From my neck of the woods...: Mardi Gras Celebration -

I've been trying to get around to posting some of my photos from our little Mardi Gras trip to New Orleans, at last here they are. We had a great time!!! So many things that we've always taken for granted just kept popping up before my very eyes. You don't realize you miss those things until you visit after your move from there. And then you realize the uniqueness of New Orleans -- some of those things, you just don't see anywhere else. Gotta love New Orleans!! We spent the entire day out there the Sunday before Mardi Gras. We packed up and got there around 9:00am and left at about 9:00pm that night. There were three day parades and then the night parade. Val Kilmer reigned as king in Bacchus (the night parade). You'll see a pic I took of him here. By the end of the night, we were beat! Dalton was totally amazed. He was only 4 when we moved here from New Orleans. Now he is 9 and this is our first parade trip back since we moved. He doesn't remember Mardi Gras at all. He just couldn't get enough and let me tell you, he got right in there with the rest of the crowd. After a few floats he began chasing them just as I used to do as a kid. It's funny, I told my husband..."You can take the boy out of New Orleans, but you can never take the New Orleans out of the boy". He said, "Momma, mark our calendar for next year, we're coming back"! Dalton is hooked!!!

Oh, I even ate a muffelatta while we were there...yum! We brought a couple of king cakes home. Dalton and I had to have the one with cream cheese, since that is our favorite. Greg picked the Mississippi Mud king cake, since he's not crazy about cream cheese. We told Dalton to pick one for his class but he didn't seem interested. Well, that little booger, ended up swiping his Dad's Mississippi Mud the next morning to carry to school with him, along with about 30 long beads around his neck and other goodies to share with his classmates. He walked into the school with all eyes on him as if he was the King of Mardi Gras. The kids thought it was great!