If you are re-reading that title to making sure you read it right, you did. After much convincing and debating we went to The Thanksgiving parade. Despite some of you (you know who you are) thinking we were crazy (and granted we probably were a little crazy), we went! We thought if you can't spend Thanksgiving with your family, why not spend it with five million of your closest friends! After getting the 411 on the parade, parking, where to stand, drive and such, we developed a plan and did it! So here is the nitty gritty on how we survived the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We headed to New York the day before the parade and stayed the night in a hotel outside of New York City. We then were up, ready, and driving into New York a little after 5 am. We parked several blocks away from the parade route and walked from there. We found a front row spot on the corner of 66th Street and Central Park West. We hunkered down to wait for about 3 - 3 1/2 hours till the parade started. At first Lucas was able to wander around, but as it got closer to parade time more and more people gathered around us. By the time the parade started I felt a sardine packed in a can! From the beginning, Lucas was a concern; would he enjoy the parade? could we keep him entertained for several hours in a small confined spot? He exceeded all my expectations, and did really great! He was entertained by all the people and everything that was going on! He also did some of the entertaining himself: the police that were around got a kick out of him. They came over a couple of times, to talk to him, and at one point one of them put his hat on Lucas and said 'here, have your parents take a picture'! We did and it is one of the cutest pictures we have! Lucas did have one problem. Several minutes before the parade was to start Lucas decided to fill his drawers, and fill them he did!!! We were packed in and not going anywhere!!! So when we had to change Lucas' pants, he bared all, literally, in front of New York City and the police. It was hassle. We had to take of his snow suit and change him, plus I was trying to hurry because I didn't want him to get cold.
If I had to say one bad thing about our experience I would say it was the cold, but it could have been worse considering it was the end of November. On the plus side it wasn't snowing or raining. Next time, not that we will ever do it again, I would haul a blanket in, it would have been worth the effort.
The parade lasted about an 1-1 1/2 and it was really neat, the floats were put together really well, the bands were very entertaining, and the balloons! Let me tell you about the balloons: watching them on television doesn't even come close to actually seeing them. They are huge, massive, and it pretty cool to see! Lucas really seemed to enjoy the parade, though at times he was more interested in the handfuls of confetti that the people threw at us as they passed. And when I say handfuls, I am not overstating how much confetti came our way, we were covered in confetti. It is March and I am still finding confetti from the parade! All in all things went well and I left feeling like it was worth it!
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