Quick Trip to the Bayou

Papa was off on a business trip, or as Jetu told the lovely couple sitting next to us at brunch one Sunday afternoon, "I have a Papa too; he's on vacation by hisself." Gigs was circulating through his southern shipbuilding customers for 2 weeks with a weekend layover in New Orleans. The girls and I (well I) made a last-minute decision on Wednesday that we'd all head down for the weekend to celebrate Papa's birthday and use an airline credit that I had for an unused ticket. We ended up leaving Thursday afternoon after school and coming home late Sunday evening. Despite Mama's ongoing recovery from gall bladder surgery 2 weeks prior, Jetu waking up 10 times crying the first night, a bad airport sandwich resulting in Mama having a rough 36-hour bout of food poisoning, Nebyat's cold setting in Saturday, 4 flights with 2 kids on my own, a very minor fender bender on the way home from the airport, and one dead fish with full funeral flushing upon arrival, we had an absolutely fabulous time, and I'm not even being facetious.

On Friday, Papa and the girls enjoyed the Children's museum and some good times while Mama slept and slept and.... slept (I'll leave out the gory details). Nebyat decided they would eat dinner in the room and watch a movie since Mama couldn't go with them to dinner. They both very much enjoyed the museum, Nebyat wanted to go back there the next day. They apparently hung out with some true Cajuns and had a really good time.

On Saturday, Mama was feeling well enough to venture out with the family and we walked to Jackson Square, had beignets and hot chocolates.





The painted street performers and musicians entertained the girls.



We walked over to Fulton Street where they had a lovely walkway with [pretend] snow falling on the hour and beautifully decorated Christmas trees.






The girls had a great time at the Christmas parade which fed Nebyat's love for getting stuff! She could barely walk home with all the beads she caught and was given.





We rested for a short period before walking around the corner to Tommy's for a fancy dinner.





The girls shared a Caesar Salad (their fave) and some Shrimp Linguini with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Mama & Papa had delicious veal dishes and shared a bottle of wine and creme brule for dessert. The girls exercised their best princess manners right up until after dinner when Jetu broke the quiet hum of the gathering diners by asking the waiter loudly whether they had a potty. After the requisite 20 minutes in the restaurant bathroom (whole 'nother post about never being able to enjoy a meal out without spending 20 minutes in the restroom with one or likely both girls?), we headed out and walked back to Fulton Street for a quick peak at the big, red elf and some real reindeer. The kids slept deeply and fairly long after a day like that!



On Sunday, we had breakfast and then took a taxi to Jackson Square to hire a horse and carriage for a tour of the historic French quarter. Nebyat basically traded a visit to the aquarium for taxi, trolley, carriage rides. I know the aquarium would have been awesome, but quite frankly she's a little burnt out as we live within walking distance of the Virginia Aquarium for which we have a family membership and therefore visit frequently. We didn't fit the trolley ride in; I figured we'd ride on the trolley bus that goes down to the oceanfront at home and she wouldn't really know the difference.





On the way to the airport, Mike and I made it a point to visit the one neighborhood where we served on a short-term mission trip a couple of years ago building houses. It was really nice to see homey touches on the homes we helped with and see that they were being well loved and well cared for. The neighborhood looked like it was turning for the positive somewhat, there was more hope there where there may have seemingly been little to none at the time of our previous visit.



The girls and I made it there and back without even a delay, I was shocked. They were very well-behaved and several people commented on how good they were while travelling. Overall, they were very good and it was a great trip! Papa will be home from his 'vacation-all-by-hisself' on Thursday night or Friday and will be sorely missed until then.