This was our ride for the next week and a half. We rented this van and I'm so glad because we had 4 kids, 2 adults and loads of stuff. We wanted to be comfortable and not be crammed into my SUV.
And away we go!
We made it to New Orleans at about 3, checked into our hotel, got settled, rested and then headed out to dinner. We tried boudin sausage balls and it was yummy. We've never had boudin before.
After that, we decided to walk around Bourbon Street. We had to get some beads of course!
The kids really enjoyed the experience, I think. They liked watching the street performers. Mark was surprised to see kids out there trying to make money. I couldn't believe he picked up on that. He also didn't enjoy the smells of New Orleans. Haha. He kept telling us that it smelled horrible and when we left New Orleans he said that he was glad to be getting out because he couldn't stand the smell.
The next morning, we went to Cafe Beignet for breakfast. It took a lot of goading to get this picture. Michael was upset about something, but I don't remember what. UPDATE: I remember. He got his device taken away for lying about brushing his teeth. Matthew got his taken away too, but he took it better than Michael (totally normal).
This little guy enjoyed his beignet...
Michael was still upset so he refused to be in this picture.
After breakfast, we walked over to the St. Louis Cemetery but couldn't get in without a tour. Boo. So we headed out to visit the Aquarium which was next on our agenda.
We hung out by the waters for a little bit until the Aquarium opened.
We had a lot of fun exploring. I still think that nothing beats the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but we really enjoyed it here.
This boy loves his Daddy.
After the aquarium, we headed out to get some lunch. Michael made a friend on the way there. A dragonfly landed on him.
Fried chicken for lunch.
Next on our list? The Insectarium. Not something I was looking forward to, but the boys wanted to go. I would have preferred the zoo.
I actually enjoyed it! My favorite was watching the leaf cutter ants work. It was like watching a very efficient assembly line - there were cutters and carriers. So cool.
The kids loved the butterfly garden. They spent most of the time in there trying to get the butterflies to land on them. We left when they started to get a little rowdy.
We walked back to our hotel and got ready to go to dinner. We had dinner at one of Emeril Lagasse's restaurant. It was nice and the boys behaved (mostly).
We walked over to get treats after dinner and that was a perfect end to our day in New Orleans.
