Throw Me Somethin', Mista!

It's been A WHILE since I've posted anything new, but now that Emma has started sleeping for longer stretches of time, I'll hopefully be able to start up again.

So, this year, we all decided that we were going to go to Thibodaux for Mardi Gras. Jay and I hadn't been since before Truett was born, and we thought that it would be a good chance for us to introduce Emma to our Thibodaux family and friends. Plus, what better excuse to go home than for Mardi Gras???

My sister, Emily even joined us, which was great, because I can't even remember the last time she came along on family 'vacation'.

So, on Thursday, Jay and I loaded up (and I mean LOADED UP) the Expo and headed out. We waited for Emily and Sarah to get home from work/school because they were riding with us. We also thought it would be a good idea to travel at night so the kids would sleep most of the way. That's pretty much the way it went, with the occasional, "Is THIS Mardi Gras?" from Truett whenever we'd stop to stretch or get fuel! :) We got to Thibodaux at 2:30 in the morning, and being that Truett was WELL rested, on top of his excitement to finally "get to Mardi Gras", he didn't go back to sleep until 4:00 a.m.!

Friday night, we all went over to Aunt Mollie's house for dinner. As usual, her house was full of good friends, good food and good times. She is the ULTIMATE 'Hostess with the Mostest"!

Aunt Mollie, Mom & Emily

We ate, drank, danced, laughed, etc...Truett even had a few drinks - of WATER FROM THE FOUNTAIN in my aunt's courtyard! Yeah...he woke up the next night with fever and throwing up. I'm pretty sure it was from whatever was growing in his tummy from drinking that water! hahah!

On Saturday, Truett had a playdate scheduled with the Diedrich and Folse clans. It was great to catch up with a couple of my girlfriends and watch our kiddos play together. Liz has a great house with a HUGE yard, so the kids had a blast.

Later on that night, we all headed over to Gooey's for a crawfish boil. In my dad's family, the kids almost out-number the grown ups, so there were kids all over.

Grace, Kerrington and Emma (all about 1 month apart)

Kursten

Emma and LeeLa'

It was good times for Truett. He ran around in the yard, jumped in the bounce house and had so much fun playing with all the kids.

We, of course, enjoyed some AWESOME crawfish and the pleasure of everyone's company.

Dan and Bosco...Boilers Extraordinaire!Emily, Sarah & Mom enjoying some mud bugs!MawMaw, Sarah & John Sherman

"Say hello to my little friend!"

Emma and Gooey

Emma and her Papa

Sunday morning, we woke up and started getting things together for the parade. In Thibodaux, there is always a celebration and I often describe it as the more 'family oriented' version of New Orleans. The Sunday before Mardi Gras, there is a big parade, which was even bigger this year, because they decided to combine 2 parades back-to-back. So, we got our stuff together and headed over to Gooey's.

Truett still wasn't feeling 100%, partially because he was so tired from being up sick all night, but he was so excited. We loaded up the wagon and headed for the parade.

Truett and Olivia heading to the parade

Emily and Sarah waiting for the fun to start!

Jay and Truett waiting for the parade

Once the parade started, Truett was having a great time, for the most part. He caught a pirate patch and thought it was the coolest thing! There were a few others who really enjoyed the things they caught at the parade, too. :)

Arrrrrgghhhhh!

Aunt Donna and her prized loot from the parade! :)

Emily and her stuffed heart

Sarah and her giraffe

Truett did eventually tucker out and slept in the wagon for the rest of the parade. Emma also took a nap during the parade (are these REALLY my kids????).

Once the parade was over, we headed back to Gooey's house and waited for the parade to make its way back around the parade route so we could watch it a 2nd time. This time, Truett and Emma were both ready! Truett had caught up on his sleep and was ready to catch more beads.

It's funny the way it usually goes because by the time the parade is ending, the people on the floats either have nothing left, or they rationed their beads so much, fearing they'd run out, that they end up having a ton of beads left and are trying to get rid of them! I'm thinking that in our case, there were a lot of folks who hadn't thrown out enough beads along the way because we RACKED UP on beads!!!!!!

The next day, we packed up, loaded up and headed back home, leaving all but one pack of beads behind. Truett brought Mardi Gras cookies and his beads to school the next day. When I picked him up, all the kids in the school were wearing their beads! :)

We had a such a great time and are really looking forward to going back next year.