LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULER!!!!!!

Yay! Ocean Springs holds the first Mardi Gras parade of the season and with nice weather, we arrived early (10 a.m.) and parked close to the parade route and soon were comfortably sitting at the Ocean Springs Yacht Club with a bloody mary to start the day.

The parade floats began lining up along front beach as we all watched the festivities from the deck.....There were many pre partiers at the yacht club including this lively costumed group from Arkansas

What you have to understand about Mardi Gras parades, is that it is not just about the parade, it is the BEFORE and AFTER festivities that make a parade a day long event, from early morning til late in the evening!!After a nice visit we decided to move towards the parade route to see what people were up to.........

What a view!!!

Gettin' Ready.........

Chair camp out!!!

Float Riders practicing the bead throwing

We soon found that the closer we got to downtown.....people had staked their parade watching space for themselves and their kids and created prime bead catching areas...........

Did you forget to buy your child a toy at Walmart to bring to the parade?, well there were plenty of traveling salesmen ready to accommodate your little one's desire for anything from hats to a blow up Shamu or monkey....please, daddy, please........

Daddy, I want the frog AND THE MONKEY!!!!

We found lots of watering holes to stop and people watch..............

Sweet's Lounge was rockin'

Porter Ave. Bistro Beer To Go.....

Lots of people choose to dress rather festively for Mardi Gras as you can see below....

My, those are some awesome beads!!

Mardi Gras Party Lizard with Owner in the background

Ok, so I am getting to the parade.  We decided that The Office on the corner of Washington and Government would be the perfect place to observe....First things first,the veggie infused vodka for a bloody mary looked tempting.......     

 However a beer and snack seemed the best choice.........ahhh.....now where do we stand for the parade?

Wait a minute...... there is no one in The Office except for maybe 3 other people, bartender Connie was able to provide us drinks quickly, hmmmm......bathroom, A/C....and gee look out the window....

I THINK WE FOUND THE PERFECT SPOT!!!!!  On to the parade.............

OFFICER RICKY KEEPIN IT UNDER CONTROL WHILE WE WAIT...

PARTY ROCK IS ON THE TOP OF THE OFFICE TOO!

Our Armed Forces Represent!!

Go Girl!!!

Getting her Parade on!!

Spinning on a float in the parade.......

A Floating Bar in the Parade.......I'm not kidding!

The Heaven Bound float following Lynchburg Landing float....hmmm....

Great way to campaign!!

Well, the parade finally ended.........and after a noisy, exciting, celebratory day we headed home in the aftermath........

Until the next Mardi Gras parade...............it is all over but the cleanup........

Throw me something, Mister!!!!!      See ya at the next parade, Friday, February 17 at 7 p.m.