smitten with both the girls, who were just in awe of all the traditional musical instruments. The girls had fun sitting at their feet and listening to the lively music.

After taking in the session, we went out for a walk in the beautiful weather. However, it seems everyone else in the city had the same idea:

I have never seen the city this packed. Even our friends who've been here for years and years have said this is the most crowded they've seen it in the city.

So, instead of walking around the city (there was no room for them at the inn! LOL) we decided to head someplace with a little more space and quiet...check back in soon for the next installment! All in all, it was a great day!!