New Orleans Road Trip - Day 6

We decided last night that today would be our last day in New Orleans. So we packed up this morning and headed down to Cafe du Monde for some beignets. I am SO glad we went, because they were AMAZING! If you've never had beignets, they are basically square donuts covered in powdered sugar. Can you imagine the mess that ensued? If not, I have pictures.

After our beignets, we headed down to the Audubon Zoo. We picked the perfect day... barely anyone there and beautiful weather! We were able to do the whole zoo in about 4 hours. The kids had a great time and really enjoyed seeing all the animals, especially the alligators.

They were most excited about the Dinosaur Adventure, but we only made it about 2 minutes before they got scared and we turned around. Luckily we were able to get a refund.

After the zoo, we headed to the Camellia Grill. It was early for dinner (not even 4 pm), so the place was practically empty. Josh got an omelet and I got a cheeseburger. He got a cherry freeze and I got a chocolate one. Yummy!

And now, we're in Lafayette, LA for the night. We're headed to Dallas first thing tomorrow before we go back to Kansas City.

Josh's side of the story is here.

Things I learned today:

1. Beignets are amazing AND messy

2. Even at the zoo, my kids are happiest when playing on the playground

3. There are not nearly enough bathrooms at the Audubon Zoo

4. Little kids seriously can't understand that the dinosaurs ARE NOT REAL. We discussed this several times before going into the Dinosaur Adventure exhibit.

5. Even if they say they won't be scared of the dinosaurs, they WILL be scared of the dinosaurs.

6. The hardest times of any road trip day are first thing in the morning (trying to keep the kids occupied while we get ready and pack up) and bedtime (trying to get them to stop jumping on the beds and calm down to go to sleep).

7. Lia loves omelets.

8. It costs money to park you car pretty much anywhere in New Orleans, but not at the zoo.

9. If you share your milkshake with 3 kids, it becomes a low-fat, low-calorie milkshake due to the fact that you only get 4 sips.

Umm, heaven on plate...

Ava said she wanted a pet elephant. I took a video below.

I liked these vines and the way the light was coming through.

I also like the way Ava was coming through the vines :)

Lia totally thought this was her milkshake.

Lia shared some of daddy's omelet and she really loved it.

This is what happens every night when we check into our hotel room...

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 5

So today was a better day than yesterday :) . We got up and decided to head down to City Park. So we drove downtown, parked in a garage, and walked down to the streetcar stop. We got on the Canal Street line at the very end and rode the streetcar all the way to City Park at the other end of the line. Max and Ava were super excited to ride the streetcar... Lia, not so much.

We got off at the main entrance to City Park and started walking. It's a HUGE park, so we knew we'd be walking a lot. Now, City Park is really cool because it's very pretty, has an awesome playground, an amusement park, an old time carousel, a place called Storyland with big things to climb on, a sculpture garden, trains that run around the perimeter, and probably more stuff I'm forgetting.

Unfortunately for us, we only got to enjoy the beautiful scenery and the playground. Everything else was closed. I know I've said this before, but it's a good thing my kids are so little. They loved the playground so much that they were okay with the fact that we didn't get to do anything else. So our trip to the playground was an expensive one... almost $55 between lunch, parking, and fare for the streetcar... yikes! But at least all the playing and running around wore out the kids.

After our City Park adventure, we hopped back on the streetcar and got off near Bourbon Street. We decided we wanted to walk around the area for a bit and take in some of the city. The kids enjoyed the street performers and Josh almost got ripped off by a guy on the street claiming he could guess where Josh bought his shoes.

Luckily, a friend (thanks Kelley!) warned me of this very thing and I yelled, "No! Keep walking Josh!". I didn't want to pay him $20 or be harassed.

So we kept walking and stopped off in a little store off Decatur St that sells Mardi Gras masks. $2.99 each or 3 for $7.99... that's my kind of deal! Well, Max wanted one that looked like Anakin and Ava wanted one like Max. So we ended up getting some that were more expensive (but still on sale :) . They wore the masks for about 5 minutes... go figure.

After that, we decided to get going out of there. Josh and I were both a little nervous about being in a strange place and I was sure someone would try to steal one of my kids.

So we got in the car and started driving East, just to see what we might find. Word to the wise... East of New Orleans, it looks like Kansas... flat land and cows.

Tomorrow we are heading to the zoo, then we're going to do a couple other things on our list and head out somewhere else. Maybe Baton Rouge. Maybe San Antonio. We don't know yet. Any thoughts?

Josh's side of the story is here.

Things I learned today:

1. You should ALWAYS find out what days and hours all the attractions you want to see are open. It really sucks to get somewhere and fid out they are closed... especially when you already told your kids where you were going.

2. Bring extra socks. Ava stepped in a huge puddle of water and soaked one of her socks. I gave her one of mine, but then my foot was cold.

3. Downtown New Orleans is not really a place for kids. I couldn't believe how many photos of half-naked women we saw in the windows of almost every shop! Luckily, my kids are little and they really didn't notice.

4. My kids will find a way to turn anything into Star Wars. Max saw a jet today leaving a streak in the sky. He proclaimed, "All the Southwest airplanes are Jedi cruisers and all the other airplanes are bad guys. Rocket ships in the sky are escape pods". When they got their masks, Max said his was an Anakin mask and Ava's was an Ahsoka mask.

5. 45 degrees is warmer than the temps in KC right now, but it's still pretty chilly. I'm wishing it was about 80 degrees.

6. Don't bring 24 on DVD to watch while you're on vacation. It would be amazing to go to bed early every night, but instead we've been up waiting to find out how season 5 ends.

Max was eager for the streetcar to pick us up.

I love these next 3 images. They are SO my kids. Lia's eating a cookie so she will sit still, Ava's trying to steal her cookie, and Max is just chilling.

Now, they're trying to behave.

And now I'm a bad guy and they must destroy me!

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 4

So today was kind of a bust. We should have seen the warning signs. Lia woke up this morning after sleeping for nearly 12 hours last night and she was GRUMPY. She pretty much cried and screamed about everything. But we ventured out anyway. We decided to head to the Insectarium today since it was still cold. The kids had a good time, but pretty much had a meltdown about 2/3 of the way through.

We decided to walk around downtown for awhile and find something to eat. We made it about a block before the kids were fussing about being cold. So we ducked into a local cafe for a late breakfast. Well, apparently they don't serve breakfast after noon. So we loaded up and headed back to the hotel so everyone could take a nap. After we got up more rested but still grumpy, we decided to go do something, anything. First stop was get the kiddos some dinner at KFC. Well, by the time we got the food, it was almost dark. Defeated, we headed back to the hotel.

In a last ditch effort to save the day from complete failure, we decided to have a Star Wars battle/jump-a-thon on the two full size beds that occupy our hotel room. Luckily, we weren't so loud that we got kicked out. And it did seem to make the kids happier. So, I'm hoping we aren't the only family who has bad days on vacation... Somebody leave me a comment and let me know we aren't alone!

Click here for Josh's side of the story.

Things I learned today:

1. Max remembers everything. Last summer, we were on a walk one day and he asked me what dragonflies eat. This was shortly after I got my iPhone, and Max's favorite thing was to ask me questions and when I didn't know the answer, he would say, 'Look it up on your iPhone.' So, we looked up what dragonflies eat: insects. When we saw dragonflies at the insectarium today, he proudly exclaimed, 'dragonflies eat insects!'

2. Even though it was almost 40 degrees today, that is still 'Cold!' to the kids.

3. Just because there is a chalkboard sign outside of a restaurant proudly proclaiming all the yummy things they serve for breakfast does not mean that they actually serve breakfast all day.

4. In the older part of downtown New Orleans, all the buildings are really old and shutters cover the windows and doors. Some buildings are apartment/townhomes and some are bars. We saw some shops and restaurants too, but mostly bars. When all the shutters are closed, it looks like the town is empty. It's very different from Kansas City, but I love the character of all the old buildings.

5. In downtown New Orleans, it's literally a matter of a couple of blocks distance between the old part that has such neat buildings and the newer part that is all skyscrapers.

6. The insectarium was cool, but is probably better for older kids. Thankfully, we bought the all-in-one passes, so it didn't cost us much to get it. If we had paid full price, it would have been $50 and I don't think we got $50 worth of entertainment out of it.

7. Jumping on the bed is all it takes to turn a crappy day into an okay one. The kids probably had as much fun jumping on the beds tonight as they have doing anything else we've done here.

These were REAL bugs for sale to EAT! GROSS!!

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 3

Well, thankfully last night, all the Solars slept better. We got up early this morning and headed due South to New Orleans. The drive from Jackson, MS to New Orleans, LA is pretty much one highway with trees surrounding it on both sides for most of the way. And not the kind of trees we have in Kansas City. Tall, tall skinny trees. And TONS of them. I got the feeling that we were driving on a road carved out in the middle of a forest. But, as we drove further and further South, the temperature slowly crept up. By the time we got to New Orleans, it was ABOVE freezing! Woohoo! It's been a long time.

When we first got here, we headed straight downtown. Josh and I were both a little overwhelmed by all the one-way streets, people everywhere, streetcars, nowhere to park, etc. In a moment of despair, we decided to head straight to the aquarium. Before we left Kansas City, we bought an all-in-one pass to the Zoo, Aquarium, Insectarium, and Imax.

The aquarium was awesome! The kids really enjoyed it, especially Lia who kept pointing at everything, saying, 'Fish! Turtle!' There were lots of jellyfish, turtles, sharks, fish, sea otters, penguins, frogs, and of course a playground and many gift shops. We spent a couple of hours there and everyone had a great time. The kids even got new pirate swords at the gift shop (as if we have a shortage of swords around our house).

After the aquarium, we drove around the downtown area a bit and up and down Bourbon Street before heading to the hotel to call it a night.

Josh's side of the story here.

Things I learned today:

1. My kids favorite part of any attraction is the gift shop. (Well, I guess I already knew that one!)

2. It's impossible to find anywhere to park in downtown New Orleans.

3. It's even more impossible to find a bathroom in downtown New Orleans when you can't park anywhere and there are two kids in the backseat screaming, "I have to go potty NOW!"

4. I told Max he could have anything he wanted for dinner. He said shell macaroni. I always wondered why anybody would pay $1.59 for a microwaveable bowl of macaroni and cheese. Now I know.

5. Ava wants to learn how to skateboard when she gets bigger. We saw some kids skateboarding outside the aquarium and Max & Ava were amazed.

6. Lia almost thinks she's in a separate room and will go to sleep great if you push her pack n play to the corner of the room and block it off with the bathroom door or that door that's in between two rooms so you can adjoin them. Putting her right next to the bed so she can literally stand up and smack you is not a good place.

7. In a city full of amazing fresh seafood, my husband wants to eat a Belgian waffle for dinner. I guess that doesn't surprise me :)

8. Max learned that jellyfish will sting you from watching Spongebob. And who says cartoons aren't educational?



Oop! Apparently I only took a few photos today, so these are Josh's!





Lia plays peekaboo... and listen carefully at the end... she say I love you :)


Now a bunch of videos from the aquarium












After a long day, Lia was tired...

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 2

We're ALMOST there. Today was a lot of driving... it's hard to get out and do stuff along the way when it's SO cold. So we drove from Springfield, MO to Memphis, TN to Jackson, MS today. We made a pit stop at the Parachute Inn for lunch. They have a giant Southwest airplane with seating inside for lunch. Well, the airplane part was closed due to cold weather. The kids did enjoy watching the ducks swim in the fountain of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Thankfully though, we're now at our hotel in Jackson and all three kids are asleep. We should be in New Orleans and into warmer weather by lunchtime tomorrow. And I saw that the low for tonight in KC is -14 degrees. No thanks.

Don't forget to follow Josh's side of the story here.

Things I learned today:

1. If you leave stuff in the car overnight when it's ridiculously cold outside, it will freeze. That includes special k bars, V8, and baby wipes.

2. Lia is probably getting too old to sleep in the pack n play. She was up most of the night last night.

3. Lia is not a good co-sleeper. In a moment of desperation, I put her in the bed with me to sleep. She's a wiggler like Ava and still didn't sleep a long time.

4. My kids really don't know the difference between a successful visit to a tourist spot and a bust. Josh was unimpressed by the Peabody ducks, but the kids thought it was awesome that there were ducks in the fountain INSIDE the hotel.

5. My kids love the simple things in life... running up and down the hallways of an expensive hotel screaming at the top of their lungs, having two beds in our hotel room so they can jump back and forth, m&m's from the gas station.

6. Max & Ava laugh hysterically every time they watch videos of themselves on our iPhones. They can be entertained for quite some time doing this.

Lia hates socks. Here she is trying desperately to get these off :)

And she's out... we had a long night last night, so she needed this nap!

Remember these dinos from our Colorado trip?

Here's Max & Ava watching iPhone videos

Lia loves peanut butter and jelly and making a mess

But mostly Lia loves doing whatever Max and Ava do. She thinks she's a big girl,
but I know she's still a baby...

Max's video of the Peabody ducks

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 1

This cold weather sucks. And we've officially had enough of it. This is our first winter with no other jobs besides photography. That means we have a lot of flexibility in our schedule. And lucky for us, that also means we can load up the car and leave for a week without any problems. We were going to leave in a couple days, but I was out running errands this morning and called Josh. I said, "Let's leave today." He said okay. We packed everything up, loaded up the van, and headed out of snowy, freezing cold Kansas City. Of course, it was about 3:30 pm by the time we left our house, so we only made it to Springfield, but that's fine. We're 2 1/2 hours closer to warm weather :)

Don't forget to follow Josh's side of the story here.

New to the road trip blogs... iPhone videos!!

And, because I so enjoyed this segment from my Colorado blogging...
Things I learned today:

1. It's possible to get stuck in snow in your own cul-de-sac literally minutes after you announce, "We're going to New Orleans! Who's excited?!". P.S. Our HOA sucks and they apparently refuse to plow our street.

2. If you offer Lia a bite of your sandwich, she will assume you are giving her your sandwich. Don't expect to get it back.

3. Summer road trips are more fun than winter road trips because it gets dark SO early in the winter.

4. It sucks when it's so cold that you have to bundle up everyone just to go into the gas station to go potty.

5. Max always says he is tired and wants to go to the hotel to go to bed. I'm convinced that he is straight up lying. As soon as we get into our room, he starts running around like a madman and jumping from one bed to the other.

6. One hotel room + 2 parents + 3 kids is not an equation for fun. 1 1/2 is not a good age to try to sleep in a pack n play while your older brother and sister talk, giggle, wiggle, and jump on the bed.

7. Ee makes amazing chocolate chip cookies... and she always sends WAY too many... I'm supposed to be on a diet!

8. The leapsters were worth every penny!

Oh, there's my sandwich!

Gimme back my sandwich please!