The Jaycees Santa Parade!

This past Saturday, Grand Rapids ushered in the holiday season with its traditional Jaycees Santa Parade. Wow – what a lot of fun! I haven’t done that much walking in quite a while, and today, two days later, my legs are still a little sore. But it was fun.

Our friends at Fox Motors lent us a pickup truck, which we filled with kids, a few adults, and penguins! A few of the little ones dressed up in the penguin costumes we have here for Penguin Play, and a courageous college student wore our large penguin costume.

What was cool was the way those watching the parade reacted. They’d see that big penguin surrounded by the little ones, and shout out “Hey, look! Penguins!” and “Hey there, Penguin!”

The kids really got into the spirit of the event, shouting out “Happy Thanksgiving” and “Merry Christmas.” And, being kids, they even got a little silly, shouting out “Happy Halloween” and “Happy Easter.” The folks in the crowd just laughed along with them.

For all their charm, their penguin dances, and excitement, I’d have to say that the kids in our parade entry made ours truly one of the best in the whole parade!

Penguins!

This will be my first winter at the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum, so it is my first Penguin Play experience. A friendly staff person gave me a tour of it. It’s all so “cool”: the ice castle, the slides, the ball pit, the snowflake table, the games, the new feature – building your own snow fort – and, of course, the penguin costumes.

There was a young girl sliding down from the ice castle into a ball pit. Her father was trying to take her picture, but she was too animated and too giggly, it seems, for him to get a good shot. He asked her to slow down. So she did. She went back to the top of the slide, laid on her back, and starting slowly sliding down – head first. She stretched out her arms and legs to control her speed, and just crept down the slide. Giggling.

By the time the top of her head touched the first ball in the pit, she and her father were so much involved in the moment, she just let go and disappeared among a sea of white, “icy” balls.

I’m not sure if he got the shot he wanted with his camera, but I know he got a memory he’ll have forever. They both will.

That’s one of the most powerful things about the Children’s Museum that I’ve seen so far. It’s not like taking your kid to a park and letting him or her run wild while you watch from a distance. At the Children’s Museum, it’s about engaging in what they are doing. It’s about playing together. It’s about a father’s memory of his little girl giggling uncontrollably as she – penguin-like – disappeared into a pool of ice white balls.

Special things like this happen at the Children’s Museum every day.