Rose Parade, Part 3

It's like the trip that never ends! To be fair, it did feel like we were in California for a verrry long time. It was just a week, but I think the packed agenda and rainy weather brought forth non-relaxing moments that we normally wouldn't see in a vacation. And this is why it was a trip...not a vacation!

Day 5, Sunday, January 1, 2023

Sunday was the one day where we didn't have any plans. Both G and I were really looking forward to a day where we weren't rushing to go here, or standing in line to go there. We slept in, ate a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, and as we were leaving, ran into a group of women who were in the RHSMB group with us. We were chatting about plans for the day (woohoo...NOTHING!) and they suggested checking out Downtown Disney. I thought we were done with Disney but when they explained that it was the shopping area between Disneyland and Adventure Park, and it was FREE, we jumped on it.

I grabbed another round of tickets to ride the Anaheim/Disney public transportation, and we headed back to Disney for a few hours. It was also the first sun that we had seen in several days, so we were excited to be outside, and not get dripping wet.

We had so much fun leisurely looking through the stores, especially the LEGO store (initially, we couldn't figure out how people were coming into the Disney bus transit area with LEGO bags, since we hadn't seen a LEGO store in the two parks.) We finished up with a pretzel lunch and happily headed back to the hotel.

Once there, we played in the hotel swimming pool, relaxed in the hot tub, and then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening in the hotel room. We didn't leave, at all...and it was glorious! We knew we had an early wake up call on Monday, and this downtime was sorely needed.

Finally...the sun!

The sun is shining at Downtown Disney...hooray!

The mothership...

He built three custom LEGO figures

Yum...the biggest drink ever!

Ready for the pool!

Meanwhile, the band rehearsed in the morning, and then headed south to San Clemente, for a different view of the Pacific. 

Day 6, Monday, January 2, 2023

The day that we had been waiting for was finally here! We had a super early wake up call (3:30am), grabbed breakfast to eat on the bus, and headed to Pasadena with the group. Traffic was something else...and in fact, we got stuck in a traffic jam about a mile from the parade route, so we abandoned ship (bus) and walked the rest of the way so we could get through security and make it to our purchased seats.

We snuggled in, met the people around us (one of the men sitting next to me said that Rosemount had the nicest uniforms...very sharp looking!) and took in the site before us. It was unreal...we were right at the corner (hence "turning the corner") and really enjoyed the beautiful floats as they came through. We could hear the Rosemount HSMB before they turned the corner, so we were all prepped with our cheers! The band did a phenomenal job and I couldn't be more proud of the effort and showing that all of these kids gave. It was an amazing experience!

Here's a great video that shows the RHSMB performance...it's a different POV from our seats, but I love how you can clearly see the flag visuals during the song. Amazing! Ava is in the second row of trumpets, last one on the right, as you're facing the band.

So early...

We made it!

The flyover is always the signal that the parade is starting!

A friend of a friend took this pic...Ava's the trumpet player closest to us, right in the middle. So proud!

These are just a few of the floats that went by...

All girls school marching band from Taipei!

No one knew what this was...it was Snapchat's float!

After the Rose Parade wrapped up, we headed over to FloatFest at Pasadena High School, and we were able to view the floats up close. They are so beautiful...made of plants and flowers.

My friend Anne worked on the City of Torrance float

The "rocks" as the base on this float were actually potatoes!

This was one of my favorite floats..."smoke" came out of the dragon's nose!

We were exhausted at the end of FloatFest, but there wasn't much time to rest once we finally made it back to the hotel. We cleaned up and then headed over to Long Beach to meet up with the band at their hotel for a Farewell Gala dinner. I was able to hug Ava for the first time all week, and had a chance to chat for a few minutes. And then we scurried back to our tables and enjoyed a nice meal. :)

G loved this water feature in the band's hotel lobby...it was filled with plastic ducks!

Day 7, Tuesday, January 3, 2023

We were so happy to be on the late morning flight back home. This gave us a chance to sleep in, eat breakfast, and pack up. We somehow managed to fit everything back into suitcases, and headed back to the airport on time. The weather in CA eased up a bit for us this day, but MN was getting hit with a bad winter storm. So bad, in fact, that a plane slid off the runway and there was a ground stop for several hours at MSP. 

Long story short, we left on time; however, we knew something was up when the pilot came on and said, "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that we're landing tonight. The bad news is that it'll be in Des Moines." Yay?

We landed in Des Moines, hung out for an hour, and then had a really quick, uneventful flight up to Minny. The other charter flight ended up going to Eau Claire, WI, and then made it back to MSP just before we did. We ended up landing several hours after we were supposed to and got about four hours of sleep that night. Luckily (for the kids), the weather was bad enough that school was cancelled the next day, so they had a chance to sleep in. I ended up working four hours the next day and then taking the afternoon off so I could unpack and get us back into a normal routine. And then it has felt like catch up on things ever since then!

One last pic in the hotel room

Here we go!

Landing in Des Moines

Ava traded a RHSMB pin for a hat from the Panama Marching Band uniforms!

I was so happy that she was on the same flight as us, considering the massive delays that we had.

We had a fantastic time in CA. Both kids saw the west coast for the first time, I remembered how much I like California, and our big event that we had been working towards for almost a year had finally come and gone. It felt like a relief that it was done, but also like there was a big gap in our lives...it's really quiet now. I put all of the Fall 2023 MB dates in my calendar, and it's crazy how much shorter this upcoming MB season will be. The band will still be heading to Missouri, South Dakota, and Iowa for competitions, but the season will be done in October!

As for current events...I'm much better and would say I'm about 98% healed from COVID. I still have a minor cough, but it's getting better everyday.

Last night we played a game as a family. It's been a while since we've all been around (and awake) in the evenings, so it was special to be able to spend those 45 minutes together after our dinner. It was Scott's idea and I'm so grateful that he brought it up!

Both G and Ava are getting over colds (NOT COVID) so we've been taking it somewhat easy. G had swimming this week, and they both started Taekwondo again on Thursday, after a self-imposed month+ break to accommodate our crazy schedules.

I'm having a hard time believing it's February already and there are only a few months until it gets significantly warmer out. This time is flying by so quickly...it needs to slow down just a bit!