Big Easy Living

 Our time in New Orleans really was TOO short.  After our half a day on Saturday and full day on Sunday, all we had left was Monday and then Tuesday morning.  And since my mom had to be at work both of those days, us siblings banded together to squeeze out a little more fun before our time together ended. 

Monday morning featured a run to City Park to eat some beignets, let the kids run around and play, and allow me and Emily to meet up with a friend of hers from high school.  An added bonus was a totally random run-in with my cousin and his wife, who I had been bummed about missing when we visited Thibodaux the day before!  Such a crazy small world!  The kids LOVED running around in the sweaty heat, playing on the playground and climbing all over the giant Live Oaks that are a signature of City Park scenery.  Although I guess I should say all the kids except for Ethan.  Let's just say he was not quite as excited to be there with "nothing to do" and "no one to play with."  Apparently the appeal of playing with HIS siblings lost it's shine very early on in the trip.  Hahaha.  Nevertheless, we made the most of our time there that morning before heading back to my mom's apartment to eat some lunch.

Chasing ducks!

I'm not quite sure why Jane was so upset here, but it took her a while to get over it.

And apparently the beignets helped.  :)

Oh Jane.  That lip snarl is her new favoritest trick.

The young'ens -- Jacob and Amy.

My cousin Brody and his wife Abbie.

Do you see that heart in the powdered sugar right there???  Hahaha.

And then there's Sophie, who technically shouldn't have been able to eat the beignets at all because there's dairy in them.  But she was willing to risk throwing up everywhere, and chowed down on some breakfast.  She DIDN'T have a reaction, so setting up an allergist appointment is at the top of my list of things to-do now that we're back home.  Perhaps she has outgrown some allergies!

Live Oak + Spanish Moss = Iconic Southern Louisiana

Me and my siblings played on these same trees when WE were kids.

Emily and Brittney

Hot and sweaty Alex.

Again with the grumpiness -- I'm not sure what Jane's problem was this morning.  I'm sure it can be tied into a general accumulation of sleep deprivation, combined with her round the clock breathing treatments.

After cooling off and relaxing at home for a bit, we ventured out in the afternoon for some snowballs and a ride on the streetcar.  Which in theory should have been lots of fun.  But in practice gave rise to the most aggravating portion of the day.  Although, to be clear, the aggravation was for me and Scott alone.  The kids were having a blast from start to obnoxious finish.  Hahaha. 

"Captain America" snowball.  I like how Alex has taken to ordering things that are not on menus.  Hahaha.  And I like even more how nice people are to customize made up options for him based on his love of superheroes.  :)

We set off for snowballs with Emily (and Pearce and Kate, of course) and Amy, and strike 1 against us was an immediate drenching of rain almost as soon as we pulled up to the stand!  Hahaha.  It's like the sky was just waiting for us to be all ready to go and then as soon as we got to our fun destination it went ahead and quite literally rained on our parade.  Boo!  The pouring rain didn't last VERY long, but it made for a wet and frustrating outing.  Also adding to the frustration was Strike 2 -- "Plum Street Snowballs" was NOT as good as I remembered it.  The flavors were good (although there was WAY too much syrup in it), but the ice was CRUNCHY.  That's not a snowball!  That's a snow cone!  Needless to say, I was quite disappointed.  I live for my fix of New Orleans snowballs when I come to town.  If we were there for longer, we would have hit up Pandora's -- which is usually my favorite joint -- for comparison, but time was short and this was all we could fit in.  The general consensus among all my kids, though, was that it was nowhere near as good as Paradise Ice.  And I must say I agree with them.  

Rainbow Twins

Pointing to the Captain America inspiration on his shirt.

The final strike of the afternoon came while riding on a Streetcar named Aggravation.  Or Annoyance.  Or whatever else you would want to call an outing with your 5 children who weren't listening and who were being all kinds of obnoxious during the majority of the ride.  It didn't help that we stayed on the streetcar a bit too long -- we were merely going for a ride, it's not like we were using it as transportation to go anywhere -- and by the time we hopped off closer to downtown, the car was PACKED.  

Before things got too bad.

My "a trip with kids is not a vacation" face.

Elephant's first streetcar ride.

The REAL frustration of the ride came while waiting (and waiting and waiting and waiting) for a return streetcar to come our way and take us back to our car.  Because we were on a busy street, I was worried the whole time that Jane or Alex would dart out and get hit by a car.  NOT the funnest hour of my life.  Thankfully, the older girls were able to entertain themselves (and Pearce) for the bulk of the time by playing some kind of hand game and then drawing on the sidewalk with pieces of clay they found on the ground.  Fun and messy times!

We finally got back on the streetcar, and Alex's face right here pretty much sums up how I was feeling at that point.  Hahahaha.  Especially since Grace and Sophie really dialed up the obnoxious factor while being jam-packed into that streetcar and deciding it was the perfect time to start "krumping" in the midst of all these other people who we didn't know.  I was pretty much done with our vacation at that point.  Haha.

Monday evening ended with one last full family outing (with mom, Amy, Jacob, and Emily, Pearce, and Kate) to a local pizza joint called Reginelli's {which was delicious}, and one last hangout at my mom's.  Emily and company left early the next morning, and we left right after an early lunch on Tuesday at my very favorite Camellia Grill.  Ironically, the LAST day in town was arguably the most enjoyable with my little crew.  Everyone was happy and in good moods, and fighting was at a minimum while we chowed down and prepared for leg 2 of our journey -- the Beach Trip.  

 Jane was the only child willing to humor me with a pose out in front.

 Our first attempt at a family selfie -- or "felfie" as we dubbed it over the course of the trip.  Hahahaha.  :)

 There's that lip again.  Hahaha.

 Me and my boys.

 And my girlie bugs.  :)

 Grace and Sophie turned into BFFs this trip.  Often at the expense of Jane, unfortunately.

And that was that!  We waved farewell to New Orleans while setting off on our next great adventure -- our very first BEACH vacation EVER.  Gulf Shores didn't know what was about to hit them.  :)

 On the road again...

...and oh so thrilled.  :)