Santa Parade

We've watched the GR Santa Parade on TV for a few years, but this year we thought that Hannah was old enough to enjoy it in person. Since it was only 33 degrees when it was time to go, and Jack had a bit of a cold, my mom stayed home with him while Jason, Hannah, my dad, and I headed downtown. We arrived about 45 minutes before the start of the parade and found a great spot on Fulton across from VanAndel Arena.

The sun was out, so we figured it would warm up fairly quickly, but boy were we wrong. It was soooo cold!! Since we had some time before the parade started, and it was "colder than a dog's nose" as my dad says, my dad took Hannah to get hot chocolate.

Hannah's first hot chocolate was a HUGE hit. I think she was supposed to share with Papa, but that didn't happen.


We discovered that the new mittens that I got Hannah were cute but not very practical. She had a hard time keeping them on, but she didn't seem to mind.


Hannah really did enjoy the parade, especially collecting all of the candy (although the mittens made that a bit of a challenge!).

One of Hannah's favorites.

Of course, Jason's favorite.

About 2/3 of the way throught the parade, there was a HUGE gap. Since we'd been outside for about an hour and a half and were all freezing by that point, we decided to pack up and head out. So, no, we didn't see Santa, but Hannah didn't even seem to notice. I think she was ready to thaw out, too.