Tulalip Days 2012

After getting pounds of candy last year at the Tulalip Days parade (details here), there was no way we were going to miss the festivities this year.  In fact, we brought a crowd with us!  "The crowd" had read about it in the blog or heard stories of it from us last year and decided to join in the fun this year.  "The crowd" was some of our family, Sheri with her kids Seth and Ellie, Janice, Sharon and Lynn, Dave and Viv, Dode's cousin Erin with her husband and three kids, and Melody (a family friend).  Since we've only been once, we weren't 100% sure what to expect.  We were a bit nervous that our family would be disappointed by the small parade and would consider it a waste of their Saturday morning.

Our crowd arriving and staking out our spots.

See all the empty sidewalk beyond us?  That was all the more crowded it ever got.  There was no one on either end of us.  I can't believe people in the community aren't attending the parade.  It's a great family event!  

One thing you have to be careful of is the street is not closed down before or during the parade.  As we were waiting for the parade to begin, cars kept coming whizzing by within a foot or two of the kids who were sitting on the edge of the sidewalk.  Dode has years of experience standing in streets with cars going by so he stood in the road in front of our group and gave cars a lot of eye contact to get them to slow down and move over.  Maybe we should bring a few orange cones to set up next year?  It's kind of humorous to watch the parade go by and see a car that isn't part of the parade but somehow got mixed up in it.

Elizabeth was worried that with all of our family sitting together, she wouldn't get enough candy.  She planted herself far removed from us, all by herself. (Yes, this is how crowded it was during the parade.)  Did it work?  I think all the kids received about the same amount of candy.  There were times when the children would hold open their bag and people would just dump candy right in.

Miriam and Erin's daughter Gabbie passed the time until the parade started gathering wildflowers.

Uncle Dave sat in the shade on the opposite side of the road from us with the girls.  Miriam is pretty free with the "grandpa" title and thinks of Dave as another of her grandpas.

The parade doesn't have many floats but it has a lot of different kinds of decorated vehicles, 

especially golf carts.  

I sure wish I could get my hands of one of these for during day camp when I walk over 5 miles a day around and around checking on camp!

The best part of all the vehicles?  

Candy! Tons of Candy!

After the parade, Lynn asked Erin if her children had enough candy to last them all the way home to Utah.  Her reply, "They have enough candy, they could run to Utah!"

This "dragon" terrorized both sides of the road teasing Miriam and Gabbie, then Seth and Ellie.

Dode was pretty surprised to see this box coming down the road.

The trailer he tows his ground penetrating radar in is disguised inside it!

Better view of the complete float.  TDS stands for "Tulalip Data Services", the department at the tribes Dode works in.

This is what it usually looks like.  It's tiny.

Chained to the light post so no one takes it.

As soon as the parade was over, Erin loaded her family into the car and started heading back to Utah.  Dode said he didn't care how much fun an event was, if he had that kind of drive to make he would have just wanted to be on the road!  I'm glad Erin's children got to experience what a Tulalip event is like.

After the parade, they had a free carnival for the kids.  The bouncy houses were a big hit and it reminded Miriam that she wished we had one in our yard.  We just have to find the right bounce house at the right price.

William liked to lie flat to get extra speed.

Good thing she was wearing leggings under her dress!

The spin art Frisbees were fun to do.  William's looks like a big green eye.

  We'd told our family that everything at the event was free.  We didn't know that this year they had added a few vendors.  The first booth Sharon walked up to was one of the vendors so she left empty handed.  She made up for it at the Frisbee booth!

Janice getting a bat girl mask.

Anastaya gets a butterfly.

Elizabeth with a rainbow swirl.

Ellie sat there so quietly for the face painting.  I could picture her in 15 years, relaxing while getting a facial.

a bunch of face painted peoples

In addition to face painting, Frisbees, crafts and bouncy houses, they had free food.

They offered all you can eat hot dogs, chips, donuts, cotton candy, snow cones, popcorn, and a bunch of candy they didn't hand out at the parade.  As the event was winding down, Isaac grabbed about five bags of chips for the ride home.    I just needed hand dipped corn dogs, kettle corn and elephant ears to complete the feast!

Miriam making a necklace.

The things we didn't participate in were traditional rawhide drum making and shawl making.  It would be nice to have a drum for cub scout day camp.   Maybe next year!