Have Triplets, Still Travel: New Orleans Mardi Gras!

Last summer my friend Caroline contacted me to see if I'd be interested in riding on a float for Mardi Gras this year. Iris is one of a few all-female parades and a few spots had opened up on the float that she and her family ride on each year. Will was fortunate to get to ride in Rex (the BIG parade) one year and insisted that I take Caroline up on the offer. We also recruited Will's friend Niquette to join us. Unfortunately I found out just a couple weeks before we were scheduled to go to New Orleans that the Krewe was not going to let me ride, due to the triplets. They just felt that it was too risky, and while I was disappointed, I was also relieved. I was excited to ride, but definitely more nervous to see how things would go since the parade can last several hours and involves a lot of standing and jolting around. So it was actually nice to have someone else make the decision to not let me ride. Niquette and I were able to find substitute riders, so we didn't lose out on a ton of money invested in membership dues and throws for the parade.

Even though I was no longer riding, Will and I decided to make the drive down for the weekend anyway. Niquette is a native from New Orleans and generously put us up for the weekend. It was really great to experience my first Mardi Gras with a local. I was a bit concerned about over-doing it with too much walking and not enough access to bathrooms, but Niquette had things covered. She has lots of friends who live along the parade routes, so we hopped from one place to another and always had a place to sit, food to eat, and most importantly- a bathroom to use!

Mardi Gras was much more family friendly than I pictured it. I expected a New Orleans Mardi Gras party to involve huge crowds of really drunk people and lots of flashing. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that is not at all a typical Mardi Gras celebration! I'm sure the french quarter and Bourbon Street get rowdy, but we steered clear of that area after dark. Every party we went to was filled with kids, good food, and happy people.

Since I couldn't enjoy ALL the festivities that Mardi Gras and New Orleans had to offer, I definitely made sure to enjoy the parts that I could participate in. I ate. A lot. Man, does New Orleans have great food! We made it our mission to sample as many king cakes as possible so that we could bring our favorite type back to my office. That was a fun challenge!

A highlight of the weekend was seeing the Discher family. I started babysitting for the Dischers when I was about 12 years old, and have stayed in touch with them through the years as all 4 of their kids (and me) have grown up. 3 of the 4 Discher kids now live in New Orleans and their parents, Tom and Deb, own a condo in town. We stopped by to see them in between parades, and it was so nice to catch up with them!

We ended up cutting our trip short by a night so we could avoid driving home in predicted bad weather. It was a bummer to leave early, but in the end, it was a good decision. We would have been driving back smack in the middle of a big ice storm!

And now, some pictures from the weekend:

Jackson Square

Stephanie, Will, and Niquette, our hostess for the weekend. Will went to college with both Stephanie and Niquette.

Bourbon Street in the early afternoon is not at all crazy town like I expected!

The first bar I ever illegally got into as a teenager. We took a family trip to New Orleans when I was 17 and I enjoyed several cocktails here.

Mini parade led by a New Orleans brass band down the streets of the French Quarter

Enjoying a drink at Lafitte's- New Orleans' oldest bar and the oldest bar in the States (since 1772)

A float from one of the night parades we attended- D'etat

Will and Niquette

Will, Stephanie, and me rocking our throws

These ladders have boxes on top that kids sit in to catch throws from all the parades. An adult stands on the ladder behind them, presumably to block flying objects from hitting the kids in the face and causing serious injury. If you're a kid in one of these boxes, you really rack up on throws!