Our First Mardi Gras Parade!!!!

Tonight we joined Angie's family in attending our first Mardi Gras Parade!!! And it went a little something like this,
We left the house at 6pm. Ryan and Angie got an awesome spot along the parade route, right on the road and on a corner too, so that we didn't have anyone around us really. For those of you northerners like myself, it's kind of like football tailgating meets homecoming parade but you go home with a bunch of cool stuff...too much stuff. We hung out sipping Starbucks (thanks Ryan!) and munching on brownies- figuring the parade would roll by around 7pm....but oh no. It didn't come past us until well after 10pm and it lasts for well over an hour. And of course I didn't pack any food for Deagan, nor did we eat dinner before we went. So I walked over to Walgreens and bought chips and string cheese for the girls (real healthy I know) and a bottle and formula for the baby. The girls hung out in the back of their mini van watching movies. Occationally coming out to run into the road to see if it was coming yet. Olivia had no idea what to expect, as this was her first parade of any kind, ever. And Mardi Gras was a little chaotic for her. The first few floats that came by she was out on the street yelling for beads and stuffed animals. Then came a marching band with a huge drumline...and she FREAKED OUT. So here I was with Deagan in the backpack on my back and Olivia in my arms screaming to go hide in the van. So I let her crawl in the cave and she didn't come back out. She stood in the back of the van waving her light up wand, wearing her beads and yelling "go get some more momma!" She had a lot of fun watching from the comfort zone of the van. It was cute. Eventhough I'd love for her to be outgoing and have crazy fun, I've learned to accept her reserved attitude and understand that sometimes you can have just as much fun watching other people be idiots;)
Overall it was really good to get out of this house and have a little fun, and forget for just a few hours about Daddy being gone! Thanks for inviting us Ryan and Angie, we had a GREAT time:)