Elephant Walk

The circus in in town this week.  I'm not a huge fan of circuses. However, I think that one critical way to foster a love for animals in my daughters is for them to see and experience them.  While I'm not taking T to the circus any time soon, I did take her to see the Elephant Walk Parade that went right by our neighborhood.  I guess there are a few perks to living in a city...

There was little promotion about the parade this year.  The parade route wasn't published and the time was only communicated by Twitter (ok, ok, maybe I should get on that one).  We had a quick dinner, early bath, got in her jammies (the parade was right at bedtime) and were ready to head out.  We took a guess about location based on previous routes and got there right on time.  We met up with several of our neighbors, all with kids around each others ages.  It's a great little community we've got here!

We waited and waited.  I think the parents were getting more anxious than the kids!  Finally, the police motorcade showed up to block the side streets.

And then, we could see them!  The elephants!  Wearing their circus headresses, they walked tail to trunk.  I explained to T that was how elephants hold hands, strengthening my argument for why she must hold my hand when we are in the street (well played, mama!).  Her eyes were huge and glued to each elephant as it approached. 

We were then surprised by the arrival of ponies and horses!  I was obsessed with horses as a child and could name the breed or coloring of each one.  "Look T, those are Palominoes, Mummy's favorite".  "Here come the dapple Arabians, Mummy's second favorite".  There were also Morgans and Pintos.  So beautiful.

And just like that, it was over.  40 minutes of waiting for 5 minutes of excitement.  But it was totally worth it!  Just look at that face!