St. Patty's Day Fun

Saturday was really our first taste of spring weather--it was supposed to be warm and beautiful, so we decided to go to uptown Charlotte for the St. Patrick's Day parade.  Em was very excited about seeing a parade, but it was so crowded when we got there that she took turns sitting on our shoulders for the best view.

Here's former Charlotte Mayor, turned NC Governor as the Grand Marshall.

This was one of Em's favorite parts--all the Golden Retrievers!

There was a big kids' zone with a carousel, bounce houses and games.  Em got on the first time and wasn't very happy because "the bunny is not my favorite animal."

She was more excited to get back on her favorite animal--the doggie--but then decided she was going to be shy for a picture.

She was pretty happy when she got on the swings all by herself like a big girl!

And even happier when they started spinning around--she held on for dear life.

She talked Daddy in to standing in line twice for the big slide!

We stayed for several hours, and Em enjoyed exploring some of uptown with all the people and dogs.  It was a great day for a parade!

She was exhausted from playing, so she wasted no time falling asleep in the car. 

We headed down to look at cars--since my job no longer requires full time travel (hooray!), I'm turning in my company car and we're buying one.  We've been looking at the Honda CR-V, but Em decided she liked this little 2-door Accord :).

 

We were close to home at that point, and because we had bribed Em with ice cream for being a good girl at the car dealership, we went to Baxter Village for ice cream.  We didn't realize there was a big festival going on there too, so Em got to paint a picture (she told the lady her name was Peter Pan, so that's how her picture was labeled :)).

Then we saw a cupcake shop, so she settled for a double chocolate cupcake instead of ice cream.  She might look just like her Daddy, but she definitely has some of her Mommy in her too :).

The weather was perfect, and there was music and lots of kids, so it was the perfect environment for her.  She met this green frog and was trying to give him 5 in this pic.

She had a terrific time dancing, and jumped right in for some of the group dances.  We finally stopped to eat Italian for dinner and head home.  It was a full day, and Em was exhausted (we were too!)