The parade was great!!! The kids weren't cranky at all upon getting up so early. I'm pretty sure Olivia had a hard time sleeping from the excitement, she was up as soon as her alarm began; bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!!!! (Not her usual self in the early mornings.) :) We made it to the train with time to spare, got a great spot for the parade (though I scoped out an even better one for next year!), and they did a wonderful job waiting the almost two hours until the start of the parade. (I, of course, did some planning and brought their Water Wow! - a must!, some books, and some CANDY!!!) The parade did drag a bit as we had to wait every little bit while a group performed to our right for the live broadcast. We ended up next to a very nice couple from the NW suburbs. She offered to help Olivia sit on the "fence" in front of us while leaning against her, while I did the same for Braeden. Of course my cargo, although lighter, was much more difficult in that he grew quite restless at different times during the 2 hour parade. How can you blame him? It had been a long morning, and how many marching bands can one 2 year old sit through???? :) We looked at most of Macy's windows prior to the parade, but saved the last for after since it was around the corner anyway. This year's windows depicted Mary Poppins, the literature version, not the Disney movie, and they were great. Here is a pic we took this morning at that final window...