The rain stayed away, mostly, and we enjoyed the Rose Parade last Saturday. We are grateful to our friend Charlene, who we met through Precious Beginnings (our nonprofit parent support group for NICU families)…she and her friend have been reserving space to watch the parade for years now. They used to duct tape a space on the sidewalk before the city outlawed that practice. Last weekend they got up early and found a nice spot at their usual corner. This year Charlene did the walk before the parade with her two kids and their cousins.

Here we are waiting for the parade to start (my mom came with us)

It seemed like it took forever for the parade to start this year–in fact, we weren’t able to stay for the whole parade because of our parking meter and the fact that I had to get off to a knitting class at 1:00 p.m. Here are some photos from the parade. (For those of you who don’t live in Oregon and know about the Rose Parade, all of the entries are required to use only fresh plants and flowers–no fake stuff! That’s what makes it most unique!)

This was an interesting entry–the Woodland String Band, Philadelphia Mummers. I wasn’t able to catch it on film, but there was actually a guy carrying a string bass strapped across his chest (and playing it!).

Love their costumes!

I also have a thing for llamas! They are such interesting-looking animals!

St. Mary’s School for Girls float…it was clear to see that the economy has hit the Rose Parade, because many of the floats were scaled back dramatically.

The One More Time Around Again Marching Band is always a huge hit at the parade–they are made up of adults who played, cheered, or flag twirled in their high school marching bands. And they are HUGE. They make me wish I had been in a marching band when I was younger. Alas, I only played string instruments. I’d have to be in the Philadelphia Mummers band!

The aging baton twirlers–love the gray hair!

Look at that line of trombones!

Doesn’t that look like fun?

My high school didn’t have a flag team (at least I don’t remember one), but I think I would have enjoyed doing that…

This Beauty and the Beast float was amazing and one of the best floats I’ve ever seen. Remember, it’s all covered in flowers and plants!!

On the back of the float were people dressed up as the other characters–Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, etc., and the most flirtatious Garcon! He kept flexing his muscles and winking at everyone!

Being the mother and daughter of a drummer has given me a new appreciation for drummers!

Here we are enjoying the parade:

Another pretty float

Cute little horse and carriage

I love the flower arrangements on the horses–this is a rodeo queen or something like that!

I think this is supposed to be a coyote or a wolf…wearing a Native American costume (this is a casino float)

Native American chief in full regalia

Antique trolley

Northwest Civil War group

My mom marched in the Oregon City High School band when she was a teenager!

Kelsey, Charlene’s daughter–I couldn’t get her to smile!

More Oregon Cityites

They had a number of the Rose Festival princesses from 1959, riding in cars from the 50s–so cool!!!

This was an interesting float–Fred Meyer (our usual grocery store):

Sign of the times–usually they have an elaborate float for all the Rose Festival princesses and the queen, but this year it was a horse and buggy (and they were crammed into it)!

This was “DB Cooper”–who was the Northwest legendary criminal who stole bunches of money and then vanished after jumping out of an airplane!

Old-fashioned steam pumper–I took this for my fire engine lover 2-year-old!

That was the last of what we saw–we missed perhaps the last third of the parade. But I learned the rudimentary basics of knitting later that afternoon!