Rose Parade

Happy New Year, everyone! I had a warm and relaxing vacation out in California. The highlight of the trip was decorating a float for the Rose Parade! It was a cool experience and really fun to be a part of something with such a storied tradition.

Here we are at the warehouse...

We volunteered on the Kiwanis float, which featured a race car design.

The warehouse (or "barn") where we worked had about a dozen floats. I loved walking around and seeing all the floats being worked on. It was a little hazardous though; there was scaffolding and plants everywhere!

This is where they kept all the flowers. It smelled heavenly.

Unfortunately, we were there too early in the week to apply the fresh flowers. My sister and I worked as a team, and our main task was applying silver leaf to the wheels of the race car.

My hands were covered in glue by the end of the day and I couldn't get it off.

Here's dad and my niece Corinne applying beans to the side of the float.

After we finished with the wheels, they had us do some touch-up work on the racing stripes, which were also made of beans.

And what float would be complete without some lovely ladies waving to the crowds? :)

The day of the parade was exciting. The crowds were out early (some camped out all night), and by the time we got there at 7:30 am, people were literally dancing in the streets. The festivities officially kicked off with a flyover by a B-2 Stealth bomber. A flyover is always thrilling!

Here's the same float I saw in the warehouse, all decked out with fresh flowers.

Gary Sinise was the Grand Marshal.

There were lots of great marching bands and flag twirlers (or whatever they're called).

The best marching band by far was this all-girl band from Japan. They actually danced while playing! It was amazing.

Shout out to Torrance, city of my birth!

Dodgers star Kike' Hernandez!!

And some Olympic medalists!

Apparently there was also a football game that day.

Some of the floats were really spectacular. This dragon actually blew smoke out of its nostrils!

Shout out to the farmers!

And here's the Kiwanis float that we worked so hard on!

And a few more scenes from the day...

More to come...stay tuned!