Mardi Gras Parade the night of March 4, 2011

We left the house at about 4:30 PM. The particular Mardi Gras parade (The Krew Aphrodite) was scheduled to start at 6:30. As we were driving in front of the mall beginning to discuss where we were going to line up at on the side of the road for the parade we realized we had forgotten chairs to sit in. We went next door to Big Lots finding both a bright blue and a bright yellow folding vinyl chair.

Jay and Jenn decided to run directly across the road to Sonic as we still had plenty of time before the parade got underway. They came back with burgers for themselves and Ben and a Reese's blast for me. Boy, I wish I had thought about the possibility of rain before I asked them to get me ice cream LOL. Bitty ended up eating off of everyone food so she was happy lol.

The police blocked off the road, and no sooner did the first float come into sight (we were actually at the beginning of it all) did it start raining. It would pick up now and again, but luckily (for us anyway) there was no real down poor until we were getting ready to leave. Then it seemed as if we were going to be washed away with the flood LOL.

Anyway, enough about the rain. When the policemen on their bikes can through leading the parade with all their lights and sirens on Juju was mezmerized by them. hehe

Since this was the first parade Bitty has actively attended, when the first couple floats came by throwing things she didn't seem to know what to think. She started having fun though. She was even dancing to the music. Poor thing, the people on the floats would hand her toys and things; as the first four or five floats went by she didn't understand why the toys were being taken away from her as quickly as she grabbed them just to be tossed to into a big bag behind her LOL. Finally she just got to where she willingly handed over the toys without being asked. As if to say "Ah here, I know you are going to take it anyway." LOL

Oh by the way, if you have ever been to even the smaller Mardi Gras parades, like in Houma compared to wild and crazy parades that take place in New Orleans, you know to be prepared to get hit with handfuls of beads, small packs of beads (which seem to hurt the worst) and absolutely anything they decide to throw from the floats. Bumps, bruises and pain are common and likely. Bitty would get irrtated by getting hit with small things. Luckily they do TRY to be careful around the littler kids. I got hit in the stomach with a bag of beads, again on my thigh that still kind of hurts. One time something got thrown on the top of my umbrella so hard the metal of the underside of it met the top of my head. But all in all, everyone had fun!

Since everything, and I do mean everything, got soaked as we were packing up to go- there is now a dryer full of small stuffed animals being dried LOL. I said previously on my Facebook status that we made out like bandits simply because it was a blast catching all the stuff, scrambling here and there for things. When all is said and done we collected the majority of it for Bitty, of course. =)

Now, Bitty is in bed with dry clothes on and a full belly. I am sitting here on my computer hearing nothing but the sound of my fingers hitting the keys on the keyboard, and a fan blowing in my direction across the room as I get to share our evening with you, and store it away for Jules later on in her life.. =)

There has been talk of going to another parade tomorrow and Sunday as well. We will see. =)