My first parade on stilts
(crossposted from Facebook)
So, as you know if you saw the picture my mom posted on Facebook, we did indeed stilt-walk the RiverSing parade yesterday. It went quite well despite the ridiculous humidity and heat. Isaac was super cranky on the way there -- I think he was a little nervous about doing the parade after not having stilted in a long time -- but he perked up once he got into the energy of the crowd, and of course, the looks and comments you get once you're up on stilts are a pretty good ego-stroke. Ruthie was all over that action as well with no reservations.
As for me, well, I survived. It was by far the longest stilt-walk I had ever done, but I was fine, except for a couple of very brief moments. Thanks are due to my mom for coming along to be my "shoulder to fall onto" if needed. I did end up with a fairly impressive blister on one leg where apparently one of my strap buckles wasn't positioned properly, but it could be worse.
The idea of the RiverSing is that people gather along the banks of the Charles River on (or near) the autumn equinox, and sing songs at sunset to usher in the autumn. It's usually a pretty fun event, but unfortunately yesterday was so humid and the bugs were so annoying, the kids lost interest pretty quickly. We sat on the ground on our blanket for a short while, listening to some songs, and then they wanted to go. But we wanted to watch the sunset a bit more (it was a really nice one!) so the kids got their stilts back on and wandered around until mom and I were ready to leave.
Then they stilted all the way back to mom's house (maybe half a mile?) getting more looks of surprise the whole way, which they enjoyed. Good stuff. But I sure was stiff and sore the rest of the evening, oh boy. Guess Isaac and I need to do some more practicing before Honk!
So, as you know if you saw the picture my mom posted on Facebook, we did indeed stilt-walk the RiverSing parade yesterday. It went quite well despite the ridiculous humidity and heat. Isaac was super cranky on the way there -- I think he was a little nervous about doing the parade after not having stilted in a long time -- but he perked up once he got into the energy of the crowd, and of course, the looks and comments you get once you're up on stilts are a pretty good ego-stroke. Ruthie was all over that action as well with no reservations.
As for me, well, I survived. It was by far the longest stilt-walk I had ever done, but I was fine, except for a couple of very brief moments. Thanks are due to my mom for coming along to be my "shoulder to fall onto" if needed. I did end up with a fairly impressive blister on one leg where apparently one of my strap buckles wasn't positioned properly, but it could be worse.
The idea of the RiverSing is that people gather along the banks of the Charles River on (or near) the autumn equinox, and sing songs at sunset to usher in the autumn. It's usually a pretty fun event, but unfortunately yesterday was so humid and the bugs were so annoying, the kids lost interest pretty quickly. We sat on the ground on our blanket for a short while, listening to some songs, and then they wanted to go. But we wanted to watch the sunset a bit more (it was a really nice one!) so the kids got their stilts back on and wandered around until mom and I were ready to leave.
Then they stilted all the way back to mom's house (maybe half a mile?) getting more looks of surprise the whole way, which they enjoyed. Good stuff. But I sure was stiff and sore the rest of the evening, oh boy. Guess Isaac and I need to do some more practicing before Honk!