Lafayette Christmas "Purdade"

On Sunday afternoon, we took Simon to downtown Lafayette for the annual Christmas parade. Or "purdade" as Simon says. : ) We had a hunch that he would enjoy it and we were right! We didn't realize just how cold that it was, however. I think it was like 24 degrees. Whoops. Thankfully, we were only half a block from Mark's studio so he was able to get a blanket for us. It was hard to keep Simon's mittens on his hands -- doesn't anyone make the kind attached to a string that you can weave through their coats? I'm on the hunt if anyone knows where I can find them! Here we are waiting for the parade to start.

At this point, I think that Simon was starting to doubt that anything was going to actually march in front of us! We then saw what was holding up the start of the parade ... a car was towed from across the street in front of us!


And this is what Simon did for the whole parade ... he waved and said hi to whatever was passing by in front of us. We saw many interesting sights and some of Simon's favorite things!

We saw politicians ... (and yes, I do believe that is a snowflake on her head.)

And we saw our favorite train -- the one and only Boilermaker Special!

And a fire truck ... lots and lots and lots of fire trucks!

Llama llama what a tizzy! The 4-H llama club was in the parade, too.

And several marching bands, including Purdue's own band just back from the mother of all parades, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

And of course, Santa Claus!

After being outside in the frigid cold, we came home to eat some delicious hot soup. This was a particularly messy day. : )

A good time was had by all! Simon loved the parade and I think that this will become an annual Ailor family tradition!