Saint Patrick's Day 2014 & The Cork City Parade ♥

Yesterday was Saint Patrick's Day and it was Tyler Lee's first time at a parade. Last year he was only a month old so we had a quiet day at his grandparents house as Daddy was working but he was dressed as a leprechaun so it wasn't all bad but this year Daddy had the day off so we went all out and went to the parade in our city dressed in various assortments of Irish paddy-whackery! Tyler Lee was a little leprechaun with a stripey 'Kiss Me I'm Irish' outfit which is actually aged 9-12 months, I'm so glad it fit! He had a little leprechaun hat headband and stole my tri-colour lay at one stage too! To be honest I'm a bit bemused by Saint Patrick's Day parades having gone to one almost every year throughout my life but with Jacek being from South Africa and only ever seeing one so far he was so excited to see the parade and enjoyed every minute of it, in fact, like the big child he is, he didn't want to leave before the end of the parade! Tyler Lee seemed to really enjoy the parade and was paying attention to all the people, especially a little boy next to us who was sporting a curly tri-colour wig, now I know what to dress him in for next years festivities! The theme of this years Cork City parade was 'Legends' and some of the floats were very obvious but others I couldn't figure out at all so if anyone can enlighten me on what legends they are please do! The parade featured the usual people - the defense forces, a US police force, this year from Boston, school children university students, dance schools, sports clubs, Saint Patrick himself, a celebrity guest, this year it was Lord of the Dance himself Michael Flatley, various cultural groups which live in Cork City, this year people from Poland, Ghana, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Nigeria, Philippines, China, Nepal and India, lots of drummers, bands and the usual characters on unicycles and dressed up as fairies, etc. The atmosphere in the city was great, all the children were full of excitement and it was great to see people of all ages and races enjoying the festivities. Cork is such a multicultural city, hey my boys are South African/Polish after all and that's something to be truly celebrated, it's fabulous when everyone comes together especially on a day like today when all things to do with Ireland are celebrated. As usual the rain arrived right on time as it does every year, just as the parade started but it didn't spoil our fun or anyone elses at all, everyone was still smiling. I'm so glad we ventured to the city because it really was a great family day out!

Vikings.

Phoenix & angels.

Belly dancers.

Mary Poppins?!?!?

Salmon of knowledge?

Opera singing lady.

No idea what legend this is.

Chinese dragon.

People from the Philippine community.

I'm so glad that Tyler Lee enjoyed his first every parade and Jacek his second. We're already looking forward to next years and hoping for a nice sunny day for it!