The Christmans: New Orleans

Happy Spring Break! The last one for us until... we don't know when :)

So we decided to make it big! We drove to New Orleans (5-6hours). Here are some of the highlights we had... they are not in order...

We went and visited a plantation. It was so much fun to have a tour of the house and learn the history. This house at one point had 22 kids living in it! Eleven in one half and eleven in the other! We visited the little wooden shacks in the field where the slaves had lived. They were so little for the number of people who lived there. It made me grateful for how comfortable my apartment is.

We enjoyed a swamp tour. It was pretty cold and windy and so we didn't see any alligators... except the one they had brought on the boat for everyone to hold! We still loved it. The water was so smooth and calm and reflected the beautiful swamp trees. The birds flying over the water without any sound were amazing to watch. And again, it was fun to hear some of the background to the swamp there and the different culture that those who live there share.

There was a statue alligator near the bank by the swamp boat. Clair, Caleb, and Lexie enjoyed filling the mouth with rocks.

Here is our family with the baby alligator. Caleb LOVED it! We had to stop him from poking it's eyes out. Clair on the other hand was content to hang back and watch Caleb. (after watching sleeping beauty she isn't into the whole alligator/lizard/dinasour/dragon thing... another example of this to come)

At the very beginning of our trip we stopped to visit Jason's Aunt. She lives in the most adorable little log home.

The kids did great in the car! A lot better than I thought they would.

Most of the trip was planned with activities that the kids didn't find as exciting as Jason and I and so on

Wednesday we went to the zoo with our friends. Clair and Caleb loved the carosel. I think Caleb was sleep deprived because he was super cuddly and tired the entire day.

They thought this statue was so neat.

They had a little discovery walk where they had animals to pet and learn about. Caleb loved it. Touched the lizard, snake, turtle, rat... again Clair was happy to watch.

This was the kids favorite... riding the ducks.

white alligator!

Clair was super nervous in the dinasour exibit.

The dinasours where robotic so their heads, hands and eyes moved. This is a picture of Jaosn trying to get a picture of Clair and her almost jumping off of his shoulders to get away from the "dragon."

This dinasour was the worst. After Clair saw the alligator dinasour she was hyperventalating and ready to turn and run.

Beignets, jambalaya, and gumbo were the main "southern" food we wanted to try during our stay.

We found a great little resteraunt in the French Quarter that we were able to order hot chocolate and beignets for breakfast.

beignets are VERY messy!

We enjoyed visiting the cathedral in the French Quarter. It was beautful and so neat to feel the spirit inside in contrast with all the crazy going on outside.

The First night we stayed in what's called a, "shot-gun house." We stayed with a young lady named, Megan. Pretty much we rented her front room which had been made into a bedroom. Clair thought it was so neat. It did make me a little nervous at first. In the morning when the sun was shining again I felt a lot safer.

The Jazz music was my favorite. We were even able to catch a little of a free concert.

And we also did a bus tour of New Orleans. That was fun. It gave us a better idea of what there was to do. Clair and Caleb lasted listening to the tour for about, oh... 10 seconds :)

It was super nice going with our friends. We were able to watch their little girl one night while they went out together and then we switched on the next night. Jason and I went to a classy resteraunt called the Palm Court Jazz restaurant. The food was wonderful, especially the pecan pie, and the live band was amazing!

This was a privately owned plantation we drove past just to see the mile long drive way lined with trees.