The Indy 500 Parade

As I have said before, we in Indiana LOVE us the Indy 500. I proudly displayed the checkered flag on our house the entire month of May. We decided to go the Parade this year with 300,000 of our friends.

Our special friends and neighbors, Izzy, Oli, and their dad, Gavin joined us at the parade. The girls sat so still and watched the parade without making any trouble. They also drank as much water as I could give them because it was close to 90 degrees and we were sitting in the hot sun. There was a little breeze, but not much. It was just plain hot and the Italian ice stand near us was looking pretty good to those 3 girls. Too bad their parents are cheap. ( I also had a reason to wear my bedazzled race flag t-shirt)

The parade started with the Indy police parade squad. These are their actual patrol bikes, but we wonder what kind of time they have on their hands to practice stunts like these.

It was the first parade we have ever seen with giant balloons. The kids were impressed with each and every balloon. This balloon was sponsored by Window world. Window world also sponsored John Andretti driving for King Richard's team (thought you would like to know that, Henro).

And the Purdue All American Band. Love them. Slightly disappointed that they didn't play "hail Purdue". Since they took on the "American" role on this day, we still liked the John Phillip Sousa march and the giant drum. Boiler Up! A side note, there were lots of bands in the parade and every single one of them had on their wool uniforms. Most of the uniforms were black. Reminds me of the days when I marched in the Bryan Jubilee and ended up with heat stroke. And the High stepping Apaches were wearing shorts! Those poor kids. Hopefully some good band parents (Band-Aids) were squirting lots of water at these kids.

Elmo and Dorthy made an appearance. I think this was the girls' favorite balloon.

This was Annalise's favorite float because it featured a barn and cows. Remember, Winners drink Milk.

The grand marshals were the Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team. We also LOVE us the Bulldogs right now. We will miss you next year Gordon.

This is the princess float. To become a 500 Fest princess, you have to be going to school in Indiana. ( we aren't sure if you have to be born here). This isn't a beauty contest, but more of a scholarship thing that is largely based off of grades and community service. I can get behind that. Evie and Annalise are in training to be princesses. Also, the "queen" gets crowned by Mario Andretti, so that would be something to look forward to.

The drivers were all in the parade. We saw all our favorites including, but not limited to Sarah Fisher, Danica Patrick, Dario Francetti (and his lovely, glistening wife, Ashley Judd), a couple Andrettis, a bunch of Brazilians, and Graham Rahal (shown here). Old Graham races for his dad on Rahal-Letterman racing. Their sponsor is Quick Trim--a diet aid. Quick Trim's spokesperson is Kim Kardasian. Say what you will, but I think she is just as pretty in real life as she is on the TV. I DON'T think she should have been in the parade. That's just being ridiculous.

Favorite son and Daughter of Indiana--Jim Neighbors and Florence Henderson. Old Carol Brady was pretty off key when she sang God Bless America before the race, but Jim touched the hearts of many when he sang Back Home Again in Indiana. For what it's worth, I know more people who think that the pre race festivities matter more than the actual race. We also all love the jet planes that do the fly over at the National Anthem because they also fly over our houses 5 or 6 times in a holding pattern. Best part of May in Indiana if you ask me.

Here's Heilo, the pole sitter. He didn't bring it in for a win, but everyone loves him too. He's fun, small, and has a great accent. What's not to like??

Lots of Love surrounding this parade and the race. Can you tell that I'm slightly partial to everything involved in the month of May??

As I mentioned, it was hotter than the dickens out there. As soon as we started rolling in the traffic, Annalise was out like a light and slept almost the entire ride home (which took us an hour because of traffic).

Evie tried to sleep, but didn't. She did look cute trying though.