Happy Fat Tuesday!!!

Today was the last day of Mardi Gras known as Fat Tuesday. Most people hear "Mardi Gras" and think of New Orleans, but most don't know that when it came to the United States is began right here in Mobile, Alabama. Hell, I didn't even know this myself until I met my man. New Orleans is known for the party place to be for Mardi Gras and Mobile is more family oriented. Either way this is a big thing in both places. So much that schools and certain government places are closed on these days because they consider it a holiday. Hubby and my job don't so we both had to either take PTO or schedule the day off. Something that has been extremely rare for us in the entire time we have been together.

Anyhow, neither of us got much sleep. We were up at 5am and out the door with food, stuff, and kids about 6:30am. That is actually late considering most people are already downtown at 4am marking their spot. We had to make a stop at WalMart then pick up my nieces so we didn't make it downtown until about 7:30am, but my mother-in-law had things set up for us. The temperature was also about 28 degrees. With the high winds off the Mobile Bay you can imagine just how cold everyone was.

I won't bore you with step by step details, but we had a great time. The children were very cold wearing their hats and gloves, but once the parades started none of that really mattered. Hubby didn't get to see much because he spent his time grilling in the back of the restaurant. At least he had music...lmao. The parking lot where we were at was very packed. I mean people, cars, and grills everywhere. The people next to us brought a huge set of speakers with a laptop and played 70s, 80s, 90s, blues, and hip hop music all day while people gathered around getting drunk. I spent most of my day chasing my youngest around cause he wanted every set of beads he could find.

The highlight of the parade? The have what we call the "Black Parade" because it is the parade organized and dominately with black folks. It is also the longest parade in Mobile, AL. Everyone gets hyped about this one on Fat Tuesday. It is all the MAMGA organization that hosted the ball I went to on Friday. So with those in mind we had two highlights:

1. Everyone was trying to figure out where the hell Jamarcus Russell's ass was. Being that he was the King we expected him to ride on the float with his Queen....Wrong!!! He was like 4 floats back with his suit hanging of like he just woke up doing throws. Let's just say many were not impressed. But we can't complain too much he was there.
2. A lady fell off one of the float and busted her head on the concrete. This held up the parade for about 20 minutes. Not sure if she was drunk like most of them on these floats.

Anyhow, I have tons of photos for you guys to look at. Actually I am pretty proud of myself this year. I haven't been to Mardi Gras in some time, but I always take crappy ass pics. This time I got nice pics and videos of the day's events. All except hubby gettin his grill on. Hope you enjoy!!

Mardi Gras in Mobile, AL Links:

• The original home of Mardi Gras in America
• Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau
• MobileMardiGras.com
• Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA)
• Wind Creek Casino

There's more than one video to view.
To see the play list click on the "tape" next the play/pause button.