I suck at early mornings, but today was easier to get up because it meant seeing Mandy & Derek! At 7am I was up making Mardi Gras jello shots before I even had coffee.
I met Mandy online five years ago when she looked up #brusselsprouts. Who knew a picture of something I cooked could land me one of my favorite friends? I got to finally hug her three years ago when Matt & I went to Chicago. Imagine how excited I was when she asked me to meet her in NOLA for her first Mardi Gras!
We picked them up and took them to cafe du monde. Derek had a real interest in seeing an alligator, so we took them to the end of the world to look for one. And possibly ran for our lives from one while taking a picture. That was the day my two tall friends learned how fast these short legs could move while making sure I didn’t become alligator bait. All while my husband played it safe and stayed inside the vehicle.
After lunch at Rocky’s we took them for a quick run through the Chalmette battle field so they could see 200 year old oak trees and walk up on the levee.
Then came the real fun. We took them to the biggest parade of the season, Endymion. This was my first kiddo free parade in over two decades! We don’t typically do Endymion because of the large crowds and knowing the girls wouldn’t have near as much fun. Another friend invited us to go to their spot on Canal St that included a clean bathroom across the street, a rare find while at parades. Matt and Derek seemed to enjoy watching Mandy and I collecting big beads, cups, dabloons, and a hula hoop.
Little did we know while we were having a blast a mile from where we were standing a young guy drove his truck into a crowd at the very parade we were enjoying. Little did we know while we had no phone service for five hours on that parade route our daughter who had been enjoying the day with Paw-Paw & Gigi had heard about the accident and also knew where we were. She had no idea that I wasn’t answering her text because I didn’t get them all until we were walking back to our car and finding out about what had happened at the same time. Talk about a crummy feeling.
After we left the parade we took a drive through the quarter, but all opted to not go walk it because we all had an early start the following day too.
I’m so happy we got to spend the day with them and can hardly wait to see them again!
