final count down...

It was a crazy (and fun) last few days...

With all the final painting of designs, glitter and whirlwind of costume making we still found time for a few good laughs (between cordless screwdrivers, impact drivers, screws galore, hot hot hot weather, costume issues, applying flamingos, and later flamingo leg warmers made from duct tape to keep them from falling through to the road and causing sparks)! Minor detail :-)

In the days before the parade I had been talking with John's mom and she wasn't sure if she was ready to come down to the workshop to see him. I hadn't wanted to call her until John was completly ready. On Thursday afternoon John's mom,dad and uncle joe all came down to the workshop. I'm not sure how it all worked out, but somehow in all of the business there was no one around in our area when they came, so they were able to have a quiet visit by themselves (and me and John of course). His mom was very overwhelmed and cried at first when she saw him. His dad and uncle joe were very happy with how it all turned out. Actually the whole family was very thankful and happy with how John looked. His mom kept commenting on what a great picture it was and how wonderful it was that he was smiling so brightly. I'm am so thrilled that they loved it as much as I did. How could you not help but smile when looking at him. It's funny those of us who knew John would talk to him as if he was there right along with us and people who'd never met him kept referring to him in the first person. It was perfect!! He still managed to make us laugh (and cry). We had some damned good memories to look back on.

We got him screwed up in the window minutes before his parents arrived- I didn't want to put him up too early since we were still messing with paint and glitter. He probaly wouldn't have minded the glitter one bit, but the paint would have been an issue

Here is his mom. She had just finished carressing his face and giving him a kiss. His dad insisted that she take a picture with him. It's a wonder this picture turned out since I was crying right before it was taken.

Sarah and Angelica getting the flamingos ready for their big moment in the sun...

Rebecca gets a sewing lesson from Michelle before being let loose in the costume area. She worked really hard and made a very cute skirt!

Sewing solo for the very first time...

Success! Almost done and still smiling.

Summer sewing the finishing touches. And, yes, she really was THAT happy to be finishing up.

Dance Rehearsal in the parking lot. 2 days to go...

Kristen giving her costume a first twirl. And yes, she actually wore it for the dance rehearsal.

Monica doing her best impression of a pretzel leans through the roof to put up the last (we hope) of the straw skirt/hut roofing.

Christine is finishing up drilling holes for the flamingo legs. A thankless job, but somebody had to do it. We had to lift the grass up to do it because once you drilled in the "grass" the hole closed up and you couldn't find it-very strange. Later Christine also finished up the bamboo fencing designed to keep the public off the grass..

Kim puts the final touches of paint and glitter on the float. Looks AWESOME!!

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The float looked incredible! We had such an awesome group! Everybody pictched in and helped out with whatever was needed. No one complained and best of all their was a lot of comraderie and laughing.

YEA FLAMINGOS!!!!