Tournament of Roses Parade Pictures

For the Season's Giving Blog Hop, click HERE.

In an earlier blog post, I mentioned we were at the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, and that my Father-in-law (Frank Leyendekker) and Brother-in-law (Gerben Leyendekker) were pulling the Grand Marshall (Jane Goodall), and the Valley Hunt Club President using Leyendekker Friesians and my Father-in-Law's carriages.  For a little background on how my Father-in-law brought registered Friesians to America, click HERE.

 Here are a few pictures I took while getting ready for the parade.

Keeping the horses warm while getting them ready for the parade.  We brought 9.

My Father-in-law's carriage all decorated for the Grand Marshall (Jane Goodall).  Notice the monkey topiaries?

My Father-in-law, Frank Leyendekker, and Jane Goodall

Jane was so gracious.  She took the time to introduce herself to my Father-in-law, the footmen and helpers, and even the horses.

Here she is meeting one of the horses along with the footman Jose.

This is my daughter's horse Abe (pronounced Aba).  I'm sorry, I don't know the name of the rider.

The Valley Hunt Club President and his family.  The driver is my Brother-in-law Gerben, and my nephew Frank is the footman holding one of the horses.

Here are a few of the floats up close.  

Being farmers, of course I had to include a tractor.  :)

Notice the amazing seed work.

See the mushrooms on the shell?

LOVE the spines on the puffer fish.

These military men were lowered to fit under certain areas of the parade.  They appear to be trudging forward here.  A wonderful representation of our nations heros.

I love the creative use of flowers on this float!

These are some close up shots of the flowers on my FIL's carriage.  

They even decorated the back of the carriage.

The large orange and white flower looks and feels like q-tips.  This arrangement actually made its way to my house.  :)

You can see the tufted velvet carriage seat here.

That's it for the photos.  There's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes getting things ready for the parade.  It takes a lot of hands and patience.  But the result is worth it.  Hope you enjoyed some of the highlights.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope your New Year is off to a fabulous start!!