Quickie

A few weeks ago I started researching Dallas area photographers. I really wanted some family pictures taken while Joey was still a baby. I searched and searched, but ultimately I just wasn't satisfied with the quality of work/price with any of the area photographers. Then I received an invitation to a friend's baby shower in New Orleans. Ordinarily I wouldn't entertain the thought of driving 8 hours for a shower, but things just started to align. I checked our soccer schedule- no game. I sent Becky a quick email- and she could squeeze us in for pictures! It was fate.

So, Friday after work we headed out. It was a LONG night. We didn't get in to New Orleans until 3:30 am. Then Joey was up til 5 am because she was just too excited to sleep. We met Jeremy's mom, sister, and our nephew, Peyton, for the typical French Quarter walk. We had beignets, walked around, then went to Central Grocery and split a muffaletta. Yum. (Our mission whenever we go to New Orleans is to get in as much New Orleans-y food as we can while there.) Look at the picture below. It was such a pretty day! The clouds looked totally photoshopped in to me.





After the Quarter we went back to the hotel so I could get ready for the shower. While I was gone at the shower, Jeremy got the girls ready for our pictures. As soon as I got back from the shower we left to meet Becky at City Park. Unfortunately, we got stuck in traffic due to some random festival we didn't know was happening. Because we were in the car so long, Shelby fell asleep. When we finally got to City Park, Shelby was horrendous. If there's one thing we've learned it's that you DO NOT wake up a sleeping Shelby. But what could we do?! She was so mad and whiny and did not want her picture taken. Finally, through the magic of Becky, Shelby finally warmed up at the end, and hopefully we were able to get some pictures. Can't wait to see them!

After pictures we had dinner at Superior Grill. Again, YUM! Then we hopped in the car and drove over to Lafreniere Park for Park-A-Boo. It wasn't hot outside, but not quite cold enough for Shelby and Joey's costumes, so Shelby didn't want to wear the hood/head part of her monkey costume, and I only had Joey in her banana costume for 5 minutes. Park-A-Boo was really cute and a good alternative to Boo at the Zoo (we originally were going to go to Boo at the Zoo but tickets are limited and they were sold out).



We fell into bed last night and woke up early again this morning so that we could stop by Brianne's house on our way home. Every morning for the past week Shelby had been waking up asking if today was the day she got to see Claire. So she was super excited that today was finally the day! We got to spend about 3 hours with them today. While there we ate breakfast, played on the Wii, played with princess dolls, had a hot cocoa party, played with Joey, and played dress up. It was a good 3 hours!








On our way back today we stopped in Natchitoches for lunch at El Nopal, one of the best Mexican restaurants ever- in little ol' Natchitoches, LA...who knew?! Jeremy was in white queso Heaven. There are so many new places in Natchtoches- glad to see the historical society is finally letting it grow. There is something to be said for small, quaint towns, but a college town definitely needs more than a few fast food places! I was sad to see that not only was I-49 Exxon and Subway gone (apparently Jay sold them and they were torn down), but the house we used to rent had been torn down as well. It wasn't too surprising given that the house was REALLY old, but still, it is a part of our history!

Finally home now after that quickie trip. I don't know if we'll do that again anytime soon. It was exhausting! But we had a great time and it was all worth it. Now it's off to bed to rest up for this busy week! Halloween themed dinners, Halloween party, birthday party, gymnastics, soccer, HALLOWEEN...