Sunday after church our party of six loaded up and headed down to the Big Easy for Mardi Gras. Going in we had a plan, a good one - written itinerary and everything. But you know how plans go, right? Especially with four little people. After checking in at the seminary hotel, we rode down to St. Charles Avenue with the hopes of seeing the Krewe of Bacchus, but once we finally got parked and down there, we realized we were in way over our head! It was crazy! Much too crazy for our four little ones, so we picked up some beads on the street and walked back to our car. We ended up in Metairie and realized the Krewe of Napolean had not made it all the way to the end of its route, so we parked and set up camp and waited and waited and waited.
The children were such troopers, too. They had not had a nap or supper, and it was pretty chilly outside by New Orleans standards, anyway.
David and I were especially proud of this little one. She was a rock star! My favorite thing I want to remember about her this night was when the marching bands came through, she started rocking it out in her stroller! It was so much fun to watch!
Look at that sweet smile! She was all about some beads!
And this handsome fella was catching beads and toys like a pro! Carter and Story definitely have the same genes because he was dancing in the streets when the music was playing, so cute!
David was so excited because the grand marshall for this parade was the people from Swamp People.
He loves this show! We sure didn't think so long about 4:00 that afternoon, but it turned out to be a really fun night.
The next morning the children slept til 9:00 AM, can I get a what! what! Some of our friends from Hattiesburg, Miss Tina and Meredith, were in town visiting some friends they wanted us to meet, so we gathered at this place. You can't really go to New Orleans without having some beignets, can you? We weren't brave enough to head down to the quarter with our large krewe, so we went to the one in Metairie. Yummy!
Story was super excited about the powdered sugary goodness.
Tilly making a silly face for daddy. She was not feeling 100% on this trip, as she was getting over a cold.
Summer cheesing for the camera. We ate lunch that day at David's favorite, New Orleans Food & Spirits, and then we headed back to St. Charles with hopes of doing better than the night before. The Krewe of Tucks parade was scheduled to start at 3:00 pm. We had much better luck finding parking this time, but the parade route was slammed. However, this sweet couple from Metairie not only let us park on their tarp to watch the parade, but they let us use their parade ladders for the children. How generous is that! They were so very sweet. I cannot explain why I was so touched by their kindness, but it really touched my heart. Kind of renews your faith in the goodness people or something.
Tilly is in front of me on the purple ladder. Story was having no part of it, so Tilly and I watched the parade from here. We got so much good stuff. This one sweet man handed Tilly and super nice stuffed dalmatian, not like a cheap carnival toy either, a really nice one. It made her day!
Carter is down there in the red shirt with Meredith and Summer hollering for some beads!
We tried to get a picture of the four of them after the parade.
Happy Mardi Gras!
We headed back home this morning with all of our parade loot. I'm loving these memories we are making with our party of six. I'm so loving that we now live so close to this city we love so much! I see many more Mardi Gras parades in our future.
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