Riding on the City of New Orleans

After a long train ride, a carriage ride engagement, and a night full of celebrating, we couldn't have asked for a better kick-off to our weekend. But when we woke up on Saturday morning, the weather was beeeeeautiful so it made it even better! Like every tourist in NOLA, we started off our morning at Cafe du Monde for some yummy beignets. We were all fresh and ready for a day in the French Quarter.

Sarah and Charlie decided we weren't fun enough for them and quickly made new friends.

We spent the morning walking around the Quarter and doing some shopping. The boys found some nice hats.

Where we live, it would be a little weird to run into this guy on the street. But in New Orleans? Totally normal. And yes, that's a real parrot on his shoulder.

All of the walking and shopping worked up quite an appetite for us, so we headed here for some of the best burgers ever.

Oh yes, we sat on the steps and put our drinks on the porch. We are nothing if not rebels.

After stuffing themselves with a half pound of burger, the boys were feeling even more manly than the day before and felt the need to show off.

Side note: does anyone need a job? 'Cause this place is hiring.

I tried to get creative and take some artsy pictures. Meh.

Sarah and Charlie were our tour guides for the day. They have been to New Orleans so many times they're practically locals.

I have tons and tons of pictures of all the architecture and details of the city, but I won't bore you with all of them. I will say, though, that if my plants this summer look half as good as these, I'll be thrilled.

Oh, we also ran into this guy on the street. I watched him for several minutes and he just stood there, frozen in his pose. Now, I understand that this is his way of making money and he's probably used to it, but wouldn't you think he'd want to choose an easier pose? It seems like holding your arm out behind you and keeping your mouth open would get old fast. There was one time the breeze caught the board balanced on his shoulder and I was so hoping it would make him have to move. But he never did.

We ran into some awesome food vendors on the streets - it was a festival of sorts.  You can't go to New Orleans and not try as much local food as possible, so we stopped to have a bite. It was so nice to sit on the steps, have a snack, and enjoy the nice weather.

By this time we were tired and decided it was time to head back to the hotel for a nap. But on the way there, we spotted the proposal carriage and took off after it to get a picture!

Here are Jenny and Darrin with the carriage driver that witnessed it all.

And you can't leave out the horse!

Phew! Glad we were able to catch him. NOW we could head back to take a nap.

Since this post has already gotten really long, the evening festivities will just have to be a post of their own. They'll be coming soon!

All Aboard!!

A few weekends ago, Doc and I gathered up some of our friends, hopped on the Amtrak train, and headed to New Orleans for the weekend.  Have you ever ridden on the Amtrak? I love it. If it didn't take so long, I would definitely choose it over air flights anytime. The seats are a lot bigger and much more comfy. You don't have an assigned seat. There are no seat belts. You can walk around anytime. There's a dining cart and a lounge cart or you can bring your own cooler. And the bathrooms aren't that bad. Much better than a plane, right?

Side note: I was terrified of going to the bathroom the first time I rode the train (about a year ago). Someone told me that you "went" right on the tracks, as in you could see them when you looked down at the toilet. I was so afraid that a rock would be thrown up by a wheel and hit my hiney. Or worse, that I'd be able to see what the person in the restroom next to me was doing. What if there was splashing? Ew. I can safely assure you, though, that this is not true. There is nothing to be afraid of in the bathroom; the toiled looks just like an airplane toilet and you can't see the railroad tracks.

While the train is super fun and a comfortable ride, we did run into one negative aspect on this trip. There is a draw bridge on the route to New Orleans and if the draw bridge decides not to work and gets stuck in the up position, that means the train can't go. And we get stuck in Hammond, Louisiana for a few hours.

You know what you should do if you're spending the afternoon in Hammond, LA (population 17,639)? You should get off the train, stretch your legs, make friends with the random person selling frozen daquiris, and sit back and enjoy the beautiful day!

And if sitting back and sipping on daquiris isn't your thing, you can just flex your muscles and show everyone how manly you are.

Maybe I should back up a little and give some introductions. These are our new friends, Chris and Allison.

Chris was sweet enough to go pick Allison a pretty flower. He said he got one for me too, but as he handed it to me, the flower fell right off the stem and landed at my feet.

So I'm not sure how long that friendship's going to last. They're still in a probationary period.

(Just kidding.)

This is Jenny and Darrin.

Here they looked all happy-go-lucky but really, Darrin's a little nervous and Jenny has no idea the excitement that's in store for her later in the day.

Charlie's the other friend pictured with the guys. His wife, Sarah, was sound asleep on the train after a long flight in from LA the night before. Charlie hooked us up with the daquiris but Sarah missed all of good ol' Hammond, LA.

And last, but certainly not least, is my husband, Doc.

He makes Hammond, LA look good, doesn't he? :)

After a two-hour delay, the whistle finally blew and we were back on the train and leaving Hammond behind.

New Orleans greeted us with a parade outside our hotel. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera ready so you'll have to take my word for it.

After quickly getting cleaned up, we headed out to dinner together. Jenny and Darrin were running behind so they were going to meet us at the restaurant. We walked a few blocks, waited our turn, and were finally seated at our table at Ralph and Kacoo's.  Just as we were getting ready to order, Jenny and Darrin arrived...and look at what was on her hand!

Isn't it beautiful?! Turns out, they had left the hotel early and gone for a carriage ride. Midway through the ride, Darrin asked Jenny to be his wife.

It didn't take long for us to order champagne and start celebrating! Yay, engagement! Yay, love!

I left my camera at the hotel so I didn't get pictures of the newly engaged couple, but luckily, Allison had hers. You can see pictures from dinner on her blog right here.

I did, however, have my camera with me aaaaall day long on Saturday, so there are lots more pictures to come!

Blowing Rock, Day Four

Sunday's supposed to be the day of rest. Unfortunately for us, on this trip it was the day everyone got sick. The weather was pretty awful, though, so it wasn't too hard staying inside and lounging around all day. I love puzzles. All kinds: jigsaw, crossword, sudoku, brain teasers, etc. So, naturally, when I saw this puzzle at the Mast General store, we had to purchase it.

That's right, 1,000 pieces. And let me tell you, all of those jelly beans start to look exactly the same after about, oh, 2 minutes. It was tough!

But we did it!

You have no idea how much it pained me to immediately tear it up and put it in the box so we could leave the next day.

Anyway, we finally ventured out of the house late in the evening. Those of us that felt well enough headed over to Mellow Mushroom for some dinner.

No Blowing Rock vacation is complete without a trip to Kilwins.

Sometimes when you're 4 and a half, you have to ask for a little bit of help.

And that about sums up our family vacation. Here's hoping we get to go back next year!

Blow kisses bye-bye!

Blowing Rock, Day Three

Day three started with these....Mmmmmm.....

We spent all day Saturday out on the town. We did major damage at the Outlet Mall, which is why I have no pictures of this. Hey, I'm serious about my shopping. I can't be bothered with taking pictures when there are clearance racks to peruse.

Doc and I enjoyed a nice dinner out with my parents while the others stayed in with the babies.

Every night, after all the kiddos where tucked in bed, we grown-ups played this game:

Would you like to know the secret to being good at Catchphrase? Check it out:

Apparently, it's easier to get your teammates to guess the word if you use hand motions. Who knew? We played girls versus boys every night and I'm sad to say that the girls were not victorious. :(

As a blast from the past of my childhood, I bought some of these earlier in the day. They came in handy to ease the pain from the beating the guys gave us.

Don't we look like natural smokers?

What's the hardest puzzle of all time? I'll show you in the next post...

Blowing Rock, Day Two

Let's go skiing! (I should preface this by saying that my family is chocked full of amateurs when it comes to skiing. We choose to ski on a teeeeeeny tiny mountain. It could probably even be called a hill.)

Someone is not happy about having to attend ski school:

Some of us prefer to just watch.

Even the babies came to watch for a while.

Since the mountain is so small, we didn't stay for too long. There was still plenty of daylight when we got home so we quickly ran to the store to buy sleds and hit the hills of the resort. I am so sad I don't have pictures of this because it was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. But who was time to take pictures when you're flying down the hill?! Especially if your mom is on the sled with you or you're racing your nephew!

My brother brought a video game to the resort to keep my nephew entertained. It would've been a nice gesture if he'd ever let the little guy play it...

These goons just watched.

Me? I just hung out in my snuggie.

Ok, that's all for now. Day three is next!