These are colorful bags of cotton candy. Katie bought a pink one as we left the parade. The lights on either side of the entrance to this building in the next picture look like there is a burning flame in each, very pretty.
Before the crowds began to pack in, about 7:30 or 8 in the morning.
See the man in the background with a little bitty baby tucked inside his jacket. Only her head poked out.
This is the view towards the street. The trucks were
used to block the street but they completely obscured the view. To bad they didn't use saw horses or something similar.
I tried several times to get a picture of the balloons floating up but it just wouldn't work. Gives you an idea of the view from the street looking up. You are always surrounded by tall concrete buildings. The sky is only visible if you look straight up.
The website recommended getting there about 6:30 am. We had good intentions but were all tired and it takes a while to get 3 kids out the door. We rode the subway from 116 to 72nd. We arrived about 7:30. Kevin's first time on the subway. The Metro Cards are displosable. It was $18 for us all to ride the subway there and back. We had one card with 50 cents on it and one with $9 on it. We bought a one day unlimited pass for $8.75, but it only let one person use it. Kevin went threw the turntable and then I had to go back and buy another card ($20) for everyone else to get thru. The regular cards let everyone use the same card. The previous times I rode I juggled Lilly and the buggy and the card alone. I guess since I had 3 other people with me I wasn't being as careful, expectng them to help. Lilly ran under the turntable and none of us could get thru to go after her until we had a working card and scanned it to unlock the turn table. There were 2 young men on the other side chuckling and watching thew situation and Kevin yelling at me to do something. The girls were arguing over whose fault it was. Iasked the men if they could please shoo her back this way so I could reach across and grab her. He hesitated but them kind of pushed her closer so I could reach her. We all eventually made it thru and go on the train. It was not too crowded and all but Kevin sat for the ride. We ended up wasting $3.25 on Kevin's card since it would only work for today. I now had 4 Metrocards that I was trying to keep straight. They all look the same of course. I would throw away the 50 cent one but think I can use it up or add the remaining cost for one ride to the card, so I have kept it.
We got off at 72nd and Broadway, a new neighborhood for all of us. We walked from Broadway across Amsterdam and Columbus (maybe other streets?) to Central Park West. The rode was blocked with 2 large dump trucks and the streets were already so packed you couldn't get through and couldn't see the road. It was disappointing, but we could still see the balloons. We had almost 2 hours to wait. The crowds packed in until everyone was touching and there was no room to move. Lilly took turns on everyone's shoulders and had the best view. We dressed warmly but when we left my toes hurt and everyones hands were red and cold.
They were handing out free balloons to everyone. Abby doesn't like balloons and cries, but Kevin took one and showed her how carefully he had tied it to his belt so it couldn't get away. All morning we saw balloons floating to the sky. We have sent balloons to Aeris in heaven so this quickly became a topic of discussion. Abby said, "There are enough balloons here for everyone in heaven, even Junoir (our dog)." When she saw 3 tied together she said, "Those are for triplet babies who died." When a balloon popped Kevin said Junior had "caught" it. Abby said he will be busy chasing balloons for a year.
Parade pictures on next entry.
We saw a Dad carrying 2 tall ladders and Kevin said, "Now that is a committed father." As time went on we realized this was a common occurance. We saw several people watching the parade from the top of a ladder.
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