Well, here I am...back on the catch-up wagon. I suppose that's the story of my life, right?! But it's fun to go back through pictures and document the things we've done because it's fun to remember all the fun we've had. So I'll start at the beginning of my parents' visit and see if I can remember it all. For starters, we were lucky enough to get my dad here with us on his birthday. So to celebrate, we hit the Insectarium since that was something they hadn't done yet (since it is fairly new here).
I wasn't able to get a ton of pictures, but I did get a picture of Carter eating some Crispy Cajun Crickets! Yep, that's right, if you go, you get the opportunity to eat bugs--should you so desire. And they have them all cooked up and seasoned and everything. So, Carter--being the 14 year old crazy that he is--decided to try them. He said the first one went down a little easier than the second one. Yuck!
And I think I've mentioned this before, but I truly could spend all day in their butterfly garden. And I haven't gone there since I got my new lens for Christmas, and I must say it passed with flying colors. It was fun to use it there.
Sam could spend quite a while there as well.... That's some Oreo on his face, in case you were wondering--not crickets or any other bugs. :)
So after the Insectarium, we headed home and attempted some parades later in the evening, but to make a long story short--we left late, hit traffic, got there late, missed one parade completely, had to wait too long for the next parade, so we left after six floats and headed to dinner for some yummy seafood instead! We figured we'd give the parades a go another night.
So Friday, we figured we better try to make the most of the Mardi Gras experience for our visitors, so we went to Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World. It was really fun! Blaine Kern is known as a master float designer and has opened several studios, but he originated here in the Big Easy, so we toured the place and saw the warehouse where they build all of the floats and got to see them up close and personal. Most of the year if you were to tour the place, you'd see the floats in an incomplete state, but since we went during Mardi Gras, the floats that were there were finished, but they were just getting loaded with beads and ready to hit the parade route. So it was cool to see the amazing details that goes into all of them.
Before the tour, they let you try on Mardi Gras costumes and watch a video.
Sam--aka Mr. Mardi Gras--was quite a fan of his hat. He didn't want to take it off, which is rare for him! And don't mind Sam's lovely runny nose. It will be making an appearance in a lot of upcoming pictures. Cutting those lovely canines. I'm pretty sure he's been teething and his nose has been running for the last six months solid. Love it!
Many of the finished floats we saw were for the Zulu parade which rolls on Fat Tuesday. The next few pictures are from Zulu:
The majority of the other floats we saw were from the Tucks parade. Apparently there is a little sattire involved in the Tucks parade because this is the "throne" for their royalty's float. (yes, it is a toilet, in case you were wondering)
And the rest of the floats had some sort of monster theme to them all. They were really pretty spectacular. It's amazing the amount of work that goes into them considering that they are only used for ONE parade!
And see the nice looking gorilla above?
This picture may give you a little better idea of how big it REALLY is!
I had to find a quick fill in for Garrett for our family picture since Garrett was at work (he always has to work while we play, poor guy!). Maybe this can go out with our Christmas cards next year. (just kidding, of course!)
And don't my parents look quite comfortable in their Mardi Gras attire?
And believe me, this is only the beginning...lots more Mardi Gras pictures to come!
Well, here I am...back on the catch-up wagon. I suppose that's the story of my life, right?! But it's fun to go back through pictures and document the things we've done because it's fun to remember all the fun we've had. So I'll start at the beginning of my parents' visit and see if I can remember it all. For starters, we were lucky enough to get my dad here with us on his birthday. So to celebrate, we hit the Insectarium since that was something they hadn't done yet (since it is fairly new here).
I wasn't able to get a ton of pictures, but I did get a picture of Carter eating some Crispy Cajun Crickets! Yep, that's right, if you go, you get the opportunity to eat bugs--should you so desire. And they have them all cooked up and seasoned and everything. So, Carter--being the 14 year old crazy that he is--decided to try them. He said the first one went down a little easier than the second one. Yuck!
And I think I've mentioned this before, but I truly could spend all day in their butterfly garden. And I haven't gone there since I got my new lens for Christmas, and I must say it passed with flying colors. It was fun to use it there.
Sam could spend quite a while there as well.... That's some Oreo on his face, in case you were wondering--not crickets or any other bugs. :)
So after the Insectarium, we headed home and attempted some parades later in the evening, but to make a long story short--we left late, hit traffic, got there late, missed one parade completely, had to wait too long for the next parade, so we left after six floats and headed to dinner for some yummy seafood instead! We figured we'd give the parades a go another night.
So Friday, we figured we better try to make the most of the Mardi Gras experience for our visitors, so we went to Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World. It was really fun! Blaine Kern is known as a master float designer and has opened several studios, but he originated here in the Big Easy, so we toured the place and saw the warehouse where they build all of the floats and got to see them up close and personal. Most of the year if you were to tour the place, you'd see the floats in an incomplete state, but since we went during Mardi Gras, the floats that were there were finished, but they were just getting loaded with beads and ready to hit the parade route. So it was cool to see the amazing details that goes into all of them.
Before the tour, they let you try on Mardi Gras costumes and watch a video.
Sam--aka Mr. Mardi Gras--was quite a fan of his hat. He didn't want to take it off, which is rare for him! And don't mind Sam's lovely runny nose. It will be making an appearance in a lot of upcoming pictures. Cutting those lovely canines. I'm pretty sure he's been teething and his nose has been running for the last six months solid. Love it!
Many of the finished floats we saw were for the Zulu parade which rolls on Fat Tuesday. The next few pictures are from Zulu:
The majority of the other floats we saw were from the Tucks parade. Apparently there is a little sattire involved in the Tucks parade because this is the "throne" for their royalty's float. (yes, it is a toilet, in case you were wondering)
And the rest of the floats had some sort of monster theme to them all. They were really pretty spectacular. It's amazing the amount of work that goes into them considering that they are only used for ONE parade!
And see the nice looking gorilla above?
This picture may give you a little better idea of how big it REALLY is!
I had to find a quick fill in for Garrett for our family picture since Garrett was at work (he always has to work while we play, poor guy!). Maybe this can go out with our Christmas cards next year. (just kidding, of course!)
And don't my parents look quite comfortable in their Mardi Gras attire?
And believe me, this is only the beginning...lots more Mardi Gras pictures to come!
