We just returned from the annual Independence Day Parade here in Eagan, and we had a wonderful time with our daughter-in-law's family, who have a tradition of serving brunch before the parade. We had the perfect day for a parade -- sunny but not too hot, a cool breeze, and a spot in the shade. The FM had to use her wheelchair to get to the spot on the route as she is still on oxygen. and I needed a folding chair because my back can't take sitting on the ground, but other than that, it was a fine traditional celebration of our independence.

The festivities started with Old Glory (click on images to enlarge):

It had real heroes on display. Here we have our local fire department:

And although you can't see him in this picture, we have Jared Swyter, a returning soldier from Iraq, who was adopted by our local YMCA. We gave Jared an ovation when we could finally see him, and he looked a bit surprised to get it. Glad you're back home, Jared:

Hey, we also had our local politicians out in force as well:

That's not entirely fair. I met Tim Wilkins, our state representative, for the first time today. He had asked me to volunteer for the parade today, which would have been fun, but the back injury made it impossible. He sent a personal note wishing me a speedy recovery, and we flagged him down so that we could introduce ourselves. (He wishes all CQ readers a happy 4th, by the way.) I wish I had gotten a picture of Tim if only to show you the clever shirt he wore. Many of our local politicians marched in the parade, but it was hard to tell them apart from their supporters, except for Tim; he wore a shirt that said I'M TIM.

We also met some of Mitch Berg's drinking buddies:

But the highlight of the parade came when the Eaganettes made their appearance. The Little Admiral marched in today's parade as an Eaganette for the first time. I didn't get a clear shot of her in the parade, but here she is waving her flag on the sidelines afterwards:

I hope all of you get a chance to see a parade today. This is our first parade in Eagan since we moved here eight years ago, and we had a wonderful time.

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