Gym and Juice

Susan and Lily invited us to join them at the JCC Friday morning for Gym and Juice. It was an open gym at the JCC, set up with the gymnastics things, basketball, soccer and a giant parachute. And they also served juice. It was a lot of fun. Nick had a good time playing in the tunnels and toddling around everywhere. Ben loved playing basketball and running around like a crazy person. He also really liked playing with the parachute. He's getting much better and his shyness and having me next to him at all times. It was a great way to spend the morning of Nick's birthday!

A Day In The Life of The Birthday Boy

A day in the life of the birthday boy. I missed a few things, but here's the brief recap

Early Birthday

In loo of the parade route, we celebrated Nick's birthday a few days early on Monday. We had ordered a Sucré king cake (mmm, mmm tasty and pretty) for Nick's birthday cake. 

Nick in is full Mardi Gras regalia, complete with crown.

We decided to save the king cake for breakfast and had cupcakes for dessert instead. It was also much more entertaining to watch Nick eat a cupcake.

Tuesday morning we dug into the super tasty king cake. Nick was a fan!

Play Time at the Park

A little play time at the park with Grandma

Parading Time!

So the original idea for Sunday parading was to celebrate Nick's birthday, dress up like garden gnomes (group theme) and have a good time. Well, the stomach virus had other ideas. Sarah, my mom and I took the boys down to St Charles for the Uptown parades on Sunday while Adam and my dad were home sick. We had the boy's ladder set up and ready to go thanks to Sarah's awesome friends. Nick was cooperative and wore his gnome costume and sat in the ladder seat. Ben wanted nothing to do with either one...The boys lasted about a parade and a half and then they were done. Nick was tired and hungry and Ben was in need of sleep as well. The boys got a few throws, including a spear and tomahawk for Ben (grrrreat, just what he needs) and although it wasn't exactly according to plan, it was still fun!

Endymion

Well, I will start by saying, it was not the greatest of Mardi Gras's, thanks to the norovirus-esque virus we all got. I got sick on the plane on Friday, Adam and my mom got it Saturday night, my dad got it Sunday and Sarah had it Monday. It was super awesome. But between all the illness, we still managed to have a little fun.

Saturday Adam and I left the boys home with grandma and grandpa and hit the Endymion parade route. Donnie had his motor home (aka MoHo) on the route, and it was glorious, particularly during the torrential downpour an hour before the parade started to roll. We stayed nice and comfy with the (electric) fireplace, hot chocolate and satellite tv. I still wasn't feeling well, so without the convenience and comfort of the MoHo, I probably wouldn't have been able to parade.

Despite the rain, Endyimon still rolled! And a few of the bands were super troopers and marched! The rain ended about 30 or 45 minutes into the parade, so it wasn't too bad.

We got some crazy good throws! Adam caught a boa, some giant Saints beads, glow sticks, cups, roses and footballs.