Tuesday, July 04, 2006

I Love A Parade




We spent the weekend up north at my Grandmother's lake home. Every year the Lake Association sponsors a boat parade followed by an ice cream social. A few years ago, in an effort to represent an alternative to the behemoth pontoons and super fancy speed boats, FrankenKristin and I decided to decorated our canoe and enter the parade.

As you can imagine, we were the smallest boat in the parade and few people expected us to keep up with the rest of the boats let alone paddle all the way around the lake. Although we were the sentimental favorite with all the parade watchers receiving lots of applause and a few standing ovations. Unfortunately, we did not win the coveted first prize, (breakfast for four at the Lumberjack Saloon) because they didn't have a category for us. Instead we got a hat.

The following year we lobbied the association to add a category for non-motorized watercraft and we have won every year since, although we have rarely faced much of a challenge. Two years ago, a couple of kids entered a peddle boat but they quit halfway around the lake. This year they actually finished but their decorations left a bit to be desired. Anyway, this is the first year we brought the kids along with us. Up until now the span of their attention as well as the grape-like size of Luke's bladder have prevented them from joining us.

The picture above represents this year's entry. Next year I think we are going to put a dragon head on the front of the canoe, arm the kids with paddles and dress up as Vikings. Afterall, it has been proven that we were the first ones to paddle this part of the country back in 1362.

7 comments:

Charlie said...

The Good Ship Lollipop. Or maybe Svenpop. A man's canoe is his castle. Go Vikings. I'm babbling.

Luke and I have something in common: Our bladders are the same exact size.

Yours is one of those beautiful families I wrote about. Except for your legs. You need to do something about your legs.

Sven said...

I tried shaving them but the damn stuff just grew back.

ditzymoi said...

what a great time ..it sounds like lots of fun at your house :)
love chompy too by the way ...hes pretty cute

-John Lustig said...

Power to the Paddle!

Unknown said...

That looks like fun :-) Congrats on winning!
What prize do you get? Is it still a hat?

Kevin Charnas said...

Great pic! And excellent idea for next year. Thanks for the link on the Kensington Runestone, that's awesome...how frickin' cool...1362?

Sven said...

Kate: First prize in each category is breakfast for four at the restuarant across the lake. It's not the greatest place in the world but we go there a lot anyway so it saves us $25.

Besides, we can paddle there.