parading around on thanksgiving.

     We checked a HUGE thing off of our bucket list this Thanksgiving: we went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! It would be downright ridiculous if we did not take advantage of living in New York and not get to see the parade at least once. What made our experience more fun was having my parents in town for the holiday. I still can't believe we convinced them to wake up early, in the freezing cold to go to the parade.

     We were really lucky with the way things turned out. Jason ended up talking to one of his friends from class who had been to the parade before and he offered to take all four of our chairs down early to save our places. We were expecting good seats, but not great seats! Seriously, you couldn't pay for a better spot. We had front row seats to all of the action.

     After waking up at 3:30 AM, taking the train to Grand Central and a subway to Columbus Circle, we waited two more hours in the 30 degree weather before all the excitement started. I thought I was going to just sit back in my chair the whole time, but I couldn't help but stand up and cheer as the floats and balloons came by. It also helped to keep us warm. 

Waiting for the parade to start

Trying to keep warm 

Jason's way of keeping warm

     With the seats we had, the balloons were close, but because of the strong winds that day, the balloons were even closer. Some of the balloons took a beating. Poor Spider-man's arm was torn and flopping around and we heard later that Sonic the Hedgehog got stuck in a tree. Sonic was one of our favorites balloons. We also really liked classic Snoopy, Julius the sock monkey, and of course, Spongebob Squarepants. Snoopy and Spongebob were a little different this year, a Santa hat was added to Spongebob and Snoopy wasn't wearing his pilot goggles. What the parade really needed was Perry the Platypus.

    Although I'm never really impressed by floats, there were a few that we actually loved. There was a Despicable Me themed float with Gru and his Minions and we also liked the Cirque du Soleil float with acrobats flippin' and bouncin' around. Other than that, we really focused on WHO was on the floats. We saw Jimmy Fallon, Richard Simmons, Ariana Grande (who was freezing her earmuffs off), Florida Georgia Line, Cheryl Lloyd, Kellie Pickler, and Kristen Chenoweth. When the Goo Goo Dolls rolled by, Jason yelled "I love you, Johnny!" And Johnny Rzeznik, the frontman of the band turned and pointed to him! It was pretty great. Since we didn't get to see any performances, I was actually happy to listen to the bands play Christmas and hit songs.

Jason's favorite balloon

Snoopy and Woodstock

Sonic the Hedgehog 

Sonic the Hedgehog 

Taking a trip to Sesame Street

Jimmy Fallon

Hello Kitty 

Richard Simmons on a turtle? 

Julius, the Sock Monkey 

Sock Monkey sporting a jetpack

Marching Bands a plenty

Ronald McDonald 

They had just as much fun as we did

The Sponge

Spiderman, Spiderman does whatever a spider can

The Big Apple

Gotta catch 'em all

My fellow Minions

My whole head would fit in his belly button

Confetti everywhere

This elf left his shelf

Papa Smurf

Santa's coming! 

     Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I would definitely say it was worth the wait and frostbite. After getting back to Tuckahoe, we took a long nap and ate a traditional turkey dinner at the restaurant An American Bistro. It was the perfect end to a busy day.

Thanksgiving dinner 

Thanksgiving dinner