Stampeding

What does a holiday Monday give you? 

A cutie-patootie in a cowboy hat? Yes. And a really late blog post...

Actually, it's because I had company here and I didn't pre-schedule today's post in order to accommodate for that. So, we're a little later than usual today, but that's kind of the theme for today. 

Late posts.

Really, I'm posting this because it was on my 30 before 30 list and I wanted to document it. I don't usually talk about things that happened nearly a month ago.

So, remember when my sister was here and we put on a joint 1st birthday party for our little girls? Well that same weekend was the Calgary Stampede. It's kind of a huge deal in this city. I grew up going to it (only missed one year when I was sick). I have fond memories of going to the Stampede Parade and so I wanted to share some of those same memories with my girls.

I couldn't take pictures of her during the parade very well since Mady was either on my lap or a few people down (and, you know, there was a parade going on, so I couldn't just get in front of her or I'd be trampled by a horse!). But here we are waiting for the parade to begin!

What is with the string on my hat? It was windy. That's the only
explanation I can come up with. Just look at the sweet face
beside me instead.

My parents (and my brother and his girlfriend) were super sweet and decided that they would get up at 4 in the morning in order to get downtown early enough to get us sweet curb side seats. That meant Jen and I could "sleep in" with our kidlets and meet them just after 6. Yes, you really do have to go that early.

Josiah waiting for the parade. He's from a small town where they
have parades with every vehicle in town so I think he was
pretty impressed with our two-hour long parade.

It just so happened that Will and Kate were in Calgary as part of their royal tour to Canada and so they started the parade (sort of, they went through the route backwards and drove much faster than typical parade speed). Mady was very excited to see the Princess (we watched her get married on TV and since then Mady has been ridiculously obsessed with everything princess). 

My sister Jen and Adalya (and Calgary Peeps, look who's beside us. It's D-Lo! What are the odds?)

Umm, let's just say the whole royal part was very, very lame. We couldn't even see what Kate was wearing they were driving so fast! At least she waved out the window. And at least we were on her side of the car and not Will's. Mady pretended to be excited. Mostly because I just tried to act like it wasn't as lame as it was. Ha!

After that the parade finally started (which was totally late. For the couple who had their wedding planned down to the second they sure can't get a parade going on time...), Mady LOVED it. Well, except the parts that were a little loud. Ha!

Kate had a hat, but refused to wear it. Maybe next year.

It was a super long morning (we got home in time to eat a quick and late lunch before nap time) but it definitely left an impression. For weeks now Madelyn still talks about the stampede and cowboy hats and even sets up parades with her dolls. It's pretty cute!

 I love this picture. If I was witty I would come up with a funny caption, but I can't, so I leave it to you. What is Josiah saying to Mady? What is Mady thinking? You fill in the blanks!