A day in "The Big Easy"

It's a sad fact that we've lived 90 miles from New Orleans and yet I've never been there (Paul has when he went to do clean up from Katrina). When we first moved to Mississippi I was excited to go see it, 4 weeks later Katrina hit and I no longer had a desire to go. 4 years later we finally make it down. Thank you Grandpa Jerry for coming down and giving us an excuse to go!



We took a carriage ride around the French Quarter to get a lay of the land.


Our driver's name was Howard. He was pretty funny.

Howard pointed out celebrities homes and historical sights.



There were also a couple close calls of people getting run over by Sassie the mule.




Close up shot of the decorative and ornate wrought iron balconies.



Lana enjoyed seeing the "horsies" which were really mules.



One of the sights on the carriage ride was this Voodoo store that also sold children's books. We walked by there on our way back from eating lunch and the guy standing at the door tried to lure Lana into the store. I kept a firm grip on her hand and walked away very quickly.


The Saint Louis Cathedral. Paul called it the Temple Square of New Orleans.





We opted out on the river boat tour only because it was 2 hrs. long and it was scheduled to leave 5 minutes after we had arrived.



We did not do Cafe du Monde only because by the time we got to it, there was a long line and the tables and floors were absolutely disgusting. Next time we go down we'll hit that first and then see the sights!

Anyone seen October?

Because I haven't. Perhaps it is underneath the mountain of moving boxes in my garage. The month has flown by and I didn't even notice. I had not even given a thought to Lana and Tanner's Halloween costumes until Friday. The day of our ward's Fall Festival. I know, I suck. Poor Tanner. You'll see why in the Halloween costume post. I also noticed I only had 2 blog posts for the month. Sad. But I'm about to fix that.

First a question...



Why can't all my moving boxes be as cute as this one?

Destin

First off, I just want to say how happy I am to finally have Internet access again. 2 weeks without it has been absolute torture (for me). Not to mention I've been missing all my shows! Thank heavens for Hulu.

So we moved into the house 2 Saturdays ago and 3 days later we snuck off to Destin, FL for Paul's birthday with his brother Dave and sister Shirley and her family. Unfortunately for us we just happened to hit the fluke cold weekend. It was so cold and windy we weren't able to spend much time at the beach.


One day for lunch we went to Fudpuckers, not to be confused with Fudruckers. Because at Fudpuckers there are live alligators.



And you can hold a one and take a picture with it. I was so impressed with how calmly my kids are taking this. Lana was the first to volunteer to hold it.



Alligators are pretty boring. Unless they're eating something or someone. These gators weren't eating anything.



So Shirley and Jared decided to camp, like in tents. I, on the other hand, am not a camper. I think it would be okay if I didn't have to take care of small children while doing it because my children do not sleep well in places that are not their beds. And that means I do not sleep well and when I am sleep deprived I am not always the most patient mother in the world. Anyway, we "camped" during the day and went back to our hotel room for the night. That was enough camping for me.


Oh, and did I mention that it was cold and windy? We still had a fun time though.


Unfortunately we only made it to the beach twice. The water was amazingly warm but the wind made it just miserable. Neither one of the kids were enjoying the sand pelting their legs.


Lana was pretty upset she didn't get to play more in the sand.


But she made the most of what time she had.


Here's Tanner not very happy about getting out of the water.


We also stopped at a small amusement park that had kiddie rides and 3 go-kart tracks and a bunch of other stuff. Lana really enjoyed riding in the 2 person go-karts with Paul. Too bad for Tanner he was too small to ride, but he seemed to enjoy the kiddie rides.

It was nice to have a few days away from the moving boxes and clean up I think we all want to go back and try again but on a warmer weekend!

Finished! Well, mostly...

We closed on the house Wednesday, but of course we have a lot of small things left to do. The landscaping (garden beds, trees, etc.) is not done (I hope you're ready dig in when you get here dad!!). We will have shutters on the front of the house as well. The outside windows need to be washed so I can put in the screens, but first I have to get out my spider spray because some really nasty ones have made their homes in them. And a few other things as well but I don't have time to get into it because I'm up to my eyeballs in cardboard boxes and the lucky Elders Quorum will be here at 7am tomorrow morning to move them. So I'll post more pictures after we get settled and have internet (who knows how long that will be). Anyone want to come visit Mississippi? We have an extra bedroom and you won't even have to share a bathroom!