Another religious tradition that our family likes to celebrate in secular way truly has roots in my former religion, Catholicism. I previously mentioned the celebrating we did for Mardi Gras last weekend, in Soulard, but I felt that going to the Grand Parade today with the kids was a little too crazy from what I had been hearing. At least, I would feel more comfortable with another adult escort, like Chris, with us. This is Chris's on week though, so she is not available. I had heard that Soulard on Mardi Gras was no place for kids, lest they get an early anatomy lesson. I disagree with that idea. I can not think of a better real world example to teach human anatomy to my kids. Learning through experience has always been a better way of educating than an institutionalized method, I argued. Either way, my excuse for skipping it had more to do with the sheer volume of people and traffic in the area. Instead of going down to Soulard to watch the parade, we decided to get a king cake