Birthday Party

One of my son's friends had a fancy birthday party for his son. It was held at a local park pavilion with a balloon-animal making clown, a pumpkin carving station, face painting, an art station and a bobbing for apples contest. It's so rare to have such beautiful weather in October but it was a treat on such a nice occasion.

My granddaughters had a wonderful time. Between the art, balloon animals and the face painting, they were in heaven. Besides all that, there was a large flat-panel television in the pavilion with the Packer game on. And the food was amazing - all homemade. By the time I took photos though, one of my granddaughters was napping so I did happen to get an action photo of Chloe.

Fall Festival Parade

Chloe's new school is incredible. After her days at Red Apple in Racine, I didn't know what to expect from this school but they have exceed all my hopes for her. She needs speech therapy and in Racine she got help one day a week. At Honey Creek they work with her every day. Yes, every day. She is advancing better than we ever expected but all that we hoped.

Her new school does a lot of things we didn't expect. In these days of political correctness, many have cut out Halloween activities. At Honey Creek, they have something called a Fall Festival. They do it in early October. It includes a costume parade around the neighborhood. My daughter mentioned the event to me half-heartedly so I could attend if I had nothing to do that day. So I thought I would go. I had anticipated the little kindergarteners marching around the outside of the school in their little costumes and that's about it. Boy, was I wrong.

When I pulled up to the school the Milwaukee Police were just closing down the roads to through traffic. I was happy I parked in the nick of time. As I walked toward the school the junior high band from next door was practicing and getting ready to line up at the start of this parade. Then I saw the motorcycle police ride up in front of the band to lead the parade. As I got closer to the main doors of the school, the principal came outside to meet the Alderman and a few other dignitaries that I was not that familiar with (this is not my neighborhood). This was a bigger deal than I expected.

As the kids started coming out of the school, I noticed the neighbors getting out their lawn chairs and sitting down to watch the parade. The K4 kids came out then the K5 kids and I saw Chloe. Parents and family were invited to walk along in the parade. Chloe was pleasantly surprised to see me and thrilled that I was going to be walking with her all along the way. What a great time!

All the grades participated in the parade and it was a really big deal. Many parents came to walk with their kids. The weather was absolutely perfect on this fall day and we all had a great time. Chloe's mom is going to be disappointed that she took this event for granted but I an so glad I was there.