Throw Me Somethin' Mistah!

So, as promised, here are many, many more Mardi Gras pictures...we did much better with our second attempt at hitting some parades. We got there earlier, didn't hit traffic, found a great parking spot--definitely a much better deal all the way around.

So...Mardi Gras is hard to explain and I totally know that even pictures won't do it any justice. It's just crazy! It's surprisingly family friendly (in most places) and it's all about the kiddos. If you have kids, they are like money in the bank. Everyone wants to give them something, so you come home with more junk than you ever thought imagineable! You name it--beads, cups, stuffed animals, toys, masks, hats, etc. And in the moment, you think it's so much fun to catch all this stuff and then you get home with it and wonder what on earth you will do with it all! I guess it's all about the thrill of the catch...
So the first night of parades we hit were in uptown (in NOLA), on the traditional old parade route. We watched Hermes and d'Etat. The parades that are uptown are a lot more crowded than the ones in Metairie and there is a lot more tradition involved in them. And you'll definitely see a lot more "personality" at these parades.

Here is your standard tree lining St. Charles Ave. during Mardi Gras. Draped in beads (that were thrown off the floats and got caught there) which will probably be there until next year. I can't imagine trying to get them out of there, that's for sure!
You'll see a few folks in costume...and on Mardi Gras Day, dressing up is more the rule than the exception. So the closer to Mardi Gras that you get, the more costumes you'll see. And who doesn't enjoy seeing a large man in a pink tutu???
And you'll see a whole lot of these...ladder boxes for kids to sit in to watch the parades and catch their beads. Many of them actually have a box seat built to the top (in the right of the picture) and then some go as far as rigging up a system to efficiently get the beads into their bags. Note my nice arrow drawing & numbers in the picture above...the child catches the beads, drops them in the hole (#1), the beads travel down a piece of dryer vent and land right in the bag (#2). When the bag is full, Mom or Dad can just put a new one down there. Seriously hard core here, people...
And since we are not hard core, we didn't have a ladder box (it would have been VERY nice, though, I must admit!), we just took our step ladder which helped and was better than nothing at all.

In the night parades in uptown, it is tradition to have torch bearers (officially called "flambeaux carriers") walk the parade route. They used to do this in the old days before street lights so the parade would be lit. For the sake of tradition, they still do it now and people hand the carriers money as they walk the route. So then the carriers tend to dance and do flashy things to get noticed so you'll give them money. It was really kind of interesting (and probably a little dangerous too!). And as we were waiting for the parade to start, we happened to be right across the street from where they were all lined up and getting their fires started. They had to have a member of the fire department lighting them and a fire truck waiting (they did have to extinguish a few fires in the process). I didn't realize what a big deal it is to watch them lighting them. People were all over and it was a photographer's frenzy (some guy turned to me all giddy and said he'd been waiting 15 years to get a picture of this---huh?)...again, I had no idea! But glad to have a picture of it!

And here they are dancing in the parade.
I think one of my very favorite things this night was when they guys on horseback would ride by and Sam would get all excited and start yelling "Baaaaaaaaa!" at the top of his lungs. So we may have a little work to do with our animal sounds. :)

And these are the riders on the float who throw you all that "stuff". And you just have to decide for yourself if you think it's cool or if it's creepy that they are all anonymous in their masks...
The second parade we watched was Le Krewe d'Etat. It was a VERY entertaining and funny parade just for the floats themselves. They always do a sattyrical play on something, and make fun of anything that happened in local or national politics or news over the last year. They did a Broadway theme and all the floats were based around the name of a Broadway play. Their floats were so detailed, it was actually fun to step back and just watch them all. They were very very funny and the little details were just hilarious! These are some faces you might recognize??
The next morning, we had to get a good look at the loot from one evening's worth of parades. Holy smokes, it was a lot! I'm glad my parents were here so they could take a lot of it home.
Occasionally you do get a "keeper" and this was one of our keepers this year. Some guy gave Sam this big stuffed alligators. It's so cute, he loves it.
The next night we hit parades on the Metairie route. Like I said, they are way easier to go to and you still get a ton of stuff, so I was kind of glad to not head uptown again, just for the hassle.






My mom caught this cowboy hat and in the dark (and in these pictures), I could SWEAR it was red, so I didn't hesitate letting the boys wear it. But when we got home and looked at it in the lights, it was most definitely pink. But who can resist a little boy with a snotty nose, food on his face, and a PINK cowboy hat? Definitely not me!
Tyler definitely got the hang of yelling to the float riders this year. "Throw me somethin' Mistah!!!" I love it!

And you just have to pretend you aren't concerned about where these beads came from when your baby won't keep them out of his mouth...yuck.
And here was my quick attempt at a shot of the group. I had to run out in the street and try to take it while there was a small delay between floats. And for some reason, everyone appeared to be very sleepy at the time... Impressive picture, isn't it??? :)
And that's a wrap of our parade adventures with my family. It was fun to show them what a "real" parade is like. I'm sure any parade from here on out will be very disappointing to only get candy...