The next day we went on foot to explore the French Quarter. I had a lot of eating destinations for us. The first was a vegetarian muffaletta from Central Grocery, which claims to be the originator of the sandwich.
It was olive-y and delicious!
Judah and Mark hated the olive salad, which was awesome, because then I got extra on mine.
I love magnolia trees. I hold my breath in anticipation of their sweet blooms in early spring in Wisconsin. I was beyond thrilled to be able to see and smell their pink deliciousness in New Orleans in February.
And speaking of deliciousness, my amazing midwife, Jan Wolfenberg, had suggested beignets from Cafe Du Monde. Fried sweet dough? I was there.
Of course, everyone loved them.
Even the birds, which Sawyer was thrilled about. He just squatted there saying "bee, bee" (Sawyer speak for birdie).
Our snacking spot was beautiful. There was the river on one side.
And an this on the other.
After our snack, Mark and the boys played at a fountain while I walked through the French Market. Aren't they adorable?
Then we headed to Bourbon Street. I had really wanted to bring the stroller to the French Quarter. I knew we would be walking a lot, and I thought it would make life easier. Mark vetoed my idea, and we left it at home. So I carried Sawyer in the carrier while Mark switched off convincing Judah to walk, carrying him, and giving him piggy back rides. I missed the stroller, But Beans loved it. He spent most of the time on the verge of falling asleep.
When I went to Mardi Gras with Jen and Kathleen, we took several pictures of ourselves under this "huge Ass Beers" sign with various characters. It was pretty fun to see Mark and Judah underneath it, even if they refused to turn around and look at the camera.
Beans and I in front of a strip club. He would have been in heaven.
After awhile, after hours of carrying 30 pounds of baby on my front, my back felt like it was about to give out. And poor Judah had a blister between his toes from walking in flip flops all day. If only we had had some sort of carrying implement on wheels that we could transport the kids in... I gave up, and Mark carried both babies the last few blocks to the car.
But despite our discomfort, we were all super excited for the french fry po boys we had gotten to eat at home. Amazing, right?
I am in love with the French Quarter. There are some places I have really enjoyed, and a handful of places I would buy a house if we had unlimited funds (a modern beach house on the Northern California ocean cliffs, a ranch in south central Texas, a cottage in the Louisiana bayou, and a balcony flat in the French Quarter), but the French Quarter is the first place I actually looked up rentals and seriously considered settling. It turns out we couldn't afford the type of place I would want, but if we could, I would totally spend some time there.
I was kind of annoyed with our RV park. The internet was crap, we were parked right next to the bathroom/laundry room, it was crazy dusty, and a lot of stuff was broken. But the kids had fun. I guess they always do. They spent some time putting gravel down their shirts.
And played with their stuff.
On Thursday, we went to a market. It was really small, but we got milk, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and...
strawberries!!!
When we got home, I used some of those ingredients to make a delicious dinner. I was making mac and cheese with veggies, and as I was making the roux I said, "look mark, how fitting, I'm making a roux in New Orleans, take a picture!' He took several. This is the one in which my boobs are the least prominent. Boys...
After the dinner, the boys got crazy, as usual.
On our final day, I worked, we are breakfast, Holden lounged in the sun on the kitchen table...
and the kids and I went for a walk to say goodbye to the bay and the pool.
It broke my heart a little bit to leave New Orleans, but the beautiful drive to Mississippi helped to ease the pain. So did the prospect of staying at a park with a lake, playground, paddle boats, and cable. Luxury, here we come...
No comments:
Post a Comment