Pan-O-Prog parades and fun

Over the Fourth and this past weekend we quickly learned how much our neighborhood (and Lakeville) gets into the festivities of their annual Pan-O-Prog festival. It’s a week-long event with activities taking place throughout the city and largely in the “old downtown” area of Lakeville. We live only a couple blocks from that area so we were able to walk down for the fun a few times.

On the Fourth, our neighborhood was a constant show of fireworks for a few hours. We were able to watch the Lakeville fireworks from our yard! Shockingly, Ava slept right through all of the noise!

We also watched my dad and uncle Roger in the Classic Car Parade. I don’t think Ava really knew or cared about what was going on until she saw Grandpa Dave drive by (in his '74 El Camino) in the long line of cars. She lit up and gasped a huge, “HI!” So sweet!

One highlight was our visit to the petting zoo. As most know, Ava is obsessed with animals. She was surrounded by ducks, chickens, cows, horses, a turkey, a llama, bunnies, goats, a sheep, and more -– all within an arm’s reach! She was a little shy about touching them at first, but eventually warmed up and had fun making all the animal noises. Pretty sure she could have stayed in there all day.

The most fun we had was at the Grande Parade. Although we lasted for “only” 2 hours of the 3 hour long parade!, Ava was captivated by the action. We thought she might be afraid of the loud noises of the sirens and bands, but she LOVED it! She danced, sang and squealed the entire time!

Perhaps we have a future marching band member on our hands! ...

We are so excited about making these festivities an annual tradition for our family.