New Orleans Road Trip

Last weekend, our free weekend in between graduations, all our family members were out of town for various reasons. So instead of staying in Houston by ourselves, we decided to visit Adam's grandpa, who lives about an hour outside of New Orleans.

 

It's a six-hour drive from Houston and we were a little worried about how Claire would handle being confined to her car seat for such a long time. Because we haven't taken a road trip since she was five months old and because she's been experiencing a lot of motion sickness recently. But we borrowed Adam's parents' SUV, which seems to greatly improve her carsickness because she can see out the front window much better. And we stopped every two hours {for lunch, to run around at a welcome center, and then for dinner as soon as we arrived} which mostly seemed to keep boredom at bay.

 

At the welcome center, we tried to recreate this picture from last summer:

 

Claire was just about equally thrilled this year:



But, she was a big fan of the red beans and rice she had for dinner that night. Apparently she's Cajun at heart!

 

The next day, we went to Sunday Mass. We later found out that one of Adam's cousins was there and recognized us, but was very confused since she didn't know we were visiting and didn't get a chance to say hello. Slightly embarrassing since Claire was in true crazy toddler form at Mass and during the Liturgy of the Eucharist might have crawled under the pew and tried to take off the shoes of the people sitting in front of us...
 

We had lunch with Adam' grandpa {Claire's middle name, Camille, is in honor of his late wife} and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the French Quarter. We saw all the big sights, like St. Louis Cathedral.

 

And a {surprisingly good!} middle school jazz band.

 

 

We let Claire run around in Jackson Square for a while.





And we ended the excursion with beignets from Cafe du Monde.







On Monday, we had lunch with Adam's grandpa at his retirement community. Did I mention he just turned ninety-two?! Claire seriously considered stealing his scooter...
 

Here are Claire and her great-grandfather last summer:

  

 

And here they are this year:

 

 

We spent the afternoon at Oak Alley, a gorgeous plantation lined with the prettiest live oak trees.

 

 

I couldn't narrow it down to just one picture! Claire insisted on walking down the whole path herself.

  

She needed a couple breaks to play with our empty cup of lemonade. Of course.

 

A family picture:

 

And a family picture from a different perspective:

 

Claire's feet, Daddy's feet. Where are Mommy's feet? Kind of crazy at only eighteen weeks. This baby doesn't mess around.

 

Oak Alley is halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rogue, so we went ahead and spent the night in Baton Rogue, since it's already on the way back to Houston. Claire slept really well in the hotels {much better than our recent-ish experiences in Pittsburgh and Victoria}. Thank goodness. We spent a little extra for suites and it was awesome not to have to hang out in the bathroom or something after she fell asleep. Once we were all packed up and ready to hit the road in the morning, we realized that Claire was missing a shoe. We looked everywhere and may have got a tad frustrated before realizing it was in the trash can. I wonder who could have put it there?

 

We made the rest of the drive on Tuesday and are back in Houston soaking up the last few days with our family and friends. Overall, it was a great trip and we are so glad to have reunited Claire and her dear great-grandfather!