Happy Canada Day!

Another July 1st has come and gone.  A day when we all celebrate this wonderful country that we live in and all of the freedoms that we have because of it.

However, July 1st is not really about celebrating Canada for me.  Don't get me wrong, I love being Canadian and I recognize that it is Canada's birthday.  But July 1st has always been and will most likely always be "Raymond Day" to me.  It just so happens that Raymond was founded on the same day that was chosen as Dominon Day (which was later changed to Canada Day).  So, being a born and raised Raymondite, July 1st is my 2nd favorite holiday (second only to Christmas, which is only like 5 1/2 months away!).  It's a holiday which has a mysterious "pull" on Raymondites, and so they return to their childhood homes much like salmon returning to spawn (minus the bears and other predators waiting to eat them on their journey).  Raymond day is filled with odd traditions that outsiders find baffling.

Ok, so I'm being slightly overdramatic.  I really just love it because it's about being with family and it's fun to see people that you haven't seen for years, to visit and find out what they're up to now. 

This year, Paxton and I went out to Raymond with Grammy on June 29th so we could spend a few days with Kinsey, Kelly and her kids.  Paxton wasn't entirely sure what to do when his cousins showed up because he's not used to all the noise and commotion that accompany my wonderful nephews.  My Mom and I agree that it's a good thing she's relaxed about how clean the house needs to be over the years because when we all come home it's like a tornado hit.  A happy tornado, but a tornado nonetheless.  We stayed up much later than we meant to and then headed off to get some sleep so we could attempt to keep up with the kidlets the next day.

Paxton in the Jolly Jumper

Hangin' in Auntie Kizzy's chair

Zane "helping" Paxton look at the camera

Tired boy and his Teddy Bear

Wednesday morning Mom headed off to Cardston while the rest of us tried to decide what to do for the day.  Shortly after Mom left, we got a phone call from her telling us that we needed to stake out our spot for the parade ASAP since our usual area was filling up fast.  Insert segway here: This is one of those odd traditions I was talking about earlier.  People start staking claims along the parade route a day or two before July 1st.  Our family always sits in front of the Community Center (which just makes sense since my parents live right beside it), so we park a vehicle there the day before the parade and then we have a place to sit and observe the parade.  However, the last few years have been slightly aggravating for us because the children of the families that usually sit beside us have been having population explosions.  Thus, even though we have staked our claim with a vehicle, they have been setting up their chairs in front of our spot.  I know this sounds a little ridiculous, but it's sort of like having a squatter on your land.  So, to combat this problem we decided that we needed to park 2 vehicles this year so that we wouldn't be "run off our land."  And now back to the story ... Mom's phone call caused a panic in the living room (not at the disco).  I grabbed Kelly's keys, quickly drove her van the half block to the parade route and then hurried back to command central (aka the kitchen) to discuss our options for the second vehicle.  Kinsey had left her Jeep in Sylvan, Jay had our Jeep, Mom had her Explorer in Cardston and Dad's truck was in Lethbridge since he was out on the road, so we were minus one vehicle to save the second spot.  Luckily Grandma Robinson was willing to let us borrow her car so we were able to park it in the second spot until we could switch it out with another vehicle and thus bring our 2 vehicle plan to fruition.  We whiled away the rest of the morning and afternoon with activities in the house because the mosquitos were RIDICULOUS and because it was too windy to go to the pool.  I was really disappointed about that as I've been looking forward to taking Paxton swimming at the new pool.  Oh well, another day I guess.  Auntie Kizzy took the older 2 boys to "How to Train Your Dragon" in the evening and then we all hit the hay relatively early so we would have lots of energy for the festivities the following day.

Brock chillin' with the XBox controller

Paxton was thrilled with Brock.  He was pretty sure that Brock's the coolest thing he's ever seen!

Poor Brock fell down the stairs and got a huge bruise on the right side of his forehead.

Thursday morning was hectic to say the least.  It's always organized chaos when all of us are home since Mom and Dad only have 1 bathroom, so that's a lot of people to coordinate showers, etc for!  Kelly bought matching shirts for all the boys and we ended up putting them all in camo shorts as well (which was not planned) so we had to get some pictures of our oh so handsome offspring.

Rhett was not impressed about having his picture taken

Once pictures were done, we sent Grandpa and the older boys over to the parade spot to further stake our claim by setting up our lawn chairs so no one would encroach on our space.  We are nothing if not thorough.  The rest of us followed and waited ever so patiently for the parade to start.

Zane is a little bit of a ham and is always willing to pose for me

Grandpa and Paxton staking a claim

Gearing up for his 1st parade

Helping Auntie Kizzy get excited for the parade

Let me clarify my excitement.  The Raymond parade is no Calgary Stampede parade, but for some reason I LOVE it!  I love seeing the horses, the old cars and trucks, the kids riding their bikes, just everything about it.  Maybe because it reminds me of watching it when I was younger.  And I love watching all the kids scramble around for candy.  At least my nephews are old enough to get their own candy so I don't have to hip check 6 year olds for them any more (it's sort of embarassing to be running for candy when you're 23).  It just makes me happy.  However, I was disappointed that more of the wards didn't put floats in this year.  I think I only saw 2, and there are 7 wards in Raymond (I think).  In the past, each ward would put a float in and then the best were awarded ribbons (we all know that everyone from Raymond is competitive so a ribbon is incentive enough!).  So it was sad to see the poor turnout there.  But there were still lots of fun things to see.

This guy was super creepy, but he was advertising Stirling's Haunted House, so what else could you expect?

I think the pool staff put this float together the morning of the parade.  Really?  C'mon.  They usually have a pretty decent float.

Wind up Smart Car

So excited about the parade with Grammy

The General Lee (even had the horn)

This is the 2nd year these guys have been in the parade.  They put candy on the conveyor belt and shoot it out to the kids.

Mini Chucks.  We joke every year that I could probably hook Mo and Maggie up to one of these wagons.

Didn't quite make it through the whole parade.  Too much excitement I guess!

Jay had to work in the morning so he missed the parade by about 10 minutes (I'm sure he was really sad about it).  After the parade we headed back to Mom and Dad's house for the bbq.  After we all stuffed ourselves with deliciousness, most of the adults had naps while Grammy entertained the grandsons.  And then it was time to head home to recoup from all the excitement.  Only 359 days until next year's July 1st!

***RANT ALERT****

My parents' house (circled in red) is right next to the Community Center which is pretty much right in the middle of town so a lot of people gather there to watch the parade because the parade runs north up Broadway (bottom to top in this picture).  As you can also see, there is an alley right beside my parents' house.  Now that you have the background info, I will rant.  Every year people park their vehicles on my parents' lawn where it meets the alley and then walk over to watch the parade.  WHY DO THEY THINK THIS IS OK?!?!?!?!?!?  I betcha that if I parked my vehicle on their lawn they wouldn't be too impressed about it.  I mean, by all means, park on the gravel in the alley and walk over, but keep your vehicle off the grass!!!  My Dad informed me that I'm in charge of making a "Keep off the Grass" sign before next year's parade.  Apparently he's fed up after living there for 17 years.