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Our first parade! Mary and William, never attended one before. Jeffie is unclear as to if she has been before or not. She recalls a bit, remembers getting beads. Foggy about the rest. (or simply isn’t going to tell ME.)

I’ve marched in one parade in New Orleans, but had never been on the spectator/tourist side of the fence. The really nice thing about where we stayed for this one, is that we got to see the parade up close and personal, and then could go back to the room, and watch it again from up above. It was REAL nice.

We have the pictures for the Pharoh’s parade on the Saturday after. I’ve got to push them up, and then start getting ready for the next set of Parades! We’re heading back down to Mobile for the culmination of Mardi Gras – Saturday through Fat Tuesday. Mary Vic has been told there are Fire Breathing Dragons on Saturday at the Mystic’s of Time (I think that’s the parade). I hope so, as she has locked down HARD on that idea.

The second reason we went to Mobile last weekend was for the Baptism of Sean Pavel. It was rather interesting pulling the kids into nice clothing after the parades and festivities of Mardi Gras, (and telling them if they weren’t good, they couldn’t go to the parade that evening!) Add to that, it seemed that our choice of Hotels backfired on us a bit. Because it was downtown, ON the parade route, we ended up leaving the baptism reception afterwards a bit earlier than we would have liked, just to keep from being blocked out of the hotel and parking. They do shut the streets down, and frankly, I didn’t know when that was going to happen.

Our kids had a blast. They banded together with some of Jim’s Nephews, as well as Christian, and made their own entertainment, all while actually being quite good. Running laps around a prayer garden seemed to be the greatest attraction, although the baptismal pool held great interest. Sean, being the star, didn’t enjoy the festivities nearly as much. That water seemed quite cold.

Enough talk. Here are the Pictures that I pulled. I didn’t know the etiquette for the ceremony, so I mainly stayed in the back, and just shot with the long lens, but I think I got a few good ones.

When we did the initial sort, I noticed this one. It’s quickly becoming one of my favorites. Click through to see the larger version (or click above, it’s the last image in the gallery).

I haven’t forgotten them. We had a bit of extra time when the Parade wasn’t in full force.

Of course, there were pictures:

These include the shots of Aunt Janie before the Conde Ball. I thought they came out quite well given the five minutes we had to actually take the shots, and the fact that the best backdrop available was a dark window.
I’m going to have to change how I’m posting pictures… It seems that the aspect ratio gets screwed up a little when I upload them directly here. And I’ll probably start posting the pictures to Facebook as well. It seems that they will end up there, regardless on if I post them or not.
Hopefully, I’ll get the Parade pictures and the Baptism photos up tomorrow or Friday.

As I write this… In the passenger seat of the family truckster, we are closing the end of a great weekend.

Jeffie was able to get Friday off from work, I was able to find cheapish hotel tickets, and the Puppy dog had all of his shots up to date. It was the perfect storm coming together.

It’s Friday morning, 7 am. Jeffie’s Uncle Greg was in Mobile, AL prepping, and would be wearing his arm out in 12 hours for Mardi Gras. We intended to see that.

(warning… Don’t read anymore if you don’t have high speed. More pictures than any post prior….)

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