MG 2011, Part I

For the past two years I have really enjoyed Mardi Gras but I have also found that I am turning into a bit of a curmudgeon. The crowds tend to bother me more than they used to, the territorial parade goers get under my skin with their roped off sections of land and bottomless buckets of chicken, and the length of the season wears me out. I suppose I just don't have the stamina I used to have and, now that I have kids, there is a new, exhausting, dynamic - there are ladders and snacks and drinks and bathroom breaks and bead sorting and defensive and offensive parade watching and tears and melt-downs and absolute, blithering-fool type exhaustion. That said, I cannot imagine living anywhere else and missing out on two weeks of celebrating.

We spent the first weekend of the Mardi Gras season watching parades with friends who were in town from Atlanta. It was their first MG experience and it was just right - great weather, just a few parades, and not too much of a crowd. I think the they enjoyed every minute of it and headed back to Atlanta with bags filled with beads and trinkets.

First parade of the season...dusk (incidentally, I believe parades look best at dusk):


On the porch...taking a break...looking back at the pictures I see this is when the 14 days of dress-up started...Lu has on an old leotard and skirt here, harmless enough, but it escalated as it got closer to MG...you will see...suffice it to say I washed more costumes than underwear over that two week period of time:


Waiting for the next parade to start...


Enjoying some cotton candy...there was plenty of this going on:


We also visited the float den to check out some of the floats in Christian's parade. I love seeing the floats in the den - such a cool sneak-peek of what the parade will ultimately look like. Lucy and James love it too - mostly because they get to climb on the floats.

Lu, on Christian and Richmond's float:


James, helping Uncle "Ichman" get last year's rain-out beads ready for loading:


Group shot with Karen, Davy and the kids...saying goodbye after a weekend of fun ending with breakfast at P.J.s: