Mardi Gras 2012

What an adventure.  Good, bad and ugly... There were a total of 23 parades that passed through our neighborhood.  23 over the course of 12 days.  That's a LOT of parades.  That's a lot of tourists, road blocks, drunken mayhem, beads and other assorted adventures!

Overall, the kids had a good time.  They collected blinky things, beads, cups, doubloons, trinkets, shoes, a coconut, stuffed animals, swords and goodness knows what else!  By the end of the parades, even Wren knew to stand up and wave her hands in the air hoping to catch something!  We met a lot of nice folks and there were a bunch of teenagers and other strangers who were super nice to the kids.  There were also a fair share of drunken middle aged folks who would eagerly elbow Atticus out of the way to catch whatever was flying towards us - but thankfully we weren't totally over run by those guys/gals.  Atticus even tried to woo a young college aged student out of her big fancy beads -- he almost succeeded, but ultimately he gave them back to her.  :)

There are a bunch of cool sites that tell you the history of Mardi Gras, detail the different krewes and talk about their throws etc.  Here are some of the best ones I visited this year with the exception of really cool link that I can't find (boo):

Mardi Gras New Orleans

NOLA.com

Rex

Arthur Hardy

While there are still a few pictures to rescue from Greg's phone (we didn't have the actual camera with us) here are a few other shots collected from random sources!

At intermission (standing just off to the side of the open bar - ha!!)  The boys from the left: Chris Grieco, James Schuelke, Greg Baden and Jonathan Wolfson.

After the majority of the folks had left the Rex Ball, we got the chance to go on stage.

The ladies, sitting where the debutantes had been earlier - Leigh Schuelke, Kendall Wolfson and myself.

The EBC crew with the exception of Chris's fiancee Barbara who couldn't attend.

Here's the family out at Orpheus on Lundi Gras (Monday night).  Because of the flash, it's hard to tell, but the funky headband that Atticus is wearing actually lights up.  :)

This is a bit long, but it was a cool night time float!  The kids loved the choo choo!

                         Atticus all lit up.  :) (Well, half of him anyways!)

                          Some of the loot all piled up on the sofa chair.

                   I don't even remember which parad this was from!  Oy!!

Shots Fired

Hi.  So, ummm... there was a drive by killing just behind our house.  A 19 year old boy/man was shot out on the sidewalk and another stray bullet hit someone else in a neighboring house.  That's a little too freaking close to home.  Greg actually saw the kid who was killed when he was out walking with Wren just a couple hours before it all went down.  Literally - it was in front of the house whose backyard backs up to ours.  Story HERE.  As of last night, two of the suspects had turned themselves in -- most likely because the crime and their car was caught on surveillance video.

So what do we do?  Is it enough to make us move?  If so, where?  We're only here for another 6 months tops.  Oy.

Don't go out at night - that's already pretty much a given.

Our immediate neighbors seem nice and normal.  And we've recently made friends with another young couple who live around the corner (and even closer to the murder).  They have a 3 month old little girl.  Scary.

Not sure what to do...

Weekend Update

Friday, February 10:

Took Atticus for a haircut.

Tried to go to Shabbat Services.
Wren fell and whacked her head.

Watched our first Mardi Gras parade - Krewe de Oshun.  It was a ton of fun.  The kids got so many stuffed animals and some beads.

I decided I was too scared to let Wren go to sleep without being seen by a doctor, so a friend came over to watch Atticus while I ran Wren up to the ER at the Children's Hospital.

Wren got the all clear, but I had to wake her every 2 hours overnight to ensure she was able to be roused.

Saturday, February 11:

Screaming, yelling, other random toddler issues.

Atticus locked the door to his room from the inside.  The screwdriver tool we used when he did this in Ohio was too short to work here.

Called my neighbor who has a 4 month old baby girl.  She came over with some tools.  About the time she rang the doorbell was the time I'd gotten mad enough and taken the entire doorknob off the door.

Greg told me where the key to the door was located.  Oy.

Sold the Infiniti (so sad) and replaced it with a much larger Acura MDX.

Opted to skip the parades since I was by myself.

Finally got the kids to bed and enjoyed a nice large glass of wine and a bath.  (Note to self when building a house, make sure the hot water heater hold enough water to fill the freaking master bath bathtub!!!)

Sunday, February 12:

Attended the Tot Social Club at the JCC.  The kids LOVE the outside play yard at the JCC.

Parked and walked over for our first Sunday parade, Krewe de Carrollton.  We were next to some really great folks and the kids again caught tons of throws and beads.  Wren only got whacked in the head once with flying beads.

Briefly saw my friend Dollie who graciously gave us another bottle of water and a granola bar.

The second parade, Krewe de King Arthur was delayed by 1.5 hours for some sort of inspection infraction.

Kids caught an insane amount of beads at this parade.  I chose to leave the topless woman beads on the ground for some 20 something year old guy to find.  Wren got a cool football that seems to be her favorite throw yet.  Maybe we've got a little tomboy on our hands!

Played and sorted beads and throws.  Looked up where to recycle beads when the parade season comes to a close.  :)

Paci Fairy

Ta-da.  The mystical magical Paci Fairy came to visit Atticus on Monday.  She took Atticus's paci and in return left one big giant lollipop!  Very exciting.  She left a very nice note and Atticus was very excited that his paci was going to baby Reece.  Reece is my friend Eve's new son.  We recently received the birth announcement and Atticus decided that his paci should go to baby Reece, so we put in a special request with the Paci Fairy.  She was more than happy to oblige.

It's gone waaaaay smoother than anticipated.  He's asked a couple times for it, but when I tell him how excited baby Reece was to get the new paci that Atticus picked out just for him - he's moved on without too much of an issue.  Woot!  The only issue we've had is that since the visit from fairy, he's been waking up about an hour earlier than normal and coming into our room.  We're hoping it's just a phase while he gets used to self soothing again in the morning hours.  Fingers crossed.

Chase

Chase will be missed.  He was an odd ball.  He was the definition of scaredy-cat.  He was round and sweet and looked a bit like a cartoon cat from a distance.  The little grey and white face on that ginormous round kitty belly.  Never one to turn down a snack... Somewhere in the depths of my old photos, I'll have to find the pictures of Chase and Grady as kittens.

My roommate when I first moved to San Francisco in 1998 brought the kittens to our apartment.  Her aunt's cat had kittens and we offered to take two of them before she brought them to the pound.  Two little boys arrived at the apartment both with milk mustaches.  Grady and Chase were a team - they haven't ever spent a night apart.  Due to unforeseen circumstances, my best friend, Nicole, moved out to SF the summer of 1999.  She and I planned on getting a new apartment closer to the city -- but we had to figure out what to do with Grady and Chase.  Nicole was incredibly allergic and if we were going to live together, the cats couldn't come with us.. My original roommate said she'd just take them to the pound and we wouldn't have to worry about it.  I couldn't do it.  I begged my Mom to fly out to California and take the cats back to live with her in Texas.  Neither my Mom or my Dad had cats growing up - and I don't think my Dad cared for cats at all really - but miraculously they agreed.  It was to be a temporary arrangement while Nic and I were roommates.  Well... next thing you know I'm living out of the country and the boys were still with my folks.  I moved home for a while then moved in with my now husband... he already had a cat and she was definitely Queen of the house.

So, we find ourselves 12 years later with both boys still living with my folks.  They developed their routines and everyone learned to love one another -- my Dad, the dog, the cats...  Chase was always the scaredy cat though - he'd go running at the sound of the doorbell or at the front door opening.  It took years before he'd come out of hiding even when I was over visiting.  But he was loved and he led a good life.  He would head butt my Mom in the morning to wake her... he'd beg my Dad for a bran flake with milk at breakfast... he'd go running from the dog.  He even learned to come out a bit at night when I was visiting.  He was a sweet kitty.  He never meowed - I'm not sure he could actually... all you'd ever hear was this teensy tiny little "mew"every now and then.  We're still convinced that the sedatives they took before the trip from CA to TX made him a wee bit "wonky"....

I'm going to miss his sweet little grey face but I'm forever glad he didn't suffer.  No one wants to watch a loved one in pain, and I'm glad his passing was swift.  Now, we just have to worry about his brother, Grady... we're worried he'll pass from heartache.  He's never spent more than a few hours away from his brother.  Today is going to be hard on him.

I miss you Chaser.  Say hi to Peanut and we'll see you soon....