I wanna see the Mardi Gras

Hello! Remember me?! It's been awhile and I've enjoyed my break from this space. I've played with children, traveled, laughed, read, sewed, laughed a whole lot more and had a bit of wine. These last few weeks before school starts in our area have been treasured times with the Domestic Church. Admittedly, some of the treasured times included children yelling at each other and running wild, but I keep trying to remind myself that the relationship dynamics and volume just contribute to our development. Then I usually drink other glass of wine...

Our time in New Orleans was HOT and STICKY and I am pretty sure that we declared to never visit again unless it was February. It was late July in the South, so we should have known better. But, then, New Orleans has snow balls!!! I won't mention how many trips we made to the local stand all in the name of staying cool. We would pack the children up for a quick morning adventure, then head back home to cool off, relax and eat lunch. The afternoons usually saw another quick trip or visit - or just a snow ball run.

One of the visits was to Mardi Gras World. Yes, I know Mardi Gras has a bad reputation in parts of the country, but the Mardi Gras of my youth is steeped in memories of family and friends, Popeye's chicken, cold mornings and hot afternoons, sparkling lights and, always, magic. Since we've never traveled to New Orleans during the Mardi Gras season (it's still school time here), they children wanted to see floats and decorations. With my dad and nephew in tow, we headed off to learn about float making.

After a short video, we hit the costume rack and posed for goofy pictures with the decorations.  Once finished, we headed to the warehouse to watch props being created.  We learned that Mardi Gras World makes all the Chik-Fil-A cows you see on billboards around the country.  We watched layers of Styrofoam being shaped into larger than life creations and covered with paper mache.  Artists worked with tiny brushes on exacting details while others created masterpieces with air brushes.  As we wandered past all the props, each of us picked our favorite:

The prudish mother in me hated that my sweet child adored the mermaid girl

wearing a bikini.  I took a deep breath and let it go.  It's vacation, after all. 

With his buddies, the Three Stooges.  So many jokes to make

on this one....I'm just going to let them go.

Leave it to this guy to find the footballs!

She would have climbed on that broom with Harry if she

could have reached him!

I had the Batman theme song running through my head

all day after these two goof balls finished their antics.

Zydeco and his cousin are only months apart and

remain best buddies despite the geographic distance.

We ended the tour with a complimentary piece of King Cake - of course!  I loved that both Jazz and Zydeco bit into their pieces, made faces and declared that cake to be no match for Mama's King Cakes!  Thanks, sweet children of mine.  It's so nice to be appreciated - even if only by your stomachs.

Today's blog post title from Professor Longhair's Mardi Gras in New Orleans lyrics.