pittsburg state homecoming parade

this is how the day started out. for those people who don't tend to notice or see sunrises and sunsets, i had the advantage this morning in that i was driving home from work into this sunrise. it was so beautiful, but i didn't have my camera with me. i was really pushing the speed limit to get home and capture these pictures. days like this just make it all worthwhile on getting up (or staying up!).

we had a full weekend planned, as usual. we had been to see raven perform last night at half-time of the pittsburg high school football game -- but this morning, she would be riding the float with the jodi phillips dancers in the pitt state homecoming parade. it was quite a big deal in her world and we were all excited about it. especially after seeing her last night in her first public performance. even daddy was so swelled w/ pride i'm surprised he could get his big head in the car to go home!

the float was actually a semi and flatbed trailer, which made it very nice for the little ones to not have to walk the parade length. i wondered how raven would do being left to ride the float "alone," but she hooked up with some friends of our from church and seemed to do fine.

here is a picture of the float as it came down the parade route . . .

here's a little closer shot of the same picture, so you can get a good view of raven and friends . . .


right now, the float is right in front of us and raven has just spotted her family in the crowd and is pointing out and yelling to "grandma" in the crowd (that's my mother). she yelled out other names, too, but that one was the only one i heard. i got a real kick out of the look of excitement and surprise on her face when she saw us -- like maybe we wouldn't be there!?!


same picture, but closer view . . .


even closer, to truly see the excitement and surprise in her face as she points us out in the crowd. this was really a "big deal" for her, especially after the performance last night.


by this time in the parade, those lovely clouds from sunrise were dumping very large sprinkles on the crowd. some times we had our umbrellas up and using them, and other times we didn't need them. add a little cold weather to that, and we were all ready to run for the cars as soon as the parade was over. murphy's law states that raven's float was almost at the end of the parade, too!

we really had a nice sized group there, as jacob and boys had joined mickie, summer, lucas, riahna, scott, jerry, and me to watch the parade. the nice thing about the psu homecoming parade, too, is that so many people/groups throw candy and prizes for the kids that it really keeps the kids interested in watching the parade. we had to start hiding the candy, as the kids had picked up so much candy that it was falling out of their pockets every time they moved. the box of "overflow" candy sat on the cabinet at home for munching by the adults who needed a little sneak shot of sugar!

the homecoming football game, later in the afternoon, was so cold and wet/rainy that even the die-hard fans were leaving at half-time, as they weren't prepared for the weather. jacob, amanda, and the boys went to the game, but jacob and the boys left early, too.