Let The Good Times Roll at Galveston Mardi Gras

Happy Fat Tuesday!  According to Wikipedia, Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", reflecting the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season. 

This past weekend, we headed South to Galveston to check out the children's parades on Sunday.  We did not have to go too far.  My kids had never been to a Mardi Gras parade.  When I was younger, I participated in the parades with our high school marching band.  It was always so much fun to perform.  The music gets the people going.  Believe it or not, it had been over 20 years since I had been to Mardi Gras in Galveston. 

If you did not know, there is a children's parade that is very kid friendly.  I did not know there was also a pet parade.  On Sunday, there were three parades that were perfect for the kids.  There was plenty of parking and we got a perfect spot right at the front.  We did arrive early.  There was people throwing beads from a second story building even before the parade started.

My favorite parts from this parade were:

Clowns-Very friendly

Animals-There were so many animals that you could pet during the parade.  From little dogs to cats, ferrets to a big snake, and of course, my daughter pet them all.

Parade De Ja Vu-We thought the first parade was over but it was not.  It came around twice.

Beads Galore-The best of all was collecting all the beads.  One warning, when the beads are getting tossed they could hurt.  Even though it is fun for the kiddos to catch them, be careful they could get hit by falling beads.

Now what to do with all those beads?