Windowboxes and Weissbier: Fasching 2013

So I might be a week (or almost two) late but I have too many cute pictures not to go ahead with a quick Fasching post. I don't know how we have never really gotten into the German version of Mardi Gras in the past but as far as I recall, this is only our second time actively participating in the annual parades. Of course it is more fun when you have a child to dress up (it does take the pressure off yourself) but then...........you have a dressed up child to deal with in a crowd of people. Anyways. This year we had a GREAT time. It would have been even greater if the temperature had risen above 20 degrees but you can't win them all. Our little tiny town of Hattenheim actually had a rather large parade this year. While we faced a little bit of technical difficulty this year (we stood in front of our house which ended up being the end of the line) once the parade reached us (like two hours later) it was a lot of fun. Evans and his bud Brady had a blast watching the floats pass by our house.

Daddy had another chance to bust out the Man With The Yellow Hat costume and I was perfectly content in my non-descript down jacket and jeans. Surprisingly, Evans and Brady mostly stayed in their seats and let the parade walkers come and place candy on their laps. Not to bad of a deal if you ask me.

I think Brady had the warmest costume of all though he was mistaken for a girl a few times. I don't think it bothered him!

I would have worn the pig costume by the time we were nice and frozen waiting on the parade to make the loop in front of our house but Ashley and I managed alright. Though you can't tell in the least, Ashley is seven months pregnant. Sadly, our super tactful German neighbor asked if I was the one pregnant. I guess I had on too many layers and I might be burning this coat shortly. (yeah, that was it)!

Sunday was even colder but we bundled up again and headed to the "big" parade in downtown Wiesbaden. The floats were much more sophisticated and when we left 2.5 hours later there was no end in sight.

It was a beautiful day and honestly I couldn't remember the last time we saw blue sky and the sun before last Sunday.

We had a few small incidents with Evans "accidentally" throwing the bouncy balls that he caught which caused a couple minor breakdowns but thankfully there was a lot of loot to be caught. I was assaulted in the noggin more than one time and if anyone is wanting parade popcorn, please come to our house. By the time we were ready to call it quits, Evans was D-O-N-E with the parade.

I knew we were in trouble when he would suck on a pop pop for 2 minutes and then demand a new one. I think that both Evans and Deaner have gotten their money's worth out of these Halloween costumes.

I suppose now I am not only responsible for finding Evans a costume every year. Of all the loot caught this year there was a clear winner to the most creative piece of candy. Brady caught one of these in Hattenheim on Saturday and when I was going through our stash I found one of our very own.