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It was a surreal dream: Our friend, Joel, set up a HUGE surprise for my kids… He arranged for us to be the Grand Marshals of the Macy’s Parade at Universal in Florida!  Since we were visiting Jim’s family in Orlando for Christmas, we decided to give Morgan an early graduation gift:  a day at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, an amusement park at Universal.  {You can see the pictures from that day HERE}.  When Joel offered to set up the surprise, we hatched a plan to get the kids to the other side of Universal in time for the parade.  We told them that we had heard great things about the parade so we just had to see it.  Each year, the floats and balloons from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in NYC are shipped down to Universal.  Imagine their faces when a Universal employee escorted us to the back lot where all of the floats were lined up for the parade and he told us to climb up onto the POLAR BEAR FLOAT!   Right behind the Santa balloon!  The kids were so shocked they didn’t know what to say. It was so much fun seeing the balloons up close.  We weren’t allowed to take any pictures or video while we were moving- we had to WAVE at the crowds.  And boy, we waved and waved like professional beauty queens!

As I looked out across the sea of people, everyone waving and smiling, the bands playing, and confetti flying through the air, I just couldn’t believe it was happening!  Twenty-five minutes of waving at babies in strollers, teenagers, and grandparents.  It was a once in a lifetime event.  I can imagine my kids telling their own kids about this someday.