New Orleans Mardi Gras

We spent last weekend in New Orleans visiting a college friend of Joshua's. Neither of us had ever been and we had an outstanding time. On top of being there for Joshua's birthday weekend we also had the happy accident of being there the week before Mardi Gras. That meant there were mostly still only locals around but there were still parades happening every day. All the houses were decked out with beads, flags, and masks. The sun was out and my skin was actually warm. The biking was so simple and all the routes were FLAT! Our friends had a porch that we frequented to sip beer, play guitar, chat with their neighbors. So many small things on that trip added up to a really amazing time.

We went to two parades, the first was Titrex which are mini floats where all the people pulling them were dressed in tuxedos. We then followed the brass band down the street dancing to the next parade! That parade was Chewbaccus- a sci-fi themed parade that went on for over an hour. There is a whole lot of parade terminology I won't go into except for throws- these are things each Krewe makes themed to their outfit/group identity. They hand/throw these out as they go. The more you yell & jump up and down the more they hand out. Also if you yell out what they are dressed as it also helps. The throws we got included stickers, tattoos, mini liquor bottles, pepperoni, painted Jenga tiles, a key, a moon rock, doubloons, and so so much more. It was nothing you truly wanted but in that moment you wanted to get it all! My pockets were so full of random little things. Our voices were also very hoarse the next day.

As an aside we went to a costume shop and sat outside in the sun for a bit where we turned the guys beards into leafy manes. We found it hilarious.

Pumpkin Beerfest

This past weekend's forecast looked gloomy but we got lucky and were blessed with some sunshine at least for a few hours everyday. Saturday afternoon hubs and I went to a Pumpkin Beerfest, biggest on in the country. They had over 60!!!! types of pumpkin beer. And they all had pretty awesome names such as- Hefepumps and Woozles(inspired from Winnie the Pooh), Pumpkin Smumpkin, Boo Radley, and many more involving the word pumpkin or gourd. Plus the glasses had jack-o-lantern faces on them, so I was on a quest to find the most orange one to put in it.

They also brewed one special beer in a pumpkin and they tapped it at the festival and then poured it all around for free! Nice! We met up with a few guys from Josh's work and they knew a lot of the brewers there so it was fun to meet the people that brewed the beer.

After our 6 samples though I must say I was pumpkin beered out :)

We grabbed pizza for dinner settled in for the night and then got a call at 9:10 asking if we wanted to see a movie at 9:30 about a bicycle messanger riding a fixie trying to deliver a package with a NYC cop chasing him, the cop was corrupt. Of course we went! It was actually a suprisingly good movie. And finished the night off at Chuck's Hop Shop with our movie friends.

With all the craziness and trips and visitors this September it was really great to have a weekend in Seattle where we Seattle felt welcoming and normal.
We even took a walk around Greenlake after church with some friends chatting and soaking up the little bit of Sunday's sunshine. We felt so blessed and loved this weekend. Feeling normal and social in the place you live is so hard sometimes that we're so thankful when it happens.

Seafair! Seafair! Seafair!

Our friends lovingly invited Joshua and I and some of their co-workers out on their sailboat for Seafair. (Which is a big thing out here in Seattle, boat and plane races, air shows, and this year around 20-30,000 boats out on Lake Washington all at once!) It was an absolutely gorgeous day! We had tons of food and cold beer. We got to watch the blue angels show, they flew in formations directly over our head! Swam in the water and just overall had one of the best days ever!

They flew with Mt. Rainier as a backdrop

our Fabio- every boat needs one

I got a small glasses tan :(

The very white looking men got quite sunburnt-

don't worry mom's we did use sunscreen I promise!

Our Sunday also rocked, I'll post it soon :)

Dancing among the Tulips



We went to see the tulip fields with our friends Lich and Suzie this weekend. When they first suggested this versus hiking Joshua and I were skeptical. BUT WOWZAA they were truly amazing! I wouldn't ever take back this trip we took with them for anything. We had such a relaxing afternoon running around in the tulip fields. It was sunny and warm, the mountians were in view all around us! Plus for most of the day the sun was so strong that the tulip fields looked like they were glowing and the petals were on fire. I can't stop saying how amazing it was!

they reflected into the water :)



The red was so brilliant that when you tried to take a picture of us in it the glow of the red affected the way we looked. It was fields of colorblocked magic!
The first fields we went to were yellow, red and pink - but the second fields had purple, striped ones, gradients of pink and a few orange ones creeping into bloom. We walked far away from everyone else and had a picnic in the cracked mud. Ran around spotting the cross-pollinated tulips where a yellow ended up growing among the red and so forth. Broke the rules of running down the rows. Sang way to loud in the car (a woman biking actually asked if we were okay at one point) And shared a truly amazing quality time with great friends.



this is really what they looked like- GLOW




she picked one :)



oddball



I feel like this one looks kinda retro



of course we tried to eat the odd one!

tow-toned

the persistant little orange on. Hubs said it deserved a motivational poster

hehe funny camera angles



Hubs kept stealing the camera and taking photos of me, I didn't want him to feel I don't like them so I put them all on haha



Suzie made a giant veggie sandwich!

We kept looking up at the mountains then distracted by the flowers then the mountains again- fantastic cycle, until you stepped into the mud.
Ah I can't stop looking at these pictures and wanting to be back!

I hope you like starring at them as much as I do :)