Cry Room Chronicles VI

Today we got to church early. We were a little nervous that a parade route would go right in front of the church, which would be convenient for watching but hellacious for departing. We hoped to see the parade but not get stuck in traffic. More on that at the end of the blog.

After turning on the lights and TV, we settled in for the 8 a.m. liturgy. A different family (who also had two boys) joined us this week. They got along with Jacob fairly well. Jacob got into a conversation with one of them about the little rug squares that we use for kneeling. I couldn't quite follow, but Jacob was explaining some situation where the boy would get a time out. His warning wasn't a threat but more like friendly advice.

Lucy tried to play hide and seek in spite of the paucity of good hiding spots. And in spite of us not participating. The game ended quickly but without hard feelings on either side. She is definitely becoming more mobile. Walking can't be far away. She didn't flirt with the boys and they didn't flirt with her. She was only minimally distracting this week.

Unfortunately, Jacob was having his conversation during the homily, so I did not glean much from it. The gospel was Jesus sending out the 72 disciples to prepare the towns for his coming. Father talked about not being attached to material things. Instead, we should be ready to witness to Jesus's message. We are the new disciples who need to carry on the mission given 2000 years ago. I wish I had paid attention to more. Maybe I should start reading a commentary on the gospels.

After Mass, Jacob insisted that we go to play on the church's playground. Surely he will ask again next week. While there, we watched cars exiting without any problems. We figured the parade route was somewhere else.

With a little driving, we discovered a corner of the parade route. We watched as long as Jacob could stand it, which must have been 20-30 minutes. A pretty long attention span for him. See our pictures here.

Everybody loves a parade

Part of the Columbia Arts Festival this year was the Kinetic Art Parade. We thought it would be interesting for Jacob, so we decided to go. It might have been the shortest parade I've ever seen. The time span worked well with Jacob's attention span.

Naturally, the parade started with a police escort, the sort of police Jacob likes:


It also starts with a banner from the parade organizer or host or sponsor:


Jacob was more interested in the flags that came behind the banner, but after that came the police that he didn't like. These cops blare their sirens at full volume!

You would think the cutesy vehicle's full volume wouldn't be so bad, but Jacob wouldn't agree. The next car was better because it threw candy at us:

We went from old guys to old friends as Jacob's favorite man in black came marching by:

I'm not sure if Darth Vader was waving or doing Jedi mind tricks on the crowd. All I know is Darth is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life. Not as cuddly as a Jawa, but who is?


Jacob loved the next group the most. Not only did they have a dragon (notice Jacob pointing excitedly)...

...but they also had what Jacob was really pointing at, a big big drum!!


Jacob also liked the city bus, but was still looking with longing after the drum:

We passed this car driving in to the parade and we wondered if it would be part of the fun. You can't really tell here, but that's a sand castle on the roof. A lot of sea shells were on the back bumper too.


Another loud entry, at least according to Jacob, was the lone marching band in the parade (I think they had to have one in order to qualify as a parade):


We knew it was the end when we saw the cops coming again, leading another parade of sad drivers who didn't know they were on the parade route until too late.


I'll bet they too were glad that it was the shortest parade I've ever seen.