New Orleans

We headed out on Monday morning from San Antonio just after the kids went to school.  It was very interesting to watch the topography change from dry Texas to swamp Louisiana.  We got settled shortly after dark and headed to the French Quarter for some dinner and Jazz.  We were only planning to stay 1.5 days.  It became apparent early on, it was  not going to be long enough.  We quickly extended our stay to four full days. 

We spent a good part of our first day walking around Jackson Square.  The art and artists were amazing.  Up until this point, I had not spent a lot of money on this trip—NOLA broke the bank! 

Before we hit the shops we went to Café Du Monde for beignets and coffee.  They were delicious, and we looked like we had been in a powder fight by the time we left! 

 

Art everywhere, and Audrey fulfilled her dream of catching a pigeon!  Sadly, he was injured.  We loved looking in the shops, and stumbled upon the Alex Beard shop—and he was inside! 

We bought some of his sketchbooks for the girls, and one of his children’s books.  He signed them all, and drew cool pictures for all the kids.  Audrey got a quote from Homer—Malena was jealous!

One of our FAVORITE moments in NOLA is this.  Cade, convinced this man is a statue.  He was flawless.  Me:  “Cade, statues don’t have buckets that collect tips!”  Still, he was not sure.  The picture I missed was when he jumped and said “What?  You think I am not REAL?”  Cade jumped out of his skin!  Then, the guy took Cade on, and taught him the finer points of statue-ing.

Cade practiced this everywhere we went, and people knew he was mimicking THAT guy in white!  He even got a dollar from another statue guy!  It was the funniest part of our trip, for sure.  We saw him many times on the street while we were there, and he always made a point to talk to his buddy Caden!  So fun!!