In 2018 we took a little trip...

For nearly 5 years while living in Florida, Eric and I said we wanted to get to New Orleans for a visit.  We came really close one weekend, but cancelled at the last minute due to the weather forecasting torrential rains the entire time of our visit.

Then, we said we could still go while we live in Alabama.  It only added another 90 minutes to the overall drive time (4.5 hours up from 3 hours).  Now, being someone that does not like to spend money, my biggest hurdle was electing to spend the money.  A lot of my anxiety was calmed when we had a successful camping trip in November...why not just camp during our visit to New Orleans!

Granted, this added several more steps to the planning of the trip, which I happily passed off to my husband who has camped much more frequently and recently than I.  I did locate a campground after asking a friend for recommendations of family friendly places (read: with nice bathrooms).  Eric booked it, made some lists, and we headed out Saturday morning after Dom's basketball game. 

We go on a lot of road trips with our crew...and generally over pack.  This time, we left the house without any electronics except our cell phones.  Turned out it worked out really well.  We listened to music a lot of the way, a couple of naps were taken, and the kids took turns reading us excerpts from their books.  And, they were quite likely bored for good stretches...and still managed to survive to the campsite!!

It helped a great deal that we were extremely flexible with our itinerary and the kids were super excited to camp.  Per usual...I had the worst attitude.  Some of this was brought on my a bad sore throat I was nursing from the previous night, and some was just not being in my house.  I really like my house.

Eric was thrilled to share his knowledge of all things camping.  And I was thrilled to let him do everything by pleading ignorance on most things camping.  He used some non-verbal cues to let me know that my sitting at the picnic table while he set up the entire camp was not the best use of my time...so I found the bathrooms and confirmed that we would not need to dig our own latrine.  I'm a really useful engine.  I also found a few sticks for firewood.  You're Welcome!

The boys have gone on a few camp outs as Boy Scouts...correction: Webelos...and so they were not as clueless as their mom.  They at least tried to be helpful.  They really did.  But, as Yoda says: Do or Do Not...there is no Try!

And John was not helpful at all, but he was cute.  His backpack was stuffed with cars and dinosaurs and other animals (I luckily foresaw that our three year old would not pack actually useful things and had packed his clothes with mine).  He spent the majority of his time at the campsite dumping them out and attempting to get everyone to play with him.  Or asking for hot chocolate.  Or finding bathrooms that did not have running water and looked quite a bit like trees...because they were.

Our humble abode for two nights.  We need to figure something out as it tended to drip water in the morning.  Eric got the worst, but we all got a bit damp.  Not sure if it was due to the particularly heavy dew from camping in a bayou or condensation from  the heat of 6 people sharing a small space. 

After a peaceful night consisting of Mass, becoming friends with our other restaurant customers (we are quite the sideshow when we go out in public...all good things, all good things), and a campfire, we awoke to scrambled eggs and sausage and starting to make plans for the day.

First up: The site of the Battle of New Orleans!

My dad recently discovered we had a relative who fought in this battle.  Unfortunately, my cold infected brain forgot this fact while we were touring.  Honestly, I kept thinking: "The Gator lost its mind".  Click on the above link if you do not know what that is a reference to.  That will also make you appreciate how I have titled this post if you didn't realize it already.  Dom just read it over my shoulder and gave an appreciative 'Ha'...This is what I live for. 

We spent a nice hour or so touring the small battlefield and visitor's center.  We also drove through the national cemetery on the edge.  It was dedicated by Abraham Lincoln and has soldiers from the War of 1812 through Vietnam.

To learn more about the Battle of New Orleans, I would recommend calling my dad.  Or looking on Wikipedia.  Or checking out a book on the subject. 

The kids have a great attitude when we visit these sites.  They enjoy running around and learning about the history...but, mainly having wide open places to run around.  Oh, and the canons are a big hit as well.

After we got back in the car it was time to get to the ferry.  Whether this was a good idea or not, I don't know.  I believe it beats fighting the traffic into downtown New Orleans, but then again, I don't like driving.  We parked in Old Algiers and paid $2 a person to ride a 10 minute ferry to Canal Street.  It needed to be exact change, so I dug out $2 in quarters for my fare.  And I dropped one as I tried to take the above picture...Luckily, I had an addition 2 dimes and 5 pennies.  But, losing the quarter will be one of the more memorable moments from this trip as Molly and Will have each brought that up at least 5 times.  Molly helped me feel better by putting it in perspective in this way:  'Mom, which would you rather lose: Your three year old son, $10, or 25 cents? '

Wise, wise, wise!

Once we were all on the ferry, it probably would have been a good idea to finalize what we would do once we got off of the ferry...but, we didn't.  We ate apples and I texted pictures to people.

Thus, when we got off the ferry, we just started walking in the general direction of everyone else.  Within about 5 minutes, John started dancing in that way that toddlers do.  You know...like when they need to find a tree.  Guess what they don't have in New Orleans? 

It was also at this time we learned that they will not, under any circumstances, allow a three year old in a bar.  Even if he is a dancing three year old.  Eric got kicked out of two bars (which sounds so much more awesome than it was) before we were able to get him into a bathroom at a coffee shop.  John was not a happy camper (pun totally intended).  He was miserable, and being the mom of 4, of course I didn't have extra underwear for him.  Or even a diaper.  I had just taken it out the day before as I prepared my purse for the trip.  (I could write a post about what all was in the purse and Eric's expression as I emptied it...but, then again, you probably have a more humorous version already running through your mind...go with that one (but, be sure to include a Darth Vader head, because there was a Darth Vader head))

After ice cream failed to put John in a good mood (I know), we took a couple of pictures to prove we had been to Jackson Square and headed to find beignets.  I do want to say that as we walked around the perimeter of Jackson Square and my stress rose with every whine that emitted from our over-tired three year old, Dominic made the observation that despite his feet hurting, he was really glad to be in the French Quarter as there was so much to see and it beat just being at the campsite all day.  The comment diffused a pretty volatile situation and I am very grateful for his timely compliment.  Anyway, we now were on a mission to find beignets, because that is what you do in New Orleans.  Everyone says so.

And we found them along with an eclair at Cafe Beignet.  Cafe du Monde had a long line (not a surprise), and John was not in the mood to stand in a long line (read that as I was not in the mood to stand in a long line with John).  Luckily, we have made friends with some New Orleans natives and they recommended this lesser known, but just as good, beignet place down the street.  Bonus, we could all sit down.

Funny thing about food and our family, we are almost always in a better mood after consuming it.  Which is why the ice cream fail really threw me for a loop.  Ice Cream ALWAYS works. 

I will take this point to mention how hot it was.  It was hot.  Not uncomfortably so, but much hotter than we have experienced in the last few months.

Once we had eaten and had plenty of water, we game planned the rest of the day.  World War 2 museum for Eric and Will was out, Kids Museum for everyone was in.  We would take the street car to the area where the museum was located, hang out there for an hour or two and then head to the Garden District for an early dinner.  

And that plan played out flawlessly.  Everyone, and John in particular loved the street car.

I had reciprocity for the Children's Museum, but it turned out that it was a free day anyway.  Luckily, it didn't seem overly crowded.  But, I also had Eric, so no problem-o!

He took John and Molly to the top floor and I stayed behind with Dom and Will as they did a test of how well they explain and listen.  Surprisingly, not awful, but they could both work on these skills.  I may need to add these exercises to our weekly routine.

As I came up to the second floor with our sons, I see a flash of blue and short hair, Molly was ready for a new exhibit.  And her sidekick followed closely after.  Of course, I gave Eric a bit of a hard time when he showed up 5 minutes later wondering in a casual way if I had seen John...ahem...

The highlight for the three oldest was the grocery story.  Dom and Will have great memories of going to the Boonshoft Museum and playing in its store as well as playing at the HEB store in the San Antonio Children's Museum.  Dom was so excited to check out the store and he really made the best of it, but it was pretty clear he is aging out of the aimed for demographic. 

Though he was a wonderful cashier.  Will also enjoyed himself in that position.  I couldn't help but contrast their excitement to how the cashiers look at various grocery stores I visit...they don't exactly look like they are living the dream.

The kids then discovered the children's cafe.  They had a blast preparing food and taking part in the kitchen staff.  I laughed when I saw that Will started out doing the dishes. 

We had to leave eventually and make our way to dinner.  Along the way, Molly and John made out like bandits with all of the abandoned beads left behind from the Mardi Gras parade last week.  Beads were everywhere.

We had an enjoyable dinner, rode the street car one more time back to the ferry and headed back to camp.  Completely wiped out.

We went back and forth about going back into New Orleans on Monday, but eventually came to the conclusion we didn't want to over do it.  Hopefully we can make it back one more time before we PCS to check out the World War 2 Museum and perhaps a couple other sites we missed.

Our tent attracted snails and Molly and John had a good time pulling them off.  None came back to Alabama with us.  That I know of.

As we were packing up, our neighbor came over and gave Molly a book she had written.  She said seeing our family brought back memories of her own kids and she wanted to give Molly something.  The book is about a girl that learns to canoe and eventually camps along the side of the lake with her family.  Molly read it several times on the way home.

Oh!  And we were robbed.  Eric had wanted to surprise us with breakfast burritos on Monday morning and bought breakfast sausage to cook up.  Unfortunately, a raccoon (we suspect) had other designs and stole it along with some salami that Will had been planning to eat for lunch on our trip back.  Life just isn't fair sometimes!

All in all, it was a great trip.  We learned a few things (like always pack an extra pair of underwear for John, oh, that is totally going to be a thing for the rest of his life) and met some really nice people along the way.  As with most things, it will get easier the more often we do it.  And hopefully, I won't be sick the next time!