Let the parade begin!

 The parade had SO MANY clowns. Who knew? Not many make it on the TV broadcast.

 Tom the turkey

 Jimmy Fallon and Big Bird....BFF

 Duck Dynasty Dudes

Toothless the dragon made his debut in the parade and was more than 5 stories high in length. He was reigned in pretty low due to the winds.

love me some Buzz Lightyear

 yep, it's Richard Simmons

Brrrrrr is Santa coming already or what??

The parade began at 9 am but had to travel for about 40 minutes before it reached 47th and 6th ave where we were waiting. It was a cold wait, but we got an extra moral boost just 20 minutes before the parade reached us when the family in the row in front of us decided to leave because their kids were too cold. We felt bad for the dad who had been out in the cold saving the spots since 5:30 am, BUT we were totally pumped to step up to the FRONT ROW just minutes before the parade began!!! Then the fun began. We enjoyed the front row perks which included, but were not limited to, an unobstructed view, as many high fives from clowns as we could ever want, unlimited confetti showers over us, and interaction with the many volunteers/characters in the parade. So fun!  The parade included 30 full-size floats, 16 giant character balloons, 11 marching bands, 900 clowns, and 1,600 cheerleaders an dancers. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience and I'm so thankful to have shared it with Jodi and Karen.