2014 Jacksonville Veterans Day Parade and Picnic

Eric had the day off from work yesterday for Veterans Day, and we were excited to spend the morning at the Jacksonville Veterans Day Parade. We had a great time at the parade last year (Ellie's first parade experience!), so we had it penciled in on our calendars for this year, too. The weather yesterday could not have been more perfect, which didn't hurt matters any! So, we got ourselves dressed in our red, white and blue best, loaded up the stroller with all the essentials and off we went.

This Fourth of July baby has no shortage of patriotic attire. It's a good thing he looks so handsome in red, white and blue!

These kids look parade-ready!

I discussed our fun on the Jacksonville Skyway in yesterday's post, and the Veterans Day Parade was another opportunity for us to make use of this mode of transportation. We live directly across the river from downtown, so we only needed to take the train one stop in order to get us to the right side of the river and in a prime parade-viewing location. After a little wandering through the crowds, we found a great spot on the curb just in time for the parade to reach us.

On the lookout for the parade!

Great seats!

Here comes the parade!

The parade was very nice. As usual, Ellie particularly loved the marching bands (when there was too long of a gap between bands she would ask, "Can we see another band, Mama?"), and E.J. even kicked excitedly when the bands marched by. Ellie also picked up on waving to the paraders, which was as adorable as ever.

Flag at the beginning of the parade

Ellie watching the flag pass by

Just look at this kid. For heavens sake.

Blue Angels balloon

Watching the bands!

E.J. watching the parade

More balloons

Ellie is probably searching for more bands!

Tanks

Eric and the kids, who are both looking at the camera at the same time!

Sweet.

The marching band from Eric's school!

Flag balloon!

Ellie waving at the parade

We didn't stay through the whole thing, as it was getting on towards lunch/nap time. (Although, the kids were both very good! You never would've known that everyone was getting hungry and sleepy.) We made our way through the crowd back to the train and rode on home. 

Ellie waving her flag in the train station

Pumped and patriotic on the train!

On our way, we were struck with a craving for pizza. That coupled with Ellie's request for lunch outside inspired us to grab a pie from our local pizza place to enjoy picnic-style in our backyard. A perfect activity on a beautiful day!

Backyard pizza picnic! Apparently Ellie was expecting a high-impact lunch and insisted on wearing her bike helmet. You never can be too careful, I suppose.

Achilles even joined in on the picnic fun!

When your kid is doing something goofy like wearing her helmet to lunch, how can you not join in?

Probably my favorite picture of the day, of my two handsome men looking like the twinsies they are!

We had such a nice Veterans Day together as a family!