Weekend in the Big Easy

When Jon asked at the beginning of December if the girls and I would like to join him on a work trip down to New Orleans, I immediately said yes. Never mind that mid-December is a totally impractical time to travel, what with all of the last-minute holiday events and preparations to attend to. But regardless of the less-than-ideal timing, it was so good to have a family getaway.

Jon has been putting in a lot of hours at work lately. Between his day job as an engineer and all of his extra military duties, the girls and I don't get to see him as often as any of us would like. Since he is in a command position with the Reserves, the majority of his weekend drills take him out of town. So, when Jon learned that he was to be honored for his civilian work at a breakfast in New Orleans, we decided to turn it into a mini family vacation.

Friday night after work, we loaded up the car and started the six-hour journey to Louisiana. I'm not going to lie--it was a struggle to stay awake at the end of a long week, but Jon was a champ and did the bulk of the driving to get us safely to our hotel in downtown New Orleans in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

The breakfast meeting was early, so Jon didn't get much sleep, but thankfully the girls slept in and were cuddled up in the giant hotel bed watching cartoons when he got back. We enjoyed the complimentary hotel breakfast and then headed out on our adventure.

Living the high life

With only one full day in New Orleans, we were limited by what we could do but decided to check out the Audubon Aquarium. It was a rainy day, so ironically, the aquarium was a great spot to stay dry. We got to see lots of animals like penguins and otters, but I think Lena's favorite part was running around the kids' area.

This was Elsa's favorite spot

Lena the Mermaid

Elsa the...Worm?

 

Our aquarium tickets also admitted us to a 3-D IMAX movie. I think we were all equally impressed.

After the aquarium, we took the streetcar to the French Quarter for some requisite beignets at Cafe du Monde. We wisely got them to go and hung out near Jackson Square to eat them/people watch. 

 

Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral in the background

Possibly against our better judgment, we took our two tired and hungry girls to Saturday Mass at St. Louis Cathedral. Fortunately no one seemed too bothered when Lena asked in a dramatic stage whisper, "Are we EVER going to eat again?"

We did eat again, of course, because the food is one of the best parts about New Orleans. We had to have Cajun food, so what better place to go than Mulate's, which bills itself as "the original Cajun restaurant"? Bonus that they had live zydeco music. Anyone who knows our girls will not be surprised to hear that they could not wait to hit the dance floor.

After some delicious food and lively dancing, we were all exhausted after a long, but very fun, day. Sadly, we had to head home shortly after breakfast on Sunday, so it was back on the road for the 6-hour return trek to Memphis. Even though it was a quick trip, it was very much needed, and we were all thankful for the opportunity to spend some time together.