Mardi Gras World

We went to New Orleans for the final stop on our brief Southern tour. The kids are a little young for Bourbon Street but they were just the right age for Mardi Gras World. We took the ferry across the Mississippi River from Canal Street to Algiers. From there a free shuttle took us right to the place. Many of the floats and props for Mardi Gras are built right on-site here and stored in one of several warehouses. They start getting ready for the next parade season as soon as the previous one ends.


Nate and Sean got to try on some of the ornate Mardi Gras costumes people wear on the floats while tossing beads and doubloons to the crowd. It was fun wearing those great outfits!


Sean spotted his favorite guy, Mater from the movie Cars. This will appear on a float next Spring, but for now he's Sean's companion. We toured through acres of elaborate and festive decorations including some creations being worked on by artisans as we watched.


Nate preferred this large alien. He wanted to make sure dad got a picture of him posed below the alien's drool so that he could show it off to the kids at school. Sure Nate, anything you say...

The Wedding

We traveled down South to attend a wedding for dad's sister. Here's the happy couple soon after the ceremony as they cut the cake. Nate and Sean behaved themselves the whole time although dad had to break out his Blackberry so they could look at pictures of dinosaurs on the Internet to keep them busy while waiting for the bride to walk down the aisle.


Here are two of the older cousins. They are both college age. The set of cousins on dad's side of the family were born in two waves. Nate and Sean are part of the younger set, some of whom were born less than a year ago!


Here are Nate and Sean's grandfather, uncle and one of the cousins. It sure was great to see the whole family together for this wonderful event.

And we also spent some time with Nate and Sean's aunt and yet another cousin. This was the first time they got to meet this particular cousin, and of course they were charmed by her.


Hmmm... how did Mr. Nate get this glass of wine? Actually he's just holding it for mom while she chases after Sean. He was glad to help out!

Down South

We went down South to attend a wedding for one of Nate and Sean's aunts. It was also a great opportunity to see many of dad's relatives in one spot, which is something that doesn't happen very often. Sean learned that he's no longer the baby in the family when he met some of his younger cousins. He didn't mind though, and even enjoyed it when one of the little girls decided to make a meal of his hair.




Nate spent a lot of his time fishing for minnows and tadpoles in the little pond behind grandma's house. He fashioned a net from a plastic cup attached to a stick and patiently pulled critters from the waters. It was strictly catch-and-release. I'm sure some of them were caught a dozen or more times during the week, to be captured and set free time after time.




Nate and Sean's cousin joined them in the fishing expedition among the reeds and lilly pads. Most of the time they did pretty well although Nate did slip into the muck on one occasion.



Later, Nate got to hold a real crawfish that he rescued from what would have been a horrible fate: the boiling pot. This one had its claws removed so it couldn't pinch him. Nate took the crawfish to the pond and set it free.