Rendezvous Parade

 This was the view from my three year old's eyes Saturday.  He was watching the parade with Daddy and Papa.  It's ironic that he was the one gathering candy for us, since he's allergic to 99% of it.  But the rest of us were in the parade.

 Each year our town puts on a commemoration of the Green River Rendezvous, where mountain men, traders and Native Americans met to trade with one another each year.  There's a big parade and a huge street fair, and local citizens put on a pageant to tell the story.

 We even have a museum here dedicated entirely to mountain men.

 It's a huge parade.  Our ten year old was on the 4H float with his best friend, riding a chicken.

 They have a series of barrels made to look like animals, which the kids ride as they serpentine through the parade.  It's one of the funnest floats.  The chicken was the last barrel.

 The 4H float was right in front of the one we were on, so I got to watch him going through the parade.  That was a nice bonus.

 The five year old and I were on the MESA therapeutic horseback riding float.

 He's sitting on a saddle on a hay bale, with a stick horse head.  Despite the fact that the stick horse was black, he named him Buck (after the buckskin horse he rides each week).

He was much more cooperative this week than he was last week.  He had done it before, so it was much less stressful this time around.  I think I need to put him in more stressful situations that can be repeated, so he can learn to adjust more.

 My husband took all the pictures from the sidelines for me, and it looks like the three year old had a pretty fun time.

 The Forest Service had a pretty neat design for their float.  They were literally sawing logs :)

And Smoky Bear was supervising.

 The three year old liked the big equipment.

 Of course all the politicians had to get in on the action.  I thought this one was a little over the top - and blue and pink makes me think more of a baby shower than an elected official.

This one cracks me up.  The guy is in his 80's I would guess, and his slogan reads, "Who could NOT vote for a person like this!!!"  Well, apparently a bunch of people, considering he's run before and not been anywhere near winning.

 See how heavy that bag looks?  By the end of the parade, my husband said he was dragging pretty bad and told him he needed to sit down.  It takes a lot of work to pick up 6-7 pounds of candy one piece at a time.

 I should have weighed it.

 We got home and found a prairie dog in our yard.

 I think they've taken over the west side of our yard.

Here's a gopher for comparison.  The prairie dogs are about twice as big.