New Orleans: Vol 1

We're home. Safe and sound. What a time we had. Zac and I had a brief visit to New Orleans about five years ago. We still enjoyed all the French inspired architecture. This time was a different experience, however. Zac had a conference to attend for the better part of our week days. And a focus on the family friendly attractions was necessary this trip. We found many, more than we expected.

I guess we all underestimated the heat of New Orleans in June. It was HOT and HUMID! You felt it the moment you set foot out the door. We joked of all the water weight we were losing, but not sure we ever became accustom to the always sweaty feeling.

Again, we felt blessed to have one of my sisters traveling with us. So nice for me to not have to spend all my days on vacation alone with two littles. We also felt blessed to have a suite to stay in. The separate bedroom was wonderful for getting the usual nap and bed times accomplished. Key to avoiding the lack of sleep melt downs from our little lady.

This was possibly the least planned trip we've taken so far. Life was a bit busy prior to our departure so planning activities were pushed back time and again. Yet this was possibly our most active trip and great fun was had all by all.

I've decided, for my sake, to post some of our pictures in multiple posts. Save picture overload.

: : Our lay over in Chicago, the two first time fliers - Olly and Calder, with our seasoned flier and a large dinosaur statue : :

: : Jackson Square - With cathedral and statue of our 7th president, Andrew Jackson : :

: : On the terrace between Jackson Square and the Mississippi River. Zac and I have a picture in the same spot from our first visit : :

: : On our walk to the French Market Piper found a nice lady to pose with and pretended to eat fruit from her basket. Don't touch - she was hot! : :

: : Piper meets the pigeons and our bird lover worked hard to identify them for the rest of the trip : :

: : Sweet Calder adapted nicely to taking a hot nap in the stroller or on my back in the mei tei : :

: : We like to seek out the children's museums where ever we go. How lucky for us that this one was two, yes two, blocks from our hotel! Piper tried to talk us into going there on three separate occasions : :