I woke up Thursday morning and realized that I would be leaving that evening for New Orleans and that my vacation was officially about to begin! My kids actually slept a little late this morning so I decided to treat myself and stay in bed a bit longer. Who was I kidding. Like I could rest with so much excitement in the air. Most of the bags were pretty much packed. I just had to get together the last few toiletries, kids medicines, charge cords... that kind of stuff. The there was the most important chore of the day, according to my DD. Tearing off the last Mickey ring from our countdown. Look how excited she is...
My brother came in town later that day and wanted to cook us dinner before we left for New Orleans. I should mention this because I don't know that I ever have. My mom lives with me. Well, not really with me. My dad passed away about 7 years ago and left my mom with a mortgage she could not afford. My husband came up with the brilliant idea to add onto our house and have her live here. We ended up selling her house and adding on 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a kitchen, laundry, and living room for her right off the back of my house. It works our wonderfully for us because she will stay home with the kids when I need to run to the grocery store or do other errands. My brother is a Catholic priest and comes in to stay with her on Thurs and Friday nights because Friday is his day off. The only way she would agree to moving here is if we built a room for him. I felt I needed to mention this because my mom may come up from time to time in my stories and I wanted y'all to understand the situation.
Ok, so onto Thursday night. My DB cooked us a yummy going away dinner of feta cream linguini with shrimp and a stacked tomato and avacado salad. Did I mention he is a fabulous cook? He loves to try out his new recipies on us and that's just fine with me! The meal was great, the kids were bathed and fed, and we were ready to hit the road. We had a few errands to run on our way out of town, starting with Circuit City

We also needed to make a stop at the drugstore to get some medicine for my DS. Why? You ask? Well, it's because he decided to come down with a virus the day before and had been having diarrhea which caused a horrible diaper rash. He couldn't eat anything or have any milk, and my baby loves his milk! So we went to the store and got him some hiney medicine then headed to Circuit City for the famous mini DVD's and camcorder battery. Then we were officially off! The drive to New Orleans was so relaxing. It was late and my kids were tired so we were playing them some soft music in hopes that they would drift off to sleep. It worked. Here they are when we arrived to NO...
DH and I were so excited to be on our way that we decided to get a daiquiri to celebrate. We drove through a daiquiri shop right by the airport. That's right, I said drove through. Hey, this is New Orleans ok?? Don't worry though, the hotel was literally across the street from the D shop so it was no biggie. DH decided on a white russian and I got chocolate banana

Yummo.
We pulled into the hotel and the parking lot was packed! Geee, didn't know the LaQuinta was so popular. Well, when I walked into the lobby to check in, I saw why. The tiny little hotel bar, located next door to the lobby, was overflowing with rowdy people and tons of cigarette smoke

So much so that I really didn't want to bring my kids through becuase of the smell and noise. They just don't need to be exposed to this kind of stuff so young. Unfortunately, I had no other choice. I went out the parking lot to help DH with the kids and luggage. As we walked through the lobby, a very drunk guy stopped us and said what a beautiful family we were and told us to enjoy our time with each other. Strangly, this poor, seemingly lonely guy, kind of put a smile on my face. That is, in fact, what this trip is all about. Us spending time together as a family and creating wonderful memories. So if your out there, drunk LaQuinta bar guy, thanks

Up to our room we went. It was nice enough. Clean and looked fairly new. The kids were beat and ready for bed, as were we. I had requested a crib for DS and it arrived shortly after we got into the room. Here is a pic of the bed.
It reminded me of an orphanage bed but DS didn't mind. He slept pretty well, with the exception of pain from his bottom. It was kind of a rough night for all of us. I just think we were all too excited to sleep soundly! Before I turned otu the lights, I called down to the front desk to arrange a shuttle to the airport for the morning. We would be leaving at 10:00. The flight was at 11:15 so that should be plenty of time.
Up next, a sassy three year old and a sick baby
