"Throw Me Somethin' Mitsa"

Mardi Gras in New Orleans = SO MUCH FUN!

10 hour drive from Springfield, MO to New Orleans, LA

85 lbs. of "throws" (beads mostly, doubloons, cups, toys, stuffed animals, umbrellas, footballs)

15 Hours of Parade watching

One Day we even dressed up! (B-Scarecrow, Me-Lion, R-Dorothy, S-Tinman)Funny Huh!

We saw Reggie Bush, Sean Peyton, Steven Zahn, Harry Connick Jr., and Rachel Ray.

Got alot of Sun, even in the Cold.

Ate alot of Food: Muffalettas and Beignets are my favorite. The kids loved it all especially the King Cakes.

Talked with alot of extended family, met friendly natives, smelled sweet olive trees, bought head-on fresh shrimp, watched ships on the Mississippi, and stayed up too late everynight.

As Long as you stay away from the bars (duh) the atmosphere is pretty clean, and so much fun. We stayed in front of Pralines by Jean. Brandon's Mom's cousins wife makes the best Pralines. Yum. She invited us to watch the parade in front of her shop, so we could party with them, have a bathroom close by, and eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a few snacks in between too :)

I can still hear the kids screaming "throw me somethin' mista". Funniest thing I've ever seen them say.

Three hours into our trip home we stopped in Jackson, Mississippi to look at the Manship house (relatives of Brandon's family). Charles Manship was a decorative painter. He painted wood doors to look like mahogany, and wooden mantels to look like Marble, for the middle class citizens, who couldn't afford the nicer things. He became Mayor of Jackson, where he organized the first fire department.

We toured the house that is now a museum - Beautiful.

Then we continued on four more hours to Memphis, Tennessee to visit Graceland. I've always wanted to see where Elvis lived. It had already closed for the day, but we looked at all the names on the wall surrounding his home, and took a few pics.

Four more hours until we made it back to Springfield. Seiler had to pee several times.

It feels good to sleep in your own bed!