Throw me somethin', mister! (Mardi Gras)

[nola.ron]

First full weekend of mardi gras has passed and I THINK out of the 300 or so snaps I took, these 2 may be keepers. C&C appreciated. I'm still learning

1. This girl was HILARIOUS! She was so thrilled that I was snapping away at her lol. Got the beads too!

Throw Me Somethin' Mister by nola-ron, on Flickr

2. I feel like this one needed more breathing room to the left side in the direction of flight, but I couldn't crop it that way because of the float. I had to do some cloning here to get even this to work.

Throw me Somethin' Mister 2 by nola-ron, on Flickr

 

[sm4him]

The cloning job on the second needs a little help; because of those wispy white clouds, it's fairly obvious that there's a big blue blob around the beads that's been "dropped in" to the picture.
I stink at cloning, so there's no point in my trying to post a helpful little "edit" for you, as it would probably not be much better.

I don't have much advice for you, I'm afraid, on the pictures themselves either. I like the second one better than the first, because for me it's clearer what's going on in that one.
Did you take any that show more of the overall mayhem that is a Mardi Gras parade?