{Centaur's 20th Carnivale}

March is in full swing!! I thought to myself what better way to get the month rolling than by posting our first ever Mardi Gras experience.



Fat Tuesday is less than 1 week away. As you can well imagine, Mardi Gras celebrations are going on everywhere around us. Last weekend we were invited to attend the first major parade in Shreveport. This year, The Krewe of Centaur hosted "Centaur's 20th Carnivale"


I have to say, this was one of the best events we have attended. I have never experienced anything quite like this in my life. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I am so grateful to our friends for allowing our family to spend the day with them. I learned new things, heard lots of great Mardi Gras stories, and I got to do all of it while spending the day in the presence of some pretty great company. The weather was perfect, the food was great, and the people were amazing.

They even make King Cakes from DONUTS!!!

Our day was more than just about going to watch a parade. People actually start to line up at 5 am in order to get “their spot” for the 4:30 pm parade. I have to admit, I was shocked when we drove up at one in the afternoon. Cars lined the streets. People had tents, grills, and tables set-up. Anything you could possibly think of could be found somewhere around you. The city completely shutdown highways and streets to host this grand parade.

The area where we spent our day was absolutely perfect. The kids were able to run around and play. They got to explore the woods. They climbed rocks, played near the pond, and rolled down the giant grass hill. It was so great!! There were so many families hanging out together. All of the kids got together and played. They rode bikes and scooters on the highway. They played football, horseshoes, and tag. Everyone was friendly and just out to have a good time. It was really neat to watch so many people come together for one day of fun.

By 5 pm we made our way up to the street. The kids grabbed their bags and waited patiently for the parade to begin. My kids weren’t exactly sure what to expect and of course neither was mom. They had no idea why they needed to have grocery bags and I didn’t know that pictures would be almost impossible to take once the parade got started.

By 5:30 the fire trucks made their way around our corner. The Centaur quickly followed and before we knew it, the parade was in full swing.

There were a total of 40 different floats. I have never seen so many beads in my life. Each float had rows that were lined with hooks of thousands of beads. The kids managed to collect several different beads, cups, and we also managed to get a few doubloons. Oh and don’t let Miss Kalyssa’s no beads around her neck picture fool you. After getting her first official Mardi Gras battle scar by catching a strand of beads with her face, she came up with a plan. Her plan for the night was to collect as many things as she could by “hiding” them in her bag under her chair because, “if I’m not wearing any beads they will want to give me some because they won’t think I have any.” Tricky Tricky that little girl of mine =)  

Needless to say, we have more bead than we know what to do with!!