2009

This trip we decided to show the kids some of the other cool things about So. Cal -- like the Rose Parade, the Griffith Observatory, etc. So, we get up at the crack of dawn, go to D-land & ride some rides, then around lunch-time tear off and do something else exciting. Yesterday we went to the Griffith Observatory (you can see the Hollywood sign from there -- see photo). They liked it more than it seems from this shot. It was really smoggy yesterday, so Rob was fussing w/ the camera trying to get their faces & the sign to both look good.

Anyway, we saw about half of the floats while they were in process. Rob and I thought that was really cool. Peter got to write his name on a rose vial for the Cal Poly float -- that's the one w/ the roller coaster. We wrote Jeremy's name on a vial as well. We bought a couple of postcards which traveled down the parade route & they will mail them to us -- coming soon to a scrapbook near you! However, I think they liked the playground at the Rose Bowl park about as much as seeing the floats.

So, today we got up at the crack of dawn again, and headed up for the parade. Everything started out according to plan, although I didn't realize that breakfast was going to be chips, soda & pop tarts -- food options are limited on the parade route. It wasn't until we were leaving that we discovered the bacon wrapped hot dogs for sale. Anyway, the kids thought it took way too long for the parade to start. They liked the blimp, the sky writers & the B2 flyby, but about half-way through the parade, the "is it over yet" started. That was followed by "how many minutes", "can they move faster" and "are we doing anything else today". Sigh! We did decide to head back to our car when there were about 4 floats lefts in an effort to beat 1) the mad dash out of the bleachers, 2) the mad dash out of the parking garage and 3) the masses of idiots getting lost trying to drive out of Pasadena. Well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad and would have been a great success, except for the Jeremy factor. Turns out that he needed to go potty. The usual distraction efforts were not having much effect and we were stuck in the masses of idiots trying to leave Pasadena in a lovely one-way street area of Pasadena w/out much in the way of fast food or gas stations and moving very slowly. So, I started thinking up alternatives, quickly. We were in the Cal-tech rocket scientist area and I came up with the NASA option. Yup, that's right -- I handed a mostly empty bottle of Vitamin Water to Rob to empty and Jeremy filled it back up in the back-seat. I was fairly grossed out by holding the almost full bottle, so I opened up the car door and set it on the pavement. Rob was absolutely horrified by my dastardly action, but I think it's likely that the bottle got run over before a homeless guy found the 'lucky' bottle. Besides, if not and if the homeless guy didn't realize that Vitamin Water doesn't come in that shade, and doesn't smell any difference, then there's no harm done. With that cheerful thought, let me just wish you a Happy New Year!