First Parade

Dorothy was in her first parade today and did a wonderful job!  I had planned to take the summer off from baton twirling lessons, but she said that she wanted to be in the parade.  I wasn't sure how far she would get, and she was a little (lot) nervous and overwhelmed while we were waiting for things to start, but once it got going she did great keeping up with the big kids.

 They gave me the smallest size shirt they had, but it was a 6-8.  I took it in about two sizes and it is still comically big on her.  I tucked it in to her shorts because it was so long.  If she sticks with it, she will be able to wear this shirt for a long, long time.

 Sitting by the truck, in the shade, waiting for the parade to start.  There were lots of people and lots of activity going on and she was getting a bit overwhelmed by it all.  She kept wanting to hold my hand or be picked up.

 Lined up and ready to start.  Once they got going, she was fine and kept up with the group.

 She was the smallest one by quite a bit.

 Her only complaint was that the routine was going too fast.  She could do it, but about half as fast as it is actually done to the music.  She did a good job going on and catching up with the parts she could do up to speed.

 Wrist twirls are her favorite twirl, but doing wrist twirls, marching, and using her free hand was a bit too much.

 I walked along with the group, and I overheard people constantly pointing her out and saying how cute she was.  My favorite parts were when she would fall behind, then run (with a little skip in step) to catch up.

 She made well over half way through the parade, then the back of her shoe came off, and she complained that her foot hurt.  She got a blister and was done.  I put her up in the bed of the truck to ride to the end of the parade route.

 Her view for the last bit.  Props to her teacher who marched the entire parade backwards.

 She had a great time; honest.

 When we were done, we sat in the shade to wait for Kevin and Malcolm.  I thought it was really cute that several of the big girls came and sat with her.

Afterward, we had lunch and a celebratory ice cream with M&M's.

Even though she didn't get all the way to the end under her own power, I could not be more proud of her.