In the middle of February, we went to New Orleans.  It was the first time back there for Darol in 13 years.  We had not been back since Jonathan was a baby, and so all the other children were seeing Darol’s hometown for the first time ever.  We stopped by a store to get some groceries, and all the children decided to try out some disguises.

  The next night we were able to view our first parade, very close to the Wilson’s house in Metairie.  The children were focused on gathering as much “treasure” thrown from the floats as possible. 

In addition to viewing the parades, New Orleans is probably most famous for all the various food options.  You can go for the famous crawfish (mud bugs), or the deep fried donuts (beignets from Café Du Monde).

We also wandered through the French Quarter on Saturday morning looking for any sort of treasures to bring home from the market.

After going through the Market, we headed back to our van to drive back and get ready for the afternoon and evening parades.  Unfortunately, our departure from the parking lot was …impossible…the lot was empty when we arrived early on Saturday morning, and Darol made the mistake of parking the multi-passenger van in a spot that was later completely enclosed by other cars.  After 4 hours of sitting in the parking lot, including being hoaxed by a local who claimed to own the lot, multiple people attempting to back the van out themselves, we finally found an attendant who tracked down a car owner in order to move the car.  We were so glad to get out of there, given the potential that we could have been stuck there for 2 days!  As of one year later, we still have one king cake left in our outside freezer, waiting for the right time to break it out and relive the experience.