Gasparilla

Gasparilla is a month long celebration here in Tampa, full of pirate invasions, parades, fireworks and more beads than you can imagine! Picture Mardi Gras by the bay! Well, this weekend was the ever-popular, ever-growing children's parade. And, not to deprive James of wonderful, parade-filled memories, we joined the thousands of parade-goers along Bayshore Boulevard. For those of you who aren't familiar, Bayshore Blvd is a 5 mile stretch of prime real estate along the bay with a continuous sidewalk, perfect for training runs, strolls or just looking out over the water. When I was running more, my favorite time of the week was running along Bayshore early Saturday morning when the sun was rising over the water, with the cityscape of downtown Tampa in the background. Although, I do NOT miss those 5 am wake up calls to start running!
Here is just a glimpse of our view (not much of one) of the parade. It was fun just people watching. Luckily, James isn't old enough to know that we weren't close enough to catch any beads. The day was pretty overcast and the temps took a low dip (65) as the evening grew later. The parade officials actually canceled the parade half-way through due to severe weather coming. So, James' first parade experience was a bust. Better luck next year. Luckily, we made it home before the storm came through (and it was quite the bad storm!)
We ran into an old friend of ours (she's not old) who we used to go hashing (running) with pre-baby. She fell in love with James (who doesn't?) and he fell in love with her beads! We will have to arrive much earlier next year to maximize his bead-catching potential!

When we got home (safe and dry) we had time to give James a bath, since it was earlier than we expected. I shot some adorable filmage of him splashing around and having a grand ole time in the tub, but after hours of searching for the AV cable, I can't find it. So, I can't get the footage from my camera to the computer, sadly, technology does have it's limits! Hopefully, it will turn up soon!