new family tradition?

the view from our camp site

last weekend, kp and i met the straughn family for a weekend of camping at south toledo bend state park. l&c are amazing - two tents, a 6-year-old, two 3-year-olds, a 9-month-old, a pile of diapers, no fewer than ten sippy cups, strip steak, and homemade hurricanes... i don't know how they did it, but they did, and we all had a fantastic time! we fished, we explored, we ate smores, we *mostly* slept through the night... i think we may have a new family tradition!

our beach

self portrait, cracked

walt goes exploring

sam and harry show me how fast they can run

baby c discovers chest hair

and wins "cutest baby ever" award. he is such an angel!

story time - the boys help me tell mighty mouse stories while the adults pack up. some of our narrative highlights include baby c knocking the eiffel tower over because of his gas (too much cheese) and the waltman's championship swing dance contest in germany (he shook so much his pants came off)

(they're having more fun here than they're letting on, i promise)

our first mardi gras!

i'm not qualified to explain mardi gras... honestly, i don't know if i fully understand what just happened. but i do know *now* that mardi gras in new orleans is not just one day. it's an intense, two-week frenzy of feathers, beads, parades, and food. and if you happen to find yourself in the french quarter with my husband, a hurricane or two from pat o'brien's. people decorate their homes like they do for christmas (there are even purple, green, and gold christmas trees up around town), and the 5 costume shops on magazine street are bustling with activity for weeks leading up to mardi gras weekend. except for the bars (obviously), the grocery stores, and the baptist church next door to our house, the whole city shuts down in the days leading up to fat tuesday. and then...

the marigny area

2/19: dr. janet lopez was initially dubious about the hurricane... but that didn't last long.

kp: "it's a sorority party in your mouth!"

the krewe du vieux parade

a lot of my pics look like this...

2/26: baby c's first mardi gras!

3/5: the krewe of okeanos parade: our pal jacob was on the float

the trash! an army of men and women will be cleaning the city for weeks.

chewbacchus parade: a sci-fi delight complete with homemade rebel fighter jets...

...and plenty of silver glitter.

3/8 (mardi gras!): the indians come out early, so our day started at 6:30am

women and children now take part in what is a very old new orleans tradition

our vantage point for the zulu parade, one of the oldest mardi gras parades

black men in black face

on our way to the quarter

st. anne's parade

kp, falcor, and atreyu. i thought he was going to pee his pants when this guy rode by... i think it's never ending story... (and kp said the star wars dudes were nerds!)

our fellow revelers: kp, laura, rian, and elena

i don't know what this guy was dressed as but i want his headpiece!

our "krewe" stops to refuel at pat o's

knox and our new pal elena on frenchmen street (at the end of a loooong day)

have you ever seen dallas from a DC 9 at night?

...well, dallas is a jewel, dallas is a beautiful sight.

it's nice to come home with a fresh eye and an afternoon to kill. plus the light really is great in dallas. it's something i've learned not to take for granted.

roses, RIP

this one is actually from the drive out of new orleans

the peden four go to the french quarter

a couple of our faves came down to new orleans a month or so ago, which was just the excuse we needed to spend the day in the french quarter. i've never done a proper pub crawl (of the full-on, all-day variety), which is probably for the best, but given that excessive drinking seems to be the raison d'être of the french quarter, i couldn't spend a full year here and not waste an entire day on booze. right?

a&n are some of the finest companions for such an adventure - their drinking/traveling/general merry-making skills are legendary. and the weather was perfect.

one of many afternoon refresher sessions: the court of two sisters on royal

kp learns a valuable lesson...

the group discovers the joys of nola's open container laws - the ROADY!

story time at lafitte's

probably didn't need this last one...

the next day we went to our first second line in treme. the second line is an incredible new orleans tradition: they are organized by local "social and pleasure" clubs, which have traditionally acted as insurance groups ensuring each paying member a proper jazz funeral when the time comes. in the past, the different groups would put on a sunday second line parade as a sort of advertisement for their organization - complete with an empty coffin! there's no coffin involved these days, but every sunday one of the groups holds a parade in a different part of town.

these pictures will do it absolutely no justice. but i offer them anyway.

the "first line" is for the members of the group.

everyone who follows them is the "second line"

one of alan's shots - perfect combo of the neighborhood and the participants

kp and lb in full dance mode

kp and ah take advantage of the many traveling full bars that accompany the second line

me and my girl - y'all come on back down here anytime!