akron parade - indiana trip

on monday, our last day in indiana, we were going to the much anticipated akron parade! matt and i had been to the parade at least five years ago and it can be summed up in two words - tractors, candy. i really thought that it was nice though and enjoyed seeing all the antique tractors. and we knew madelyn would like collecting all the candy.

in the morning we at a light breakfast and the kids got to play outside a little. madelyn asked to go for a ride, but we needed to get going so that we could pick up great grandma for breakfast and then head to the parade. and, yes, i did say that we ate breakfast before picking great grandma up for breakfast. we were going to pick her up at 9 and i figured that we would eat breakfast around 10 which is normally our morning snack time.

and it was good we had eaten too! we went to a restaurant in town and they weren't that busy, maybe 4 tables of people, but there was only one girl working (waiting, busing, cooking, cashier, everything) and she was easily 7 or 8 months pregnant. the food was worth the wait with huge, delicious portions. the kids both ate every bite of the daily special (eggs, bacon, and toast for $1.99) that they split. the waitress even brought them their heaping portions on separate plates.


now that we were full, it was parade time! we loaded up and headed 10 miles down the road to akron. the parade route was already blocked off and pretty crowded. it was a hot day so we were trying to figure out how to best find somewhere to set up chairs without wearing out great grandma, but then we lucked into a parking spot just a short walk from where we ended up sitting on a shaded corner. it was really perfect because there was a great breeze, we were in the shade, and right in front. matt and madelyn went to stand in the road once they closed the street next to the chairs though.

the parade was even better than i remembered! really. madelyn filled almost a whole quart ziplock bag with candy and she got a snow cone too - so she had a fun time. she got so used to getting candy from every car/float that went by that she would pout when someone didn't throw candy because she wanted to fill the entire bag. the one thing that she didn't get was an american flag (they were handing them out, she just didn't get one), but nolan and daton gave her theirs when we got back to dennis and joy's for lunch and good-byes.


here is a slide show with some of the higher points in the parade and a few more pictures of the farm - primarily the wind damage but the pictures don't do it justice.

once again joy treated us to some yummy cooking and then we got to take a few rides around the farm. i was always on the 6-passenger vehicle but matt and his cousin jason (nolan and dayton's dad) went faster and over the rough paths. and then jason got out a motorcycle and started doing some really daring rides down steep drop offs and coming up to jump the bike. madelyn thought it was the greatest thing ever and asked him to jump the bike over and over until he was too tired to do it any more.


mason got in on the fun this time too. first he went on the 6-passenger vehicle between dennis and nolan. i don't think he stopped smiling the entire time. and then i let dennis take him out on one of the 4x4s. (dennis had offered to let me drive but i trust his experience way more with mason.) apparently the sound of the engine lulled mason off to sleep and dennis stopped to rock with him at their 'cabin' toward the back of the property.



















but then it was time for us to say good-bye and start our trip home. we can't thank dennis and joy enough for their hospitality and everyone else for making time for us during our visit. the kids had a wonderful visit with everyone. and matt and i enjoyed catching up after not visiting in so long.

both kids slept at least three or four hours of our drive home. it was nice because we only had to make one stop that way. we had to stop for dinner because it would just be too late by the time we got home and we wanted to get the kids straight into bed.

they were so hysterical running around the house together while matt and i unloaded the car. i think that they were glad to be home and see all their toys. everyone slept well and matt took tuesday off from work so the weekend just kept going for him. madelyn went back to school tuesday morning and i went back to work in the afternoon. matt spent the day building the new dresser from ikea. and now we could have a normal week for the first time in over a month! we were all looking forward to this weekend with no plans, visitors, or obligations. love.