Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Scary Parade

Yesterday, Rich and I brought the girls to a parade and fair over in the town where we used to live. It's always a bit sad to see our old home. For many reasons. Rich and I hadn't expected to move so soon. We hadn't expected to have three babies at once either.

Here's how we do parades:



Now, we just took the girls to a small Memorial Day parade a few weeks ago. They were a bit confused but seemed to enjoy themselves. Yesterday, they were in a state of shock during the entire parade. And it's a long parade. We stopped and picked up some donut holes on our way there. I handed each of them one at the beginning of the parade. Em took a nibble and then held onto hers for the entire parade. After the parade was over, she finished eating it.

Allie (and Elmo)



Anna (with donut on her face)



The great part of this parade is all the freebies. There is soooo much candy thrown out that kids bring bags. We were at the beginning of the parade so the girls were handed windmills and pails/shovels. The woman handing out the pails/shovels said, "Here you go, cuties," as she passed them to the girls, who sat there in shock.

Allie with her freebies.



After the parade, we visited with some of our old neighbors for a bit and then headed down the street to the fair. Talk about feeling like EVERYONE is looking at you. Rich was in line to buy us hotdogs for lunch and I found a somewhat open area to wait. The girls were not going to wait in the Choo Choo Wagon so I allowed them some freedom. They were really good at first but then started to wander. Thankfully, Rich arrived about two minutes from me having to contain them in the Choo Choo.

A million people came over to tell us that the girls were beautiful and we heard a ton of comments about the Choo Choo. As Rich arrived with lunch, I was only focusing on the girls as they had started to wander. I basically had to have eyes in the back of my head. As one family walked by and commented (nicely) on the girls, Allie started to walk off with them. So Rich arrived with lunch, we were gathering up the girls and I hear someone say, "Excuse me." I look up and this teenager/college-aged guy says, "Is that seat taken?" as he points to one of the cars of the wagon. I almost went off on him. Do you think that my life is a joke, buddy? Horrible timing on his part.

It was quite frustrating. Are we that unique that strangers have to point and make comments constantly? I don't want to sound ungrateful because I really do appreciate the nice comments but there are times when we just want to be a normal family.

I'll end with a picture of Em "drinking" some of my Diet Coke.



Don't worry. She was fake drinking. Or else it would have been all over her dress.

8 comments:

Jan said...

I think that by dressing them alike you are bringing even more attention to them. I'm glad you didn't go off on the young man - he was just being friendly.

Hope's Mama said...

You guys make a beautiful family. I can only imagine how uncomfortable some of those comments make you. I wish I had something better to say than "try not to let it get to you".
I love seeing all the pics of the girls. They are growing and changing so much.

Sarah said...

Jan - The girls are usually dressed the same b/c it is much easier to get out of the house when you are not trying to find 3 different outfits. The weather Sat. morning was in the 60's when we getting ready to leave so I wanted to layer their clothes in case it became too hot.

I have also found that having them dressed the same in crowded places makes it easier to keep track of them. I remember reading other MoMs say this of dressing their children alike in public and I didn't believe them - believe me, it is true!

AND we actually receive fewer comments when they are dressed alike as it is obvious that they are triplets so we aren't asked, "Are they triplets?" a billion times.

Sally - Thank you!!

Cody said...

We've only had a few tastes of the gawking with our boys so far, and that was with the Peg stroller.. I can only imagine with the Choo Choo. We are having fun with it for now, but I'm sure it will get annoying eventually, and when that happens we intend to buy a double & single stroller so people won't so easily realize that they are triplets when we are out together in a crowd.

But the thing is, I don't blame people for it, because I'd probably do the same. You asked the question "Are we that unique that strangers have to point and make comments constantly?" and I think the answer is yes. Triplets are more common now than they used to be, but still not something you see very often. Add the wow factor of the Choo Choo (or, in our case, the huge limo stoller with a steering wheel) and you may as well have a flashing light on your head.

I'm hoping to find a Choo Choo before our boys are ready for it, but I know it's going to be an attention magnet like no other.

Ron and Aimee said...

I love the shot of Allie with Elmo. I know it seems like a pain when so many people stop you (and I'm sure waaaaaaay more than with twins), but your girls are precious. Everyone just wants to say so. :)

Sarah said...

Hey Cody - we went the single/double stroller route as well- it sometimes helps. I must be so used to the Choo Choo b/c I don't think it's that big of a deal but apparently it is! We were using that on Sat b/c we were out in grass, etc - that would have been hard to push the strollers through.

pyjammy pam said...

what i love about the choo choo is that IT seems to get more attention than the boys do. at least compared to, say, the peg stroller or the triple decker.

i get that "can i ride?" comment a lot too. i just roll my eyes. dude, if anyone's going to ride (besides the boys) it's gonna be ME! ha!

Jan said...

Good point about the identification when they are dressed alike - I didn't think of that!