Too Many Santa Clause's/Holiday Boat Parade

Today was a busy yet fun day trying to cram in all those free fun holiday activities.  Our 1st stop was the Richard Rioux park where they were having their free holiday celebration.  We never expect much from this small event; but the kids are entertained for a little while.  They have hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies, a gingerbread photo frame craft to make, a few games, a bounce house and a visit from Santa.  The girls were not interested in seeing Santa who was even handing out stocking with goodies in it.  They were way more interested in playing in the bounce house which was all to themselves while the other kids waited in line to see Santa.  We were there for about an hour before our next stop to the local library where another Santa would be there reading stories.

We got to the library and waited for Santa to come and read stories as well as sing songs.  As kids and parents sat around Santa's chair, he came, read a story, then sang some songs.  He was a good story teller and even got some kids on his lap to read with him and help turn the pages.  About 30 min later, he gave opportunity for each child to sit on his lap and tell what they wanted as parents got out their camera for a snapshot.   The girls really enjoyed seeing this Santa.

After storytime with Santa, we went to get our Christmas tree and headed back home for lunch.  We had just enough time to get the tree unloaded into the living room, leaving it bare for a few more days when we have more time to decorate.

We are now off to Marina Del Rey to watch the holiday boat parade.  It's a 45 min. drive and thought by leaving at 4:30 we would have plenty of time to make it to see the firework show that started at 5:55.  After driving for about 5 min., we realized the girls had forgotten their jackets. We turn around, and get the jackets which cost us about 15 min.  We get back on the road and ran into some traffic about half way there.  At this point we didn't have any hope to see a firework show.  We finally got to the parking lot at 5:55 just as the fireworks were starting.  Yeah, we made it on time for the show!  But what does hubby do?  He drives around looking for a parking spot in the other direction of where this short firework show is.  We then stopped in the parking lot to watch them in the car.  Then we left to get something to eat.  I was looking for a Carls Jr cuz I had a coupon for it; but the GPS led us to some apartment buildings, so we ended up at a McDonald's to carry out and eat at the boat parade.
We got back to the parking lot where some lady couldn't read the huge free parking sign and was sitting there for 5 min. with a huge line behind her as she was trying to figure out how to get in.  We finally got in and then walked  what felt like a mile to the parade.  We got there around 6:30, so it was really crowded; but managed to find a spot to view.  It was in front of a very large decorated boat.  What a great spot!  Wrong!  This boat was docked and was not going to move.  We still had a decent size opening to view the boats as we ate our cheeseburgers. 

The boats were festive looking at it was fun to watch what must have been about 70 decorated boats go by.  There were several boats that had Santa's riding on them.  My oldest said, look there's Santa, excitedly.  Then again, look another Santa and another Santa.  Why are there so many Santa's, she asked?  I thought there was just one.  Quickly we had to come up with something before she stopped believing.  The answer was, because he can very quickly go from one place to another.  That answer was good enough for her.  But we must have seen about 15 Santa's throughout the day and are Santa'd out.