St. Patrick's Day Parade

As most of you know, we walked (or marched, as Liam emphatically insisted) with the ND Club of Philly in this year's Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day Parade.  The parade dates back to 1771 and is the second oldest parade in the country!  We were blessed with an absolutely beautiful day-- sunny and almost 60 degrees-- which is not exactly normal for this holiday (as I seem to remember a pre-kids St. Patty's Day, trudging through downtown Philly in the snow and slush with Anthony and my BFF Jen...).

The boys were excited for their first big parade.  Liam sang his favorite parade song over and over as he practiced leading up to the big day and helped me with both outfits and wagon-decorating.   It should be no surprise to anyone who knows Liam that he picked out a silly "hat" and enthusiastically wore it for the entire day.  Joergen rocked a "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" tie and didn't seem to mind it at all.  They were great sports!

Our rendevouz spot for the ND Club was at 17th and JFK, but the parade was a little behind schedule and we ended up having to wait around for a loooong time before it was our turn to step off.  I was so proud of my little Irishmen, who found plenty of ways to keep themselves occupied.  We took some pictures...

...and watched the little Irish dancers in line next to us (Joer liked those cute girls!):

We also played with our buddies, who made standing around way more fun!  Liam and Brigid just adore each other.

Brigid's mom totally won the mom award that day... her dad was playing trumpet with the Alumni Band, so she carried little TJ (and often Kara as well) while pushing a double-stroller the entire parade route.  And still managed to look festive!

It was finally our turn to line up-- yay!

It was very loud and very green and there were SO many people all around us, so when I looked back to make sure Joergen wasn't totally overwhelmed, this was what I saw.  He was loving it as much as Liam!

And we're off!  Gotta give a shout-out to Uncle Andrew and Aunt Beth for Liam's awesome t-shirt!

Liam was in his little element.  He just kept smiling and waving and shaking people's hands and giving people five and yelling "Happy St. Patrick's Day!" and "Go Irish!"  And then I look at Joergen, and look who was waving to the masses too!

Liam even scored a lollipop on the parade route.  A peanut-safe lollipop at that!  And he held on to that thing for dear life.

Alas, all the commotion was exhausting.  Joer had missed his naptime due to the parade yet still managed to sneak in a little snooze:

We unfortunately didn't make it on TV-- they cut to commercial just as we approached the grandstand!-- but we did find our segment online.  Click below to check us out.  We're in the very first group.  Can you spot us?

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/video/6831138-web-extra-st-pats-parade-2-215-pm/