Chuy's Children Giving to Children Parade

This morning's holiday outing took us downtown for the Chuy's Children Giving to Children Parade. The hour-long parade down Congress benefits Operation Blue Santa, which delivers toys and food to needy families in Austin.

We arrived early and scored prime front row spots near the Capital building. The buddies kept busy with games and snacks from "Mommy's bag of tricks" as we waited for some friends to join us and the parade to begin.

It wasn't long before we were enjoying sights of firetrucks, marching bands, old-time cars, ponies, unicyclists and jugglers, drill teams, and giant inflatables. We chuckled at some of amateurishness of a few of the floats - the Macy's Parade, this is not - but had a great time.

And best of all, at the conclusion of the parade, volunteers removed the road blocks and invited all the children to deliver their gifts to the toy trucks stationed throughout the parade. It amazes me how quickly the trucks fill to the brim.

View the rest of today's pictures here.