Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Being new to the Greater New York area, we just had to make the trek into the city for the parade. In Houston, we went every year to the parade that changes names every year (Foley's, HEB, WAMU -- I don't even know who sponsored the Houston parade this year). But in NEW YORK, it is always the Macy's parade. With blue skies in the forecast and a few additional adults on hand to help us maneuver the 4 kids, we decided to try it out.

Our day started very early! We caught the 6:27 a.m. train from New Canaan. We then headed on the subway to Columbus circle where we joined roughly 45 million other people (OK only 2 million, but it seemed much busier!) We did not know where to go. We walked this way, then back, then this way, then back. The kids were getting tired and so were the adults. It seemed we may never even be able to see it. . . but we pushed on -- after all this was a lot of work to get up, bundle up, haul everything, and we did not want it wasted! Finally we found the perfect spot! Up on a hill overlooking the route with a great view, where we could sit and wrap the blankets all around the 6 layers we were wearing.

Was it cold? Oh, man was it cold! We used everything we had -- long underwear, shirts, sweaters, fleeces, parkas, snow pants, hand warmers, toe warmers, every pair of gloves, scarves, hats, and every blanket we could carry (each person except Madelyn and Adam) had a back pack filled with stuff to keep you warm. Each person was using 4-6 hand warmers. I found I loved to put them on my ears under may hat.

Was it worth the effort? At least once. It really is something to see it all live and to see all the people . . . everywhere! We recorded it on TV and came home to watch the performances and it was really fun knowing we had been there. We were a little disappointed that not everyone on TV actually walked the parade (like the Rockettes for example -- so we never saw them except on TV).

Enjoy the pictures!