#BegginPetParade 2016
Wowza. I cannot believe this is our THIRD year going to the #BegginPetParade with Scooter as a Beggin Partner! It's so exciting! (Check out my recap of 2014 here and 2015 here).
Anyways, this year the parade was scheduled early (since Easter/Mardi Gras is early this year) -- for the last day in January. I was skeptical about even going this year because of this because end of January = middle of winter = COLD. But, by some stroke of luck (for the third year in a row!) the weather was looking to be GORGEOUS (like 60s!!) and we were definitely going to take advantage of that and go. However, this year was different (albeit the weather the same): we were going to take Patrick with us. He's almost 3, and we just knew he was going to love the parade and have a blast (even though it was during nap time). When we told him about going to the parade on Thursday that's ALLLLLL he talked about every waking minute, asking, "Go to parade now?!!" He was so excited...as was I. He was gonna have a blast.
So we got up Sunday morning, got ready, and dropped Rosie off at my mom's and headed out. We brought the toddler Tula for Patrick to ride in, cause we knew he might (probably) get tired and want to be carried, thus making it easier to carry this almost 40 pound sack of potatoes we call our son.
The parade didn't start until 1pm, but we got down to Soulard around 10:15am so we could enjoy some of the festivities before it got crazy crowded.
Scooter had his fancy dancy outfit on again (3rd year in a row! It's sure holding up well--thanks mama for the rugged sewing you do!) in addition to wearing the GoPro mounted on his back. This was such a great idea Mike had back in June when we took Scooter to the Pooches in the Ballpark Cardinals game, that I thought I'd make it happen again for the Pet Parade this year. Spoiler: it was a huge hit and nearly everyone we passed commented on it!
I had set the GoPro to take a picture every 30 seconds, so we'd get an array of Scooter footage throughout the day. The GoPro made it until right after the parade started before it died, but I think we got some good snaps nonetheless! I especially love the pics he captured of me snapping pics of him! Kinda cool, eh?!
Anyways, so when we got down to the parade area we went ahead and picked up our registration information, snapped a ton of pics (that I tried to live-gram over on Scooter's Instagram/Twitter/Facebook) then headed over to the VIP tent to have some lunch before the parade started.
When we first got down there it wasn't crowded AT ALL (#earlybirds we are!), so we were able to meet Hamlet, the Beggin' dog, snap some pics in front of the Beggin' signs, and Scooter got some screen time with a his beloved news station KSDK.
I really tried to take advantage of the lack of crowds (but I knew they were coming...it was 65 degrees out!!) and get some good pics of Scoots. I think I was successful, I am really happy with the pics I got this year! Especially since Scooter was a moving target most of the time.
Once we got into the VIP tent we were able to dismount Patrick from the Tula and get some food. Scooter enjoyed the massive helping(s) of Beggin' Strips Patrick shoveled into his gullet, and we all enjoyed the tasty jambalaya, chicken fingers, salad, and burgers that they'd cooked up for us. There were little Beggin' giveaways on each of the tables, and Patrick really REALLY loved the sunnies that were there. He hardly took them off the rest of the day!
After we left the VIP tent we headed back to the beginning of the parade route. Using our past as a reference point, we were determined to be in the front of the parade pack instead of the back so 1. we'd be done sooner 2. less crowded 3. we could be by Hamlet and Patrick loved that giant dog.
On our way back to the parade route Patrick got a bit whiney -- it was his nap time and he was tired (he told us many times!) and kept saying he was thirsty and wanted to go home. WHAT???!! I was shocked! He'd been talking about the parade for days, and now, right before it was suppose to start he wanted to leave! So mama bear here found him some water, shoveled it in, and miraculously he was back to his old self excited about the dogs and parade to start. Whew.
Patrick was just mesmerized during the beginning of the parade. Seeing the floats and all the dogs had him hypnotized! It was the cutest thing ever.
The parade route was JAM PACKED. I don't think I've ever seen that many people at the parade before! But it was oodles of fun (and less crowded up front by the Beggin' float too!) and Patrick loved seeing all of the dogs and other animals (including a snake, ferrets, 2 ponies, a pig, among other things). Scooter was in his element strutting along like he owned the route. Typical.
Once the parade was over, we hauled it back to our car where we had two very tired little boys. Both of them almosttttt fell asleep in the car, but we were determined to keep them up until we got home so they could siesta there.
Scooter pretended to be an airplane on the way home. Haha. Patrick ended up falling asleep a little while after we got home and we had to wake him up to go to dinner (NEVER a good idea. He is a hot whiny mess when he's woken up from his slumbers).
Anyways, it was another fabulously awesome and fun year at the Beggin' Pet Parade! We cannot wait to go back next year and see what 2017 has in store! Stay tuned friends!
Anyways, this year the parade was scheduled early (since Easter/Mardi Gras is early this year) -- for the last day in January. I was skeptical about even going this year because of this because end of January = middle of winter = COLD. But, by some stroke of luck (for the third year in a row!) the weather was looking to be GORGEOUS (like 60s!!) and we were definitely going to take advantage of that and go. However, this year was different (albeit the weather the same): we were going to take Patrick with us. He's almost 3, and we just knew he was going to love the parade and have a blast (even though it was during nap time). When we told him about going to the parade on Thursday that's ALLLLLL he talked about every waking minute, asking, "Go to parade now?!!" He was so excited...as was I. He was gonna have a blast.
So we got up Sunday morning, got ready, and dropped Rosie off at my mom's and headed out. We brought the toddler Tula for Patrick to ride in, cause we knew he might (probably) get tired and want to be carried, thus making it easier to carry this almost 40 pound sack of potatoes we call our son.
The parade didn't start until 1pm, but we got down to Soulard around 10:15am so we could enjoy some of the festivities before it got crazy crowded.
Scooter had his fancy dancy outfit on again (3rd year in a row! It's sure holding up well--thanks mama for the rugged sewing you do!) in addition to wearing the GoPro mounted on his back. This was such a great idea Mike had back in June when we took Scooter to the Pooches in the Ballpark Cardinals game, that I thought I'd make it happen again for the Pet Parade this year. Spoiler: it was a huge hit and nearly everyone we passed commented on it!
I had set the GoPro to take a picture every 30 seconds, so we'd get an array of Scooter footage throughout the day. The GoPro made it until right after the parade started before it died, but I think we got some good snaps nonetheless! I especially love the pics he captured of me snapping pics of him! Kinda cool, eh?!
Anyways, so when we got down to the parade area we went ahead and picked up our registration information, snapped a ton of pics (that I tried to live-gram over on Scooter's Instagram/Twitter/Facebook) then headed over to the VIP tent to have some lunch before the parade started.
When we first got down there it wasn't crowded AT ALL (#earlybirds we are!), so we were able to meet Hamlet, the Beggin' dog, snap some pics in front of the Beggin' signs, and Scooter got some screen time with a his beloved news station KSDK.
I really tried to take advantage of the lack of crowds (but I knew they were coming...it was 65 degrees out!!) and get some good pics of Scoots. I think I was successful, I am really happy with the pics I got this year! Especially since Scooter was a moving target most of the time.
Once we got into the VIP tent we were able to dismount Patrick from the Tula and get some food. Scooter enjoyed the massive helping(s) of Beggin' Strips Patrick shoveled into his gullet, and we all enjoyed the tasty jambalaya, chicken fingers, salad, and burgers that they'd cooked up for us. There were little Beggin' giveaways on each of the tables, and Patrick really REALLY loved the sunnies that were there. He hardly took them off the rest of the day!
After we left the VIP tent we headed back to the beginning of the parade route. Using our past as a reference point, we were determined to be in the front of the parade pack instead of the back so 1. we'd be done sooner 2. less crowded 3. we could be by Hamlet and Patrick loved that giant dog.
On our way back to the parade route Patrick got a bit whiney -- it was his nap time and he was tired (he told us many times!) and kept saying he was thirsty and wanted to go home. WHAT???!! I was shocked! He'd been talking about the parade for days, and now, right before it was suppose to start he wanted to leave! So mama bear here found him some water, shoveled it in, and miraculously he was back to his old self excited about the dogs and parade to start. Whew.
Patrick was just mesmerized during the beginning of the parade. Seeing the floats and all the dogs had him hypnotized! It was the cutest thing ever.
The parade route was JAM PACKED. I don't think I've ever seen that many people at the parade before! But it was oodles of fun (and less crowded up front by the Beggin' float too!) and Patrick loved seeing all of the dogs and other animals (including a snake, ferrets, 2 ponies, a pig, among other things). Scooter was in his element strutting along like he owned the route. Typical.
Once the parade was over, we hauled it back to our car where we had two very tired little boys. Both of them almosttttt fell asleep in the car, but we were determined to keep them up until we got home so they could siesta there.
Scooter pretended to be an airplane on the way home. Haha. Patrick ended up falling asleep a little while after we got home and we had to wake him up to go to dinner (NEVER a good idea. He is a hot whiny mess when he's woken up from his slumbers).
Anyways, it was another fabulously awesome and fun year at the Beggin' Pet Parade! We cannot wait to go back next year and see what 2017 has in store! Stay tuned friends!
