Gobblers and Ho Ho Hos

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is the Milford Christmas Parade, and this year marked the third annual Gobbler Gallop 4-miler. For the Spurgeon household, it was our third  MCP, Maizey's second MCP, and Maizey and Will's first Gallop.

 It was Maizey's first race, so she was slightly dubious. 

But warmed up to the idea after a Santa Dada pep talk.

Lucy and I abstained.

On your marks. 

Get set.

GO!

This was moments before Will hollered to me: "The tires on this thing are completely flat!" Love him, but imagine my holiday joy when I was able to respond, "Not my problem!"

And 38 minutes later
(he blames the tires - I blame the pre- and post-partum supportive bowls of ice cream)...

Finished!
All jokes aside, I do see more races in the Spurgeon Family future.

After the race we went to meet up with our fave parade partner.

Jack. Future Milford Mayor.

Two years ago...

 And today...

 How fast time goes.

But the cluster $%& that is our parade group never changes.

Only compounded by the parade line-up occurring on our street.

 Come on everybody!

 Hustle. Hustle.

Stroller brigade.

Despite Maizey's recent obsession with The Grinch and the Whos, 

she didn't warm up to their human counterparts.

Can't really blame the girl though. 

As they were more Edward Scissorhands than Cindy Lou.

Good thing Milford has these two spunky gals,

keeping the Girl Scouts from Huron Valley extinction. 

Happily, unlike the memorial parade,

there was candy.

 costumed weiner dogs,

Jaclyn's family,

Bundled Lucy,

And Santa.
It was a fab kick-off to the holiday season.

P.S. As an aside, Will and I experienced our first "Where's my kid?" We were settling into our parade spot when I looked over at Will, expecting to see Maizey nearby. She wasn't. I hollered to him, "Where's Maizey?" He got a confused/panicked look on his face. We started scanning the crowd, looking for a purple-clad little person. Shouldn't be hard to find. But, she was. Hard to find. We couldn't find her. For about 2 minutes, with my heart beating increasingly faster, we searched the crowd for her. Calling her name. One of our tallish fellow parade goers spotted her about half a block away, alone, looking scared and lost. The emotion I felt when I saw her was unlike anything I'd experienced before. As cousin Molly said, "Parenting. Not for the faint of heart."

Greatest Fourth in the North

The summer after meeting Will, back in 2004, I was introduced to my first Greatest Fourth in the North, care of the Spurgeons, the Crissmans and a little town near Cadillac called Lake City.

The ditty goes a lil' somethin' like this... Night before - put chairs in truck bed, usually about 15 of them. Morning of - coffee, light breakfast and drive downtown for the 5 or 10 K. After the race - gather at the 15 chairs, carefully placed by soon-to-be-named Grandpa Bill, rendevous with the non-racers, enjoy some Baked Beans coffee and a breakfast sandwich, and get down for some serious parade watchin'.

In years past, those of you on Facebook may have perused my fabulous Lake City Greatest Fourth in the North parade photos. I must say that this year was slightly less dramatic. Only one band. No Roscoe. And no Jenny Nathan. But yes - they did toss beef jerky. And yes, there was a woman driving around megaphoning at the kids to "GET BEHIND THE WHITE LINE, FOLKS!" It was still a super time.

The spectators from my camp . . .

...including sunscreen safety officer G. Bill:

Other notable spectators included the pasty and the tan - the former clearly a follower of Officer G. Bill: 

Who knew bathing suit parade watching was such a thing?

For those that can't decide? Just wear jeans AND a bathing suit. Brilliant! (Sidebar - it was about 85 degrees out.)

And then there was my favorite spectator, affectionately nicknamed Chugger.

Takin' names and kickin' ass. Her 18 wheeler was parked out back.

This year's theme, "It's Round-Up Time," showcased some seriously couture Old West-inspired Northern Michigan attire, modeled by the effervesant teens of Lake City.

(There was even some vintage wear - the white boots, which I think I coveted back in 1991.)

This guy totally showed up Kip and Owen.

And what about the double-glove crew? MJ times two?

We were positioned at the end of the parade route (atypical placement for the Spurgeon crew). 

By the time they got to us, parade participants were pretty tuckered out... I was tuckered too. 

But lucky me scored a coupon for a free Big Boy coffee.

And it wouldn't be a Lake City parade with a message from above.

Even delivered in the Round Up theme...

Oh what a time it was...