Louisiana

Rick has been working on a very high priority project for a customer based out of Louisana. We have only seen him a handful of times over the last few weeks and so when it came time to deliver the parts to his customer, the kids and I tagged along and made a fun weekend out of it. It was great to have family time again...we've missed him like crazy and I know he is so relieved to have this project done. (We're talking getting up as early as 3am on some days and working until after midnight on most nights...talk about exhausted and stressed. For both of us, ha!)

This was the kids' first time to Louisiana and only my second. I decided it would be fun to get their picture in front of every "welcome to our state" sign they visit and make it into a scrapbook for them one day. So far they've only been to Oklahoma and Louisiana so we have a lot more ground to cover, but I'm feeling a lot of road trips in our future now that we're out of the baby phase. Here is their Louisiana picture. The official "welcome to Louisiana" sign was wayyy to close to the highway for my comfort so we settled for this banner at the state welcome center instead.

We dropped the dogs off at Mom & Tim's Thursday night. Poor Harrison was so upset to leave his puppies behind. He thought we were giving them away forever and begged us to bring them with us.

 
We weren't able to leave until Friday afternoon, so by the time we got to our B&B it was already dark. Tienna recommended that we try to get a reservation at the Oak Alley Plantation and I'm so glad she did. We stayed in the Doctor's Cottage which was a little house on the other side of the sugar cane field from the plantation. Which meant that we didn't have to worry about the kids being loud or rambunctious and we had a lot more space than a typical hotel room. Our cottage had flashlights since all guests have access to tour the property while staying there. Our little "night-time nature walk" was a big hit after being cooped up in the car for 6 hours.

Here are a few pics of our cottage I took before we checked out. It was such a charming little place:

front entrance

porch off bedroom

 

 

the kids loved this huge jacuzzi tub that all 4 of us fit in

Harper wanted me to take her picture and this is the pose she gave me when I told her to sit like a lady. Ha!

The next morning we got up early and explored the plantation. We didn't tour the Big House itself because it would have cost us extra and keeping two toddlers from touching antiques the entire time...yeah, no thanks. But we checked out the rest of the grounds and it was breathtakingly beautiful. The oak trees there are 300 years old and HUGE. It wasn't crowded at all and the kids loved being able to run and run and run. We also enjoyed a delicious complimentary breakfast at their restaurant...seriously so yum. A great start to our fun day.

I had to capture this picture of Rick photographing Harper. If it were left to him, I'm pretty sure we would own 3 or 4 pictures tops of our family because he just isn't a photo person and never even thinks about picking up a camera. But his baby girl owns a special place in his heart for sure. He looked over at her playing with a leaf and asked me for the camera and started clicking away. Sweet daddy. 

He said that she reminded him of a sweet southern belle...I can definitely see that :)

Harrison showing off his photography skills

Harper, with a "princess". This put a big smile on her face!

daddy's girl

garage with antique cars

slave quarters...so sad

reading up on historical facts :)

This made his day

After we left the plantation, we headed to New Orleans. My friend Brandy used to live there and gave us all kinds of great tips on where to stay and what to do and where to eat.

I had to laugh...driving through rural LA we saw a lot of funny things. 2 dollar stores next door to each other in the middle of nowhere. Ha!

Mississippi River

digging our new hotel room

it's the little things in life...

We spent the afternoon in the French Quarter. It was hot and crowded and not super stroller-friendly but it was neat to see. We did a lot of walking, stopped for lunch, and then finished with a trolley ride down St. Charles Street to see the old houses and Tulane and Loyola Universities. Lots of beautiful architecture. 

I had to take this picture! This is how Rick spells his name (except his has a lowercase R).

By the end of the day we had two tired kiddos on our hand. Harper asked me to hold her like a baby at dinner...and THAT'S how you know for sure she's tired. Ha! 

She was still tired the next morning. When we were checking out she climbed up on the lobby furniture and laid down. 

Before heading out of town we were obligated to stop by Cafe Du Monde for breakfast. Because how do you go to New Orleans and not get some scrumptious beignets?  Get. In. My. Belly.

Harrison represents what our whole family looked like at breakfast.

Very thankful for a fun getaway with my hubby and littles!