New Year's Day 2015. We had the pleasure of being an entry in the Rose Parade. The entry was by Old Spanish Days Fiesta - the reenactment of the De La Guerra Wedding Party. Kevin and I played the bride and groom. My Mother, played my Mother, El President played my Father. There was a big party wagon pulled by four huge Belgium horses, the party wagon had all the higher ups of the Fiesta organization and also Father Larry from the SB Mission. There were 8 past spirits of Fiesta dancers surrounding us and dancing for us the length of the parade. The parade was 5.5 miles long (more than double the fiesta parade). It was very long but very exciting, the crowd was very enthusiastic the entire route. Never have I seen so many thousands and thousands of people yelling and screaming for your attention. It was televised to 55 million people. Our horse was outstanding, were we on for 4-5 hours - double. The experience of turning the corner onto Colorado Blvd is one we will never forget. So many lights, so much screaming and cheering, the cameras were 6 stories high, the crowd was huge - I could feel my eyes popping out of my head as well as our horse's heart racing. It was electrifying and for a brief minute my teeth stopped chatting - it was so cold, so very cold....the whole route. It has been a dream for my Grandmother and Grandfather to be an entry and ride in the Rose Parade, Kevin wore my Grandfather's handmade Fiesta outfit and my Mother wore my Grandmother's fiesta dress. It was a once in a life time experience, the process and scrutiny of being in the parade is second to none, we were very lucky to be asked to be a part of it. The other part that made it so special is that Ashlin and Westin got to experience the whole parade with Mary Lou and Les, they are still talking about it.
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