A fabulous evening

I don't think we would have been able to top yesterday day time if we tried but last night came pretty darned close. The annual holiday parade was taking place but I hadn't told the girls about it as I wasn't sure if we would be able to make it due to the competition. We raced home from the math thing and ran upstairs and changed Lily and bolted right back out the door again. If you don't get there super early you can forget it. We didn't get there early but as luck would have it we found parking, miles away and found a great spot to watch the parade from as soon as we got there.

This is a tradition of ours. It takes place at a local mall and is sponsored by Macy*s. It is the unofficial kick off of the holidays and I have to say it really is a great parade.

Oh my goodness it's the jolly one himself!

and this was Rosie's face when she saw him
one of the many fabulous marching bands
the stilt men. The chap in the front came right over to Rosie and picked her up off of Jacob's shoulders and walked away. I was so busy watching her waiting for her to scream that I didn't get a photo. I know I know duh!
This is Miami we are all about the bling
Hello Kitty
some sweet little angels that Lily liked

Chinese dragons

That is a beautiful coloured sky for the middle of November, don't ya think? This is the helicopter that flies over to let everyone know the parade has begun

Lily was very happy to see Jennifer Stone, (Wizards of Waverley Place) as the grand marshall
She looked right at us.


I couldn't take too many photos as my battery was going flat and I knew I had to save some life for our dinner arrangements. I have been following this blog for years and when Alyson posted on FB that they were heading down this way I suggested we meet up. Thankfully she agreed. We didn't have an awful lot of time so we chose our favourite Italian restaurant to take them to and met them there. Our day was starting to follow a theme, race race race, we raced from the parade to Nunzios for dinner.

It still amazes me that you can meet total strangers yet know so much about them. They are familiar strangers. The girls hit it off immediately and as they waited for their dinner Lily and AA became fast friends. AA is such a beautiful little girl. And so teeny tiny. I stayed at arms length as she is a little shy but Lily made it in very close. Lucky Lily I say. Ford, Alyson, Jacob and I were able to chat our way through a lovely dinner. So many things in common but all to soon we had to leave. Such a shame but we are going to meet up again.
A little note to Catherine and Hannah: we have now been vetted LOL so next time you are down at Disney it will be safe for you to meet us too. Ha ha.
It was such a pleasure to meet your family last night and thank you for a lovely dinner. I hope you had a fantastic day at the races. Until next time.

Ford, Alyson, Jacob and I. Photo compliments of Rose
# happy girls
I have no idea what is with Lily's face as she was having a fabulous time and no point did she show attitude. Must have caught her mid blink or something
buck tooth betty and her friends
sweet, sweet girls

I think I have now decided that for Christmas I do want to grown up camera after all. I'll just have to get used to lugging it about. To see the same photos but looking twice as fabulous go to Ford and Alyson's blog. I am having a love affair with the name Ford, not the man, he was very nice and what have you but the name. Isn't it a lovely name. So American and manly. If I should ever need to have a name for a boy it will be Ford.