Angela and Diana arrived early. They are already in their volunteer shirts and ready to go. Balloons Waiting From the side, the cherry blossom looks more like a donut or life saver. A frontal view of the fully inflated cherry blossom balloon. Hello Kitty’s tutu is in the foreground. She is still waiting to More volunteers arrive, including a couple in kilts. Cherry Blossom Egg Almost looks like an egg now. Success. We now have one Easter egg. We had this blue one, a yellow one and a green one. Egg The egg is on the move and the cherry blossom balloon almost looks like our egg’s right ear. In addition to the panda, we had three Easter egg balloons. And here are the blue egg balloon BCV volunteers. Two of our three balloons beside the Washington Monument – in a holding pattern waiting for clearance to march. Is George kissing the panda? Two more of the balloon workers. Sandbags help hold down the plastic. No volunteers needed for t Doesn’t s/he look happy? To inflate the balloon, volunteers must hold the strings so that it does not fly away. The panda is now floating completely off the ground. Only the brave volunteers stand between it and flight -- aka freedom. A good view of our panda before it is fully inflated. OK, he was with the Hello Kitty group, but he was posing. Give that man a pancho! And the teacher on the left can now document her participation. She really was in the parade, kids! Jonathan greets new arrivals while folks don their t-shirts and prepare their name tags. Now there is a tidy line. How long will it last? String Whatever it is, they see it too. Could it be action near the balloons? Colorful Umbrella Clever BCV volunteers huddle under the panda – a nice big umbrella! Look at the puddles of water! What could they be looking at? bcv2.JPG bcv3.JPG bcv7.JPG cadets.JPG cv8.JPG