Carnaval!

We had a fun and busy end to the girls' school vacation. Now that we feel "settled" here to some degree, we are trying to take advantage of the time we have left. We know there won't be a lot of opportunity for settledness or a Western type life for us for awhile so when opportunities arise we are trying to make the most of it. So this weekend we went to a Carnaval, which is a specific type of french parade/festival. The kids dress up and the parade is all-out! We really enjoyed it. The under the sea theme was super cool.

Watching attentively with a chunk of sugary goodness in our mouth:

Not sure about the crazy costumes!

So many beautiful balloons!  Marianna was upset though and wanted to be assured that at least they were up in heaven (we didn't assure her of that but tried other distractions:)

The kids, Rachael and Sarah, our friend and fellow french student

At the elephants with friends (with cooler costumes than ours:)

Pretty girl

More balloons

Fancy tricks high in the air on a pole!

Some of the costumes were a little more scary than what we're used to in the US

One of the few marching bands

Another elephant pic (with the cute friends!)

Dance club dressed as babies in pjs

Tractor pic for Louis

The coolest bird ever, it was one of those you had to be there things to believe it.  It "flew" with some super intense music in the background.  Kinda gave you goosebumps

The birds on stilts walked with the flying bird thing.  They were super cool too.

Handsome boy taking it all in

Mama and Liv...yes I stole her mask.  She didn't want it:)  Grandma Kathy sent these to us from good ole WA state:)

Batman of course

Amazing Red creatures

Superman!

Octopus lady.   So breathtaking also with the music and all that.

We had an awesome time complete with no major meltdowns.  Yeah!