Mardi Gras 2013

Happy Mardi Gras!

Once again this year we had the opportunity to attend Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  What a blast!  I love Mardi Gras!

We stayed at the Crown Plaza on Canal, which was okay.  The room was very clean but the hotel was difficult to get in and out, especially since the only entrance was off Canal street, and for some reason people loved to congregate in front of the entrance.  I will never understand why people choose to just stand in the middle of the sidewalk.  Bourbon street is a block away, go stand there!  We will probably stay further into the quarter next time.

Our friends Christy & Leon and their friends, Shawn & Coy, were also attending Mardi Gras so we spent quite a bit of time with them.  The weather turned out to be pretty good considering they were calling for rain on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  Fortunately we only had a few light sprinkles on Monday and Tuesday and none of the parades were cancelled.  

The picture above is from the Iris parade, which is an all female Krewe.  We also watched Hermes & Krewe d'Etat on Friday; Iris, Tucks, and Endymion on Saturday; and Thoth and Bacchus on Sunday.  There were a few more on Monday but we just didn't have the energy after watching all those parades. One of the biggest challenges of Mardi Gras is finding a bathroom.  Fortunately we watched parades on Saturday and Sunday Uptown at the Best Western on St. Charles where Christy's family was staying, so they got us wristbands to their hotel and we were able to use the bathrooms there and munch on king cake!  I've discovered that my favorite king cake is from Rouses Market.  They have a Rouses in the quarter on Royal Street and so we were able to snag two cakes to bring home with us.  One plain and one with cream cheese (mmmmmm!)

On Sunday we started watching Bacchus Uptown but decided that there were just too many people crowded around the St. Charles Inn.  So we started walking back from there to our hotel, figuring we would watch the parade along the way.  Turns out, we wound up walking faster than the parade (because it stops so much) that we made it 3 floats ahead by the time we got down to the end (about 2.5 miles).  Along the way we found a less crowded place to stop and get some beads "Hey Mister, throw me something!"  I caught this cool Bacchus cup which I gave to Jeremy.  He was so excited.  I actually had to ask him to put it away because I was afraid someone was going to jump us for it!  

Tuesday was Mardi Gras day.  Though I usually dress up in some fashion each day, eyelashes, skirts, etc, Mardi Gras day is when the full costumes come out.  I had two with me this year and I choose the green fairy mostly because it was too cold to wear the other one.  (As a bonus, I actually found some more accessories for my other costume, which will be great for Halloween or the next Mardi Gras)

I was a ferry.  At 23.5 weeks pregnant even the Large dress didn't quite fit, so I had to add another skirt under the bottom and the back zipper didn't quite make it all the way up.  Jeremy combined two of his costumes and was a cross between Pan and Hunter S. Thompson.  (Dont' worry, the cigarette is fake).

There were a bunch of other great costumes and themes this year.  Check out the full batch of photos (and short videos) HERE!  All of these are off my iPhone, but hopefully I'll find time to pull the photos off my digital camera soon, and I'll add them to the set.

P.S. - Even Malachi got into the spirit.