Mardi Gras and the Bucket List

Zulu parade - French Quarter

Smooks in Wonderland with Alice

Right at home with the Zulus

Parades in Metarie

Back at the hotel we tried to put on the necklaces that Mila had accumulated - got to heavy to stand up.

Liam and the singing, dancing bunny he was thrown.

Liam was entranced by the horses and desperately wanted to touch them ... so I took him up and we were kindly allowed. It was worth it for the excitement Liam displayed.

This was us looking for alligators on a "swamp walk" unfortunately we only saw what Kurt dubbed a swamp rat!


We took a drive (ok, we kicked the children out the car and let them walk for some exercise!) through a cemetry. It was very enjoyable and beautiful. The children were quite in awe ... and so were we!

Back at the parades... Mila collected as many beads as possible - Julia was more discerning, only accepting "little" beads!

An extra special Mardi Gras this year as New Orleans was also celebrating their Super Bowl victory. A lot of patriotic WHO DATS ... (this is apparently what they call themselves down there - what they lack in refinement they make up in character!) That is Peyton Manning on the front!

Liam refused to wear beads - although they were thrown at him constantly - he happily accepted this pair of glasses though ... and a bunny ... and a number of balls!

This Lady is dressed up as the Super Bowl Trophy!! Go WHO DATS!!

Kurt manipulated me into taking the kids on a 9 hour car trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. He told me it was on his bucket list ! How do you say "no" when someone says they want to do something on their buckt list? So we took Mila out of school ... and despite the fact that Julia and Liam both had diarrhoea... we set off for New Orleans. We seem to have a family tradition of sorts that every time we travel, the children make the journey extra special by coming down with something that induces vomiting or diarrhoea. You would think this would keep us pretty close to home. But unfortunately neither Kurt or I inherited those "stay close to home" genes. So we keep exploring - despite the fact that sometimes it makes the stomach queezy and the eyes droopy (with three kids along for the ride) - because that is what we do.

Is it always worth it? Absolutely.... after a few weeks!