In addition to Carrollton Sunday, Endymion Saturday was actually great weather. There wasn’t a drop of rain, unlike last year, which made the riders and parade-goers alike very happy. Uncle Jeff rode again this year, along with Nopsi and Aunt E’s Uncle Stuart!
We all went to Dave’s office on Canal, only this year it was open and packed with people. We got out there around 1pm and had a great afternoon.
The parade started a bit early and got to us right around 4:45pm. Rory scored a spot next to Colin in his ladder and was very happy. Riley went back and forth from the back to the front and managed to climb into a ladder at one point for a bit.
Then everyone got down so we could cross the street and see Jeff and Nopsi. They finally got officially underway around 6:30pm and got to us about an hour later. This process is always so stressful, especially with a kid on my shoulders, but we managed just fine. We saw them, they saw us, and I once again gave my phone to a random stranger so she could take pictures. She did a great job.
We stayed until the very end and let the boys play with some of their new loot while we waited for the clean-up crew to do their thing. Then it was a long walk back to the car and home just after 9pm. Successful day!
The next morning, weather became a factor again. Thoth was moved up an hour earlier than normal because of it. We decided to go anyway, along with Uncle Jeff, Aunt E, Kate, and Luke. (Nopsi sat this year out; he was still recovering from his long and late ride the night before.) The boys, obviously, were stoked.
What we didn’t realize until we got out to our usual spot was that the krewe pulled all of the marching groups and bands out because of the weather. There were only floats this year. Not nearly as fun, but it made them roll pretty quickly, and we caught a ton of stuff. Including toilet paper and awesome swords from Scott. Oh, and I got beaned in the mouth by a pair of really heavy beads, and the guy who threw them felt so horrible that he gave me a fancy Thoth necklace. Score.
We walked back to the car and got home only about an hour before the skies opened up. Another successful day!
We took Monday off but headed out to see Rex on Mardi Gras Day. It was FREEZING. We all had multiple layers on the top and the bottom, and I even wore my ski jacket. Such a huge difference from Sunday!
The boys caught a ton of stuff, including random things like a full box of No. 2 pencils, a coloring book, and two Christmas stockings. We also befriended a gorgeous 15-month-old Husky “puppy” named Loki, who lives in the neighborhood and was out for a walk with his human. Oh, and Riley was determined to take home a huge stuffed dragon he spotted on a float that stopped in front of us for a long time, but he left disappointed. C’est la vie, dude.
We picked up our first crawfish of the season on our way home for lunch, and with that, our Mardi Gras season was over.
Until next year!
