So Quinn's school was participating in the Vienna parade tonight. They dressed up as Native Americans. Which had it been any of the 35 days prior to a couple days ago would have been fine, but we suddenly are in the middle of a minor tropical depression that's just dumping rain for the past couple of days (and is threatening to contine into the weekend, when the school's Fall Fair is suppose to happen). Ok, I'm slightly exaggerating the tropical depression a bit.
Since the school requested parental supervision for the younger kids during the parade we decided I would would go with Quinn in the parade and Ginger and Catherine would meet up with Ken, Karen and Amanda to watch the parade (since they live in Vienna, it seemed like a good idea). The parade was scheduled from 7 PM to 9 PM. And I think there were less than 100 groups and we were about ten groups away from the end. The teachers at the school thought it would be a good idea to get there early. So we all leave the school at around 5:30 PM and we drive over to Vienna. Ginger drops Quinn and myself off (it's before six at this point), and we wander around until we find the spot for our group. And we were the first ones there. And it was raining. And I didn't have my good camera because we had brought it, but the memory card was still in the computer from the night before where I was working on pictures for Ginger's fall fair and had taken ill and quit working before I returned the card to the camera. So all in all it was going great so far. Let's add that the group in front of us is all young teenage girls for a dance class that has a huge stereo system in a car blasting music so the girls can practice. And when they practice they keep pushing Quinn and myself off the road. Did I mention it was raining?
At 6:30 or thereabouts the rest of the kids in Quinn's class show up. I did have the small handheld Nikon with me, so I took some pictures with that, but it blows chunks when taking pictures in low light, and outside at night is just about the worst situation. About had an hour later a brass band starts congregating in their spot right behind us. Have I mentioned the rain? Around 6:45 or so the rain finally starts to taper off, so thank goodness for small favors. And about that time Ken shows up with my good camera and a compact flash card I can borrow. Excellent. Things are looking up.
Around 7:00 the the decide they need to get the kids to line up in formation otherwise they think when they actually start moving, they won't be able to get the kids ready fast enough.
Because our group so close to the end, we didn't start walking until almost eight o'clock. So the kids were lined up for almost an hour. And they start getting antsy about ten minutes after lining up. And finally right before we started walking, what happens? That's right, it starts raining again. So we walk the entire parade in rain. Now it wasn't a downpour, but it was a solid constant rain.
At this point I thinking let's just beat feet and get this over with. But the group in front of keeps stopping so they can perform their dance numbers. At some point one of the teachers puts Quinn's hood up. So now he's dressed in authentic Native American dress, that is provided Native Americans wore bright yellow colored rain slickers with hoodies.
About halfway through the parade we pass Ginger and Catherine on the sidelines. They run out to try and explain to me where they parked the car (which I vaguely get the location, but not really). They then run back, but Ken, Karen and Amanda have motored (they thought Ginger and Catherine were going to join us and they decided they didn't need to be out in the rain anymore and left). So Ginger and Catherine then have to walk the rest of the parade with us. Once we finally finish, it stops raining, as if on cue. Unbelievable. At this point Catherine also enters meltdown mode. With it now being almost an hour and a half past her bedtime, every little things is setting her off. Once she realizes she didn't get to say goodbye to Amanda it just gets worse. Luckily once we got in the car and heading home things got a bit better after we stop ed at McDonald's to get something for the kids (it calmed Catherine down and Quinn hadn't eaten dinner, so it worked out well).
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