We are safely out near Pasadena, California. We are part of the Escapees HOP (Head Out Program) for the Rose Bowl parade. We have a week of fun and activities planned with the group. Today was the first big event and we were up early on the bug and headed to AES in Pasadena to help decorate some floats. We had no idea what was in store for us. 
We got the introduction and then were taken in groups to our assigned stations. 
We would be working on the AgPHD float for the morning. 
Everyone rolled up their sleeves and got ready for some STICKEE fun. We would be working with silver leaf. It is a leaf that had a silver appearance not he floats. We had to trim the leaves to take out the bulky stem and then put a first layer of a glue called STICKEE! It was very sticky!
Bucket and buckets of these leaves created us at our station! 
We got to work and had a nice system going with our little family.
We got pulled off the line and were put to work at the next station, glueing the silver leaf on the actual float! We were excited. The task was cumbersome. Breighton got fired fairly quickly but it wasn’t his fault. He went back with Grandma and Grandpa and cut and glued more leaf. Mom, Dad and Emmerson stuck it out and stuck stuff on the float. We had to put it on a specific way. It was very well orchestrated. Except the part we had to start with required that we were tiny, limber and didn’t mind being STICKEE! 
Thankfully Emmerson was small enough to get the hard to reach places. Soon we got the pace and skills down. We were asked to train the next group! Oh wow, promoted already!
We got to take a break and then go tour the workshop. We got to see some other projects that they were working on at AES. 
We also got to see the floats for the parade. They had several they were working on. I wish we had the putting the seeds on task but the leaf was a great memory. 
The silver leaf process finally kicked into high gear and it started flying up the silo.
E made a buddy, Mr. Joe! Mr Joe and E had a system for decorating and became friends quickly!
Back on the bus and everyone was exhausted! 
One out of place photo from Grandma! Someone actually got a photo of Mom working in the small spaces.
Back at the campground for the afternoon. Some down time whittling with our new pocket knives while mom does…. 
LAUNDRY!
