Louisiana Love

We've been waiting to take the boys home to Louisiana for a while now, but its been hard to find a window of time when they are with us for an extended period + it's not swelteringly hot down in Lala land. But one day, just before Easter, a mysterious letter showed up at our house inviting the boys on an adventure if they could guess where we were going. The boys guessed correctly and we were off early on Easter Sunday morning for New Orleans.

Day 1: We landed and promptly headed to the quarter to enjoy some local cuisine (fried gator, oysters, gumbo, hurricanes, etouffee) and then joined a walking ghost tour, after passing by a few Southern easter bunnies. Isaac scared the local tour guide more than he scared us, so we decided it best to leave and headed over to Cafe Du Monde for the boys (David too) to indulge in a full on sugar overdose.

David showing the boys the ropes.

Isaac properly beaded and in a sugar coma less than 3 hours of landing.

Day 2: We headed over to one of our favorites, Cafe Amelie (where David had his first sandwich in 7 years, a cochon de lait) only to learn the restaurant was still under renovation. We ended up in the owner Bonnie's living room and weren't sure if she was going to make a meal for us personally or what. Ha, she felt terrible and instead sent us on our way to Antoine's with a hug and a get a table anytime for life card at Cafe Amelie.

We met up with my dear friend from college Nichole and her three beautiful kiddos to lunch at Arnaud's and enjoy a riverboat tour on the Creole Queen. We learned from our charming and sassy riverboat tour guide that there were once beautiful mountains in New Orleans that drew people from all over the world! ;) We got to explore an old sugar plantation nearby where the battle of New Orleans occurred and walked through the Riverwalk and French Market where slaves were once auctioned; I'm glad slavery is such a foreign concept to them.

The kids hit it off and had a blast explorin' the mightly Missip together!

Looove these dear friends! p.s. Liam does not have a knife, it's a flip phone.

After a lovely day, we parted ways and headed Uptown to meet my dear friend Clare from college to tour her new house and enjoy supper at Gris Gris. We had a rooftop table with close up views of the many beads strung along the electric lines and trees off Magazine and enjoyed THE BEST bread puddin' I've ever had in my life. We will be back!

Day 3: We headed to Oak Alley plantation, just outside of New Orleans, to meet up with my Aunt Melinda to tour the grounds and enjoy a delicious cajun lunch. We walked through the big house and learned how plantations were run and toured slave quarters to see first hand the hardships they endured.

It was so good to see Aunt Mo and have her meet the boys. I even got her to show the boys the neck roll she taught me when dancing to "funky town" when I was 4. Isaac does a pretty mean caterpillar, but wouldn't show her this visit; maybe next time.

After our tour we sipped on the worst mint juleps (mocktails for the boys) that any of us had ever had AND Isaac ordered salad and collard greens on his own at lunch, and even enjoyed them!

We said our goodbyes to Aunt Mo and headed to our swamp tour to see some gators. Our tour guide was yet again charming, but our airboat kept breaking down and it turned cold so the gators were less active.

Though the boys didn't drive the airboat, they did get to eat the gator's marshmallows!

Gata' playa' hata'

We headed back to NOLA hungry and excited to meet dear friends Laura and Ryan for a multi-course feast at Marjie's grill, where I yet again overate to my heart's content!

Day 4: We slept in and then headed over to Rabbit's Foot, Ryan's market in the lower garden district that he opened last January; a dream come true many years in the making. When David and I headed home in November of 2021 the market was empty and had only just been painted. It was so cool to see it alive with people, Ryan's fresh baked goods, local artisan products, and more. We could feel the love and intention that they have put into the market, and especially felt it in Ryan's delicious homemade morning buns!

Afterwards we explored my old stomping grounds, Uptown, strolling down Magazine Street sharing old stories and then took the trolly down St. Charles to climb some trees in Audubon Park. It was an easy last day in the Big Easy that we all loved. Isaac even gained a little bit of a southern drawl!

Liam is almost as tall as I am now!

We all left with bellies full (Liam ate gumbo at every restaurant we went to) and I, per the usual, left with a happy and heavy heart heart after leaving this wonderful, sassy, messed up place that I love.

Next stop: Funroe and Laffy! Until next time, laissez les bons temps rouler!