A Day with the Girls

Sunday was Parade Day in our town. For the past three or four years, we've taken my niece Laura to the parade. It's a fun tradition. This year Emily was old enough to join us. When I asked Laura if she'd mind us bringing Laura, she was ecstatic. Her first words were, "Now I can teach her how to roll down the hill." Because that is the most important part of the parade tradition (besides the collecting of candy) .....rolling down the hill right behind where we stand. Here for your enjoyment is a video of Laura - age almost 10 - trying to teach Emily - age 2 - how to roll down a hill. We didn't get any really good pictures of the two girls actually watching the parade. But another part of the tradition is coming home to our house, drinking hot cocoa and a snack, and playing with all Pepere's toys. Pepere got in trouble for letting Emily use non-washable markers.

Emily and Laura play a duet on the keyboard. Emily gets a chance to bang on Pepere's new Tabla Drums. She asked us if we had any drumsticks.

Emily didn't quite get the hang of the slide whistle. Instead of blowing into it, she made the whistle sound with a high-pitched scream that was actually quite credible.

Emily enjoyed her first parade. She wasn't thrilled with the fire trucks. She sat facing me when something was scary, and hugged me tight. Then when it finally passed by she grabbed my cheeks, looked directly into my eyes and said, "It's okay."