Fat Tuesday

It was a great day! The it was warm, almost hot! We all got a little unexpected sun on our faces, and of course Paul got a sunburn. It was perfect. {not the sunburn}

Beads in tress! I love this picture! The first time I was in New Orleans I thought it was so cool that beads stay in the trees all year round. On the Metairie parade route it is the bare trees

that have dozens of beeds on every branch. Very colorful!

You even find them wrapped around the telephone lines & traffic lights.

The Child KREWE! Kids on the parade ladder. A fellow church member let us use their ladder. The other families with us took turns and we roated our kids up there. Dads took turns standing on the ladders while they are up there to stablize it for safety.
Hangin' out. We waited what seemed like hours or more until the REX Krewe got to us.
The babies did very good! Slept through the loud noises & didn't get pelted with any throws, like me, Paul, & Jacque! It hurts!!!!!

Josiah scored this bag for us.

We'll take this every year to the parades, it looks & works a ton better than grocery bags.

Here is a better look at parade ladders people make for the kiddies to sit up high over the crowds. Paul is going to build one next year & the twins can sit up there. {I don't know where we will store it the rest of the year.} Maybe if I get them dressed up really festive we'll get some special throws. Its all about getting the riders' attention... that is in a modest way. {not the French Quarter way}

Jacquelyn loved the men riding the horses and kept asking me to take pictures of them too.

We had a great oppotunity to PEOPLE WATCH while we were waiting. People were just doing their own thing, getting where they needed to go, via the parade route. Some looked like they were headed toward the French Quarter {you can tell by the way they are dressed or somewhat dressed} Its like halloween & the circus without the gore, people on stilts, with wings, & wigs, this biblical dude, was standing like that right by us for the longest time, then these college kids were the Dick Cheney Hunting Krewe. Just a big Party.

We tossed around the football to pass the time away. The church has a chapel on St. Charles Ave, the historic parade route. This was the first time we came to a New Orleans parade.

They only let members park in the church parking lot on Mardi Gras Day and onto the church grounds and its gated and safe for the kids. The chapel is open for the members to get some quiet & go to a clean bathroom. I went inside to feed the twins, and let them get out of the stroller & crawl arounf in the nursery room. The building was almost sound proof to the chaos outside. It was peaceful. At the Metairie parades we get a lot more throws, but it was so fun to be with our friends, to have a clean place to go and relax and eat, that feels like you're at your own home away from home.