We love a parade...or two!

One thing I have learned while living in Illinois is that Illini love their parades.  It seems as though the small towns (and large towns) have parades for kinds of occasions throughout the year.  In the area that we live we have parades for the Fourth of July, Halloween, Labor day, Fire Prevention Week, St. Patrick's Day, and many more occasions.  Each high school also has a parade in the fall for their football homecoming.   Our parade candy bowl is often full, but most of the candy makes its was to Derek's office after the kids have had their pick of the "good stuff." 

During the first week of October we had the chance to attend two homecoming parades.  Our local high school was having their homecoming that weekend and had a short parade that ran through the small town.  Although the parade was short and sweet it had its share of fire engines, floats, and candy.  Addy even spotted a few of her classmates on floats, which was super exciting for her. It was our first time attending our district's homecoming parade and it really made me appreciate the "small town" district in which we live.  There is such a community feel to everything.  It reminds me of the district we grew up in!

Patiently waiting for the parade to begin

On Saturday of the same week we bundled up in the morning and braved the cold weather to attend the Illinois State University homecoming parade.  This was a much bigger parade (over an hour and a half to be exact). It was really neat to be on campus when there were so many excited students and alumni in town.  The parade had a ton of floats, politicians, university officials, students, and of course candy.  Carter was excited to see Reggie Redbird and the Sonic Milkshake Mascot.  Addy was excited to see our friend Katie, who is a cheerleader at ISU, and she also enjoyed seeing the gymnastics team's float.  One of the gymnasts gave her a gold medal that she wore for the rest of the weekend.

 Feeling a little chilly at the ISU homecoming parade

 We certainly had our share of parades all in a span of a few days, but it was great getting out and about in community and watching the kids get so excited about getting candy and waving to local celebrities.