Baby, its cold outside!

Mardi Gras has officially started. Last night was the first Mobile parade. And today, was the Spanish Fort parade. The parading organization is called the Krewe de la Spaniards or something like that. I promised the girls we would go, so off we went to brave the freezing weather. Aiti came with us and was a little more patient with the constant whining, than I was. It was in the upper 30s and the wind was whipping through the Eastern Shore Centre. Did I mention we were freezing? We had been out there almost an hour before the parade actually made it to the spot where we stood. Hayden had been begging to leave for the entire hour leading up to the parade. But, when she finally saw the police car leading the parade, she figured it would be okay if we stayed until the end. Once the floats started coming the girls started jumping up and down and screaming. They were too cold to actually catch anything or pick anything up off the ground. So, Aiti and I were left to pick up everything thrown our way. My hands were so numb, and when I tried to catch the beads, it stung like I was trying to catch a brick. So I resorted to just letting everything hit the ground, then pick it up. My hands didn't thaw until we were half way home. We left with two bags of beads, three stuffed animals, a few moonpies, and a bunch of gum. We have been to this parade every year for the since Hayden was a baby. So I wanted to go more out of tradition than anything else.

As soon as the last float and the firetrucks passed, the whining commenced, again. So we dropped Aiti at home and went in search of a remedy for the cold. This is what we found:

Nothing cheers these girls up faster than some chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate from Panera Bread. And I had the best Smokehouse Turkey Panini. (Smoked Turkey, Bacon, cheddar cheese, and sun-dried tomato mustard) I also let the girls pick out some desserts. So we all shared a cinnamon roll, a chocolate chip cookie, and a chocolate chip muffin top. YUMMY!! Being there sure did make me miss Riley, though.

We are thinking about hitting a few more parades over the next couple of weeks. But that will not happen if it stays this cold. Hopefully Bryan will be able to come with us, too. He had a meeting and a stake youth activity today.