St. Patrick's Day in Memphis is good.

Today that hot guy I call my spouse, the kid, and I volunteered planting trees and pulling weeds for the 7th Annual Wolf River Conservancy Tree Planting at Shelby Farms.  I (shamefully) forgot my camera and missed some wonderful photo opportunities.  (A) was COVERED in mud.  He kept getting his shoes stuck in the mud and loved to hear the 'slush-pop' sound of pulling them out.  I know he's only 16 months old, but it's never to early to teach the kids about volunteerism and environmentalism, right?  Truthfully, I didn't get as much done with him as I would have without him, but everyone seemed to enjoy his youthful and oh-so-helpful presence.  

We later took that little bead hoarder to the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Beale St.  He loved the floats, especially the Bol Weevils, and once he figured out that he would get stuff thrown at us if he caught their attention he became a silly waving fool.  (A) was amazed by the horses and carriages and was thrilled to get to pet one.  His squealing grin was priceless.  We ran into an acquaintance on the walk back to the car and Abe the Babe gave his collection of trinkets to her two little girls that missed the parade.  I love that he shared so generously and am so grateful that that stuff didn't make it into the endless number of things I wish were easier to get rid of pile at the house.

It's funny, earlier in the day (G) and I were reminiscing about how our pre-kid Saint Patty's Days were so fun.  As I looked around at the people doing the pub crawls and partying, I realized how much more fun I was having just hanging with my boys and enjoying their company and (A)'s excitement at all these new things.  It really is amazing how parenthood changes one's perceptions.