New Orleans Here we Come

When Taylor's dad first suggested the south we were all a little surprised. It does fit the basic criteria of being warm and having golf courses, but we weren't sure what else we'd find. He really wanted to support the Gulf Region after the recent oil spill.

One of the first suggestions made was that we HAD to make a trip to New Orleans. And since it was just 3 hours away we decided to brave a 1 night road trip in the middle of the big trip even though Taylor wasn't around.

We spent the first afternoon walking around the city but unfortunately arrived at each of our kid friendly destinations (aquarium/children's museums) just 10 minutes before each closed. There might have been some tantrums and unhappy children- especially after JUST missing the first and promising the second. Okay so there might have been lots of tantrums and sobbing. But who can blame them. It's slightly cruel to dangle toys, freedom to run and play, fish, and even sharks in front of them and then not deliver. A lovely walk through the French Quarter didn't improve their mood but getting picked up in the van by Aunt Barb sure did... and then dinner and TV at the hotel helped too.

One funny story I have to record in case it isn't written somewhere else. When we visited Portugal, Ethan was 3 1/2 and Isaac was barely 1. We brought a single stroller for Isaac but Ethan had to walk the whole time. And we did a LOT of walking- through towns, through castles, along the beach, you get the picture. And Ethan was a trooper. But you could tell when he was getting tired and hungry because he'd just start dragging himself along- literally you'd see his feet start to drag. And as soon as we'd stop and feed him and get his blood sugar back in check, he'd start saying things like "I love you guys" "This place is really fun" and always in this sugary sweet glazed over grin. Totally hilarious. New Orleans was the same except it was both Ethan and Isaac walking miles from place to place around town. And funny to see how a little food goes a long way with little bellies.

That night Taylor's dad volunteered to watch the kids while I went out on the town with the rest of the adults. New Orleans is AMAZING!!! Burbon street is a little over the top but the rest of the French Quarter and surrounding town is just neat. We window shopped and sampled ben-yeahs (yep I totally slaughtered the spelling on that but I think my spelling is more appropriate anyways because every mouthful was like a little yeah!), ate gumbo and forgot to take many pictures. Oh well, I guess that means I'll just have to take Taylor back some day. Such a hardship!

Because I felt so bad about torturing the boys the previous day, I made sure we went to the Children's Museum even though the rest of the adults were going to do more shopping and sight seeing. This museum definitely didn't disappoint. Here Ethan is encasing himself in a giant bubble. Miles was happy I was so intested in Ethan's bubble and taking pictures so he could sneak away and eat the bubble solution on the table. Lovely!

Isaac enjoyed the train table (although again wouldn't open his eyes for the picture).

They had an amazing baby/toddler area that I wish Salt Lake's Children's Museum would copy.
And even though Ethan is way too big for this stuff he enjoyed building bridges and forts and then climbing and toppling them.

He NEVER sets foot in the boring baby area in Salt Lake which makes watching 3 of them solo just a bit tricky. So it was nice he was so excited to play here while Miles...

played here... He seriously spent almost a half hour climbing up the different sides into the center and then back out again.

And he tried out his first slide with Ethan's help.

After enough time in the baby area we ventured out to the grocery store where Ethan and Isaac would have stayed forever.

But Miles was too destructive (imagine a kid in a candy store- except Miles doesn't even need candy to get that giddy- just tons of shelves with tons of plastic toys at his eye level he can grab and then drop when he sees something he'd rather have, grab and drop, grab and drop, you get the jist).

So we moved on to the appropriate boat and ferry section where you could drive, ride in, slide through, haul freight, and general love riverboats.

We'd have stayed all day, but there was lots of family to see so Grandpa came and got us. We sat outside the aquarium for a while enjoying the 75 degree weather and took the time to call Taylor who informed us that Salt Lake got 2 feet of snow that morning and it dumped fast enough that one of his cousins and even his uncle got stuck and had to abandon their cars. Ahh, we love Christmas trips! We had snacks and the boys chased pigeons around. Tragically cute Mack played with the boys and picked Ethan up on his shoulders only to discover that he had stepped in something less than lovely which was now smeared on his white t-shirt. Poor good uncle!

L to R Ethan, Clint, Barb, Miles, Sam, Mack, Jeff, Sonia, Arty, Esther. Who knows where Isaac is? I sure didn't. He wandered off SEVERAL times on this trip even with 9 adults trying to corral that ball of energy.Sometimes I'm sad my kids won't have cousins their age on Taylor's side of the family, but then they get days like this where it's 3 kids on 9 adults and they get chased and played with and swung through the streets.

And I think maybe cousins are overrated when your aunts and uncles are so much fun.

We had lunch at a little diner just to experience what the locals eat and then drove back while the boys took naps in the car. Of course being Woodburys, we stopped for dinner at a fine Scottish diner McDonald's. Bizarrely we found a newly constructed one that had these computer screens bolted to random tables and the computers had hundreds of games on them to play.

This is when 9 adults and 3 little boys turned into ALL little boys- except for Sonia and I who chased Miles around since no one would give up their computer to a 14 month old.

A good way to end a good mini-trip.