The Honey Bee Festival

Yesterday was Hahira's annual Honey Bee Festival/Parade.  I used to march with the band in that parade when I was in high school, and Matt and I have been for several years, as well.  We did not go last year because I was pregnant and it was SO HOT outside that I didn't think I could stand it.  We kept debating for several days if we wanted to try and go this year or not.  I really like the festival, but usually it is SO hot and every year it gets more and more crowded.  I'm not kidding when I say that it's packed like Wal-Mart on Black Friday.  Seriously, I think they estimated 10,000 this year.  All of these people packed into a 2-3 mile radius.  That plus heat plus baby = major decision.  After thinking about it for several days, we finally decided Friday night that we wanted to try and go.  We check the weather as it was kind of cool last week and it was forcasting about 80.  Not so bad.  We decided that we would feed LL her bottle after she woke up from her nap at 10 and then head out.  I knew that there was no way that we would be home by her next nap time at 12, but I figured that she's either nap in her stroller or just be content with riding and nap when we left.

Getting ready to leave!

LL absolutely LOVES to ride in her stroller.  It is probably on her top 3 things to do.  We got to the honey bee around 11:30, so we were just getting started about 30 minutes before her next nap.  It was so crowded!  We walked for a little while and stopped at some vendors.  I bought LL a bow holder to hang on the wall, and some new bows.  They were such a good price!  I was getting bows anywhere from 1 to 3 dollars!  That is EXCELLENT!  Usually bows are between 5 and 8 dollars.  Which is crazy to me.  We found a vendor for lunch right as the parade was about to start.  Suprisingly, we got a spot to watch the parade right up front.   

Even though it was past her nap time, LL just relaxed in her stroller and watched the parade!  She was perfectly content!  You can most definitely tell that she is tired here, though!

It wasn't as hot as it has been in past years, but sitting in the sun we did get pretty warm.  Of course, I was worrying about LL the whole time.  She's never really spent any extended period of time in the heat before.  I brought some water in her sippy cup, so I just kept giving that to her to drink out of.  Matt and I also had some cold water that came with our lunch, so I kept pouring it on my hands and rubbing it on her legs, arms, face, and head.  I think that helped alot!  I think that I spent more time giving her water than I did watching the parade!

She did so good the entire time.  I really don't think that I could have asked for a better baby.  The only time that she made a peep was when these really loud cars came by and stopped in front of us and started revving their engines.  After about the 5th one she started crying and I had to take her out of her stroller and walk away.  I really can't blame her, though!  They were probably in front of us for a good 2-3 minutes and it was extremely loud! 

LL watching the parade.

After the loud cars, we stayed for a couple of more minutes, but then we decided that we probably needed to start heading back. She did just as good on the 30 minute walk back to the car as she did the whole time!  We stopped at a few more vendors and I bought some more bows.  Here's a pic of us walking back to the car:

I've noticed before that when LL rides in her stroller, she props her feet up!  She actually does this in her highchair at home while she is eating.  It is so funny to me!  She is a baby just like her daddy - she likes to relax!  Even though she's been doing this for several months, I finally got a picture of it while we were walking back to the car!  How cute is this??

We made it back to the car and all three of us were hot, sticky, and tired!  LL was so worn out that when we got home, LL drank a bottle and then slept for the next 3 hours!  It really wore her out!  But I am so proud of her and how well she did.  While we do keep her on a schedule, now that she is almost 8 months old, we are trying to get her to be flexable with that schedule some so that we can start incorporating things like this into our lives.  We all had a blast and I think we've started a new family tradition!