I hope you had as nice a 4th of July as we did! We continued our 8-year tradition of inviting our China-adoption friends over to ride in our neighborhood parade.When I bought the house just before sending my dossier to China, I had no idea the parade went right by it. I was delighted, though, and had all these visions of having Zoe home before the next parade. It didn't happen -- referral times increased to 12 months (which we thought unconscionable until we started to see the 3+ year delays now). But the first 4th of July after adopting Zoe in October 2001, we had all our friends and their new children over to celebrate. We walked the parade route that year, pushing our decorated strollers.
The group has gotten much larger over the past 8 years, with now just about all of us having two (or more!) kids. We now decorate 2 pickup trucks and everyone rides (a testament to the group getting bigger or the parents getting older, I'll leave you to figure!).
As you can see in the video, it's not a very high-falutin' parade -- the video shows the Rolling Elvi, a group of grown men who dress up like Elvis and ride tiny motorcycles; and the new "marching" band, which used to be a guy in a super-hero cape playing a saxophone, but is now a trailered garage band! After the parade, the hot and sweaty kids (it is July in Texas, after all!) return to my house for watermelon and lemonade.
Enjoy!
I love it! As for your Marching Elvi - I'll raise you two. We have the Precision Lawn Chair Marching Dads. Pictures to come on Monday - you should see their outfits (or should I say lack thereof - heh - although I promise it's still G-rated).
ReplyDeleteWhat a hoot, Malinda!! LOVE the song you chose, too!
ReplyDeleteGreat video. Thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a great 4th.
ReplyDeleteSheri, I'm glad you liked the song! Of course, I was over-thinking it before picking it. The Constitution wasn't til 7189, and has nothing to do with the 4th of July! But I love the "We the People" language, and loved including OUR China-born children in "We the People" since sometimes they're seen as perpetual foreigners and not as part of "We the People!"
ReplyDeleteSee, over-thinking it . . . .
I love it! You did a great job on the video. (I just put a link to your blog post on Facebook.) I agree, it is a nice affirmation of the fact that our children, who are Chinese-born, adopted, immigrant, American-citizens are indeed included in "We the people." I don't think that's over-thinking it at all...it's spot on!
ReplyDeleteSue (aka anonymous)
EVERY parade needs the Rolling Elvi. Holy cow! That was a great video. We're taking R to our local city parade this month...her first parade. I hope we see something even half as good as Rolling Elvi (or Precisions Lawn Chair Marching Dads)! Ha!
ReplyDeleteM.
Man the kids have grown!! We sure miss celebrating with all of you.
ReplyDelete