Bums in the Park and Hearts of Gold

Yesterday Kim, Traci and I decided that would take the kids for an afternoon picnic at Balfour Park. It's the perfect size for the smaller kids, plus there is the sand volleyball court which doubles as a sandbox. Usually this little out-of-the-way park is quiet and pleasant. When we get there and see the homeless men sleeping along the west fence, we are a little shocked. We chalk it up to not having been there for awhile and go about our business, keeping our distance and a close eye on the kids. Pretty soon though, as we're enjoying our conversation, this guy runs full speed out of the bushes, yelling at the top of his lungs. This of course gets our attention. Following right behind him is a sheriff's deputy. Apparently they came from across the field and into the park. This guy was putting up quite a fight so the deputy whipped out the pepper spray and totally doused this guy in the face. It slowed him down a little, and increased the volume of his screaming. At this point, they are totally fighting. We decide it's probably time to call it a day, even though all of the other homeless men have gotten the heck out of dodge when the cops showed up. Fun at the park!!
Kim and I, the gluttons for punishment we are, also decided to take our kids to the Valleyfest Hearts of Gold parade. The guys were out of town and at work, so we packed up our 6 kids and headed down to Sprague and Bowdish to stake out our seats. This parade is pretty close to small town as you get. The elementary schools all get their kids to march, the shriners are there, there are fire trucks and cop cars and hot rods and I swear just random people walking down the street for the exercise. The best part about this parade...they throw candy. Everyone does. Our kids had so much candy by the end of the night that they could barely carry it home. They have almost as much candy as when they trick or treat. I don't know if I'll ever be able to take them to a parade again where they don't throw candy. They'll be so disappointed. It was a great distraction though. Only 1 hour and it only took about 5 minutes to get out of the parking lot to a clear street to get home. How can you beat it? I complained when they moved the parade from McDonald and the Valleyfest from Terrace View, but this wasn't so bad and I think we might do the parade every year, it was fun!! We're still skipping Valleyfest though...too many people in a little itty bitty space.