After going to Arcadia for the holiday festival, we ended up in Pasadena for another festival where Miss P ended up bouncing to her heart's content in several bounce houses that the business of Pasadena had set up for this festival. Before we arrived we were starving with hunger but apparently, that hunger went away once she started bouncing. I literally had to rip her away to convince her to eat some lunch.
While we were walking to lunch we spotted another Santa walking with a cane and that is when my four year old said to me, "Mom, I think he is a fake Santa. There are real Santas and fake Santa's and I think he is a fake one." I didn't say anything but internally said "Alrighty then." How my 4 year old knows about fake Santas is beyond me! Not wanting to spoil any kind of magic I said nothing.
After dining on some Chipotle we returned to the bounce house heaven where she jumped and jumped until Mom got cold and said time to move on. Afterward we headed to a little town north of Pasadena called Montrose where they annually hold a Christmas Parade that is well attended. We arrived early and sort of snuck in a behind the scenes look of the parade.
Miss P made friends with some of the horse owners who were in the parking lot of where we parked and she somehow managed to get an up close and personal look of several horses! They even put her on a horse. Considering that she asked Santa Number One for a talking horse this was a big highlight in her day. We had such a good time it was hard to pull her away and I had too because I wasn't sure how much longer we could pretend to be behind-the-sceners when we were not!
We still had an hour until the parade started so we went into the toy store which was the biggest toy store that wasn't a chain I have ever seen. I got her some candy and we wasted about 20 minutes before I said we needed to find a spot to sit on the parade route. It was terribly cold and you know Miss P she didn't want to wear any kind of warm clothing but we proceeded to find a spot and once again made friends with our fellow neighbors.
We were talking when low and behold our horse friends from earlier came walking up and we started chatting with them. We found out that we were in the tale end of the parade route so while the parade didn't start until 6pm we wouldn't see people until 6:30pm. While Miss P had a wonderful time talking it up it grew colder and colder by 8pm. Apparently, everyone in Montrose walks in this parade because an hour and a half later it was still going on. Every Boy Scout, rescue team and school marching band walked in this parade!
The best part of the parade was the beginning when Santa in a helicopter flew over the parade route and yelled Merry Christmas. Miss P screamed with delight and couldn't stop singing "Santa Claus is coming to town." The parade was fun but in the cold it got old, so I convinced Miss P we should go. She had wanted to stay and see her horse friends who were in the parade but either we missed them or they hadn't come. I think her cold body convinced her that perhaps, Mom was right and we should leave.
I wasn't sure we would be able to get out since we sort of parked in the behind-the-scenes area but we did get out early and just in time as while we were navigating the closed streets I saw a rush of people coming toward me in the car meaning that the parade had ended. Luckily, we got home at the same time as Dad and he made us a couple cups of hot coco with the mint chocolate chip marshmallows we had bought at the Holiday Festival earlier in the day.
While we were walking to lunch we spotted another Santa walking with a cane and that is when my four year old said to me, "Mom, I think he is a fake Santa. There are real Santas and fake Santa's and I think he is a fake one." I didn't say anything but internally said "Alrighty then." How my 4 year old knows about fake Santas is beyond me! Not wanting to spoil any kind of magic I said nothing.
After dining on some Chipotle we returned to the bounce house heaven where she jumped and jumped until Mom got cold and said time to move on. Afterward we headed to a little town north of Pasadena called Montrose where they annually hold a Christmas Parade that is well attended. We arrived early and sort of snuck in a behind the scenes look of the parade.
Miss P made friends with some of the horse owners who were in the parking lot of where we parked and she somehow managed to get an up close and personal look of several horses! They even put her on a horse. Considering that she asked Santa Number One for a talking horse this was a big highlight in her day. We had such a good time it was hard to pull her away and I had too because I wasn't sure how much longer we could pretend to be behind-the-sceners when we were not!
We still had an hour until the parade started so we went into the toy store which was the biggest toy store that wasn't a chain I have ever seen. I got her some candy and we wasted about 20 minutes before I said we needed to find a spot to sit on the parade route. It was terribly cold and you know Miss P she didn't want to wear any kind of warm clothing but we proceeded to find a spot and once again made friends with our fellow neighbors.
We were talking when low and behold our horse friends from earlier came walking up and we started chatting with them. We found out that we were in the tale end of the parade route so while the parade didn't start until 6pm we wouldn't see people until 6:30pm. While Miss P had a wonderful time talking it up it grew colder and colder by 8pm. Apparently, everyone in Montrose walks in this parade because an hour and a half later it was still going on. Every Boy Scout, rescue team and school marching band walked in this parade!
The best part of the parade was the beginning when Santa in a helicopter flew over the parade route and yelled Merry Christmas. Miss P screamed with delight and couldn't stop singing "Santa Claus is coming to town." The parade was fun but in the cold it got old, so I convinced Miss P we should go. She had wanted to stay and see her horse friends who were in the parade but either we missed them or they hadn't come. I think her cold body convinced her that perhaps, Mom was right and we should leave.
I wasn't sure we would be able to get out since we sort of parked in the behind-the-scenes area but we did get out early and just in time as while we were navigating the closed streets I saw a rush of people coming toward me in the car meaning that the parade had ended. Luckily, we got home at the same time as Dad and he made us a couple cups of hot coco with the mint chocolate chip marshmallows we had bought at the Holiday Festival earlier in the day.
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