It seems blogger has gone and redone itself once more. It appears you now are able to upload your own favicons, AND there is no "follow" button anymore. Instead it's "join this site." Join this site? That doesn't make any sense! Does this mean that everyone who clicks that button is able to...post??


Anyway, I have something much more exciting to talk about.

Last week, Papi took Me, Brother Number One, Brother Number Two and Brother Number Four to the stampede parade. (Brother Number Three didn't want to come.) We had to drive for a while Thursday, and then park in DOWNTOWN CALGARY in an old camper and sleep the night, to get good seats.

*note: The only reason I did this was because I wanted to see the Royal Couple. 




We got there, set up our camping chairs, played "Yellow Car(see note at the end of the post)" and then went to bed.
Notice that I said bed, not sleep. The whole night, if I wasn't being kept awake by the horrible windstorm that I was sure was going to sweep the entire vehicle all the way to Saskatchewan, I was being kept awake by drunken shouts and police sirens. Oh yes, and let's not forget my extremely overactive imagination. At night, I tend to think and fear things that, during the day, I end up laughing at myself about.

Anyway, I woke up the next morning feeling groggy and sleep-deprived. (Probably because I was.)

It was around 7:30 a.m., which is really early for me, in the summertime. :P
So, we sat around, counted cars, played Yellow Car some more until the street was closed off, and then went inside the camper to make eggs and sausage for breakfast. (we--Brother Number One and I.)

Some friends arrived around 8, and so we all ate breakfast together. Around 8:30, we started hearing sirens, and saw dozens of police motorcycles driving down the road. We all got up and got our cameras ready.
Unfortunately, the Duke and Duchess were inside a black vehicle with tinted windows. Not only that, but there were FIVE vehicles that looked exactly the same, so, if you wanted to get a decent picture you had to
a) figure out which car the couple were in and then
b) try and snap a picture as they whizzed by like the cars were on fire.

It was rather disappointing. I mean, I did see Her Grace, she was waving and wearing a cowboy hat, and I did see His Highness' hand, but I was still rather distressed. I was hoping for an open vehicle of some sort, cruising as opposed to flying. I tried to get a picture, but all I got was a mess of blurry color. My father, on the other hand...



























Somehow managed to snap a semi-good picture. It's funny, he didn't even realize he got it until the next day. I asked him, right after they sped by, if he managed to get a picture, to which he replied no with a frown. the next day, he came up to me and told me that he woke up that morning, and God had placed a picture inside his camera. :P

After that, we waited another hour for the actual parade to start.


I took some pictures with my brother's old camera (STILL CAN'T FIND THE CHARGER!) but my father's are much better.



One of the best parts of the parade was the military section. It was very impressive.























The boys loved the tank.




























Another favourite was the street came through every half an hour or so...and they were "dressed up!"































And, of course, the marching bands were a highlight. They are usually one of the reasons I love parades.
































The whole time, the wind was blowing like mad, so whenever people went by with cowboy hats, they were swept off, and people were running all over the place, picking them up. That was rather amusing.


That was the first and last Stampede Parade experience. While it's an adventure worth telling about, I have no desire to sleep in the slums of Calgary ever again! :P


Have a lovely day!
xo