My birthday, New Year's Eve and Rose Parade

By Joy A. Kennelly

Normally I would give you the blow-by-blow account of my feelings and birthday and New Year's Eve, but I don't feel like doing that today. Just know, I had a very nice day, got a lot accomplished, enjoyed watching Yes Man (great way to bring in the new year - saying yes to life!), and then the next day enjoyed the Rose Parade and shopping with my dad and friends.

Lovely, lovely, lovely time.

I used to go all the time with my family when we were younger and it was really special to spend another parade with my Dad. Here's some highlights from the Rose Parade of floats, horses, bands and other things I particularly liked:

My friend kept yelling, "I can see Russia" which made me laugh.
Who knew Hawaii had a marching band who wore pants?
If you look closely in the right corner you can see the skateboarding bulldog. I absolutely LOVE bull dogs!
My dapper Dad who has been going to this parade for over 50 years! He's an expert and we had no problem getting in and out quickly and easily. I should rent out his services...:)
He and his skiing buddy (yes, they still ski at 70 plus years of age) enjoyed the parade together.

I can't remember which city they were from, but this is for my male readers.
This float brought tears to my eyes. I really felt very patriotic the entire morning because it seems such an American thing to do - watch a parade and there was so much civic pride in each of the float displays. Really was a special time.
I loved my vantage point on top of the ladder we brought because then I could see everything really well. A little homeless woman was camped out in the doorway we chose and she changed behind us on the street. I was surprised at how happy the parade made her though and she seemed fairly normal overall.

There was a woman walking around recruiting volunteers to count the homeless soon after and I just couldn't do it. If you'd like to help though, here's the link: www.lahsa.org/hc09.asp

 
 

  Happy attendees.

This one was Jack in the Box and so much fun to dance along to the music with. They were having a great time!

 

 

 

The India one was one of my favorites.

 

The Mexican floats and activities drew the loudest applause from our section because we were with predominantly Hispanic parade viewers. We figured out other whitey's must have paid $85 to sit in the bleachers because they certainly weren't anywhere near us. Too funny. Really gave you a different perspective of the parade!

  

 

 

 

 

These were not in order of the parade, but I hope you enjoyed them nonetheless! Happy New Year and enjoy your weekend!