For Spring Break this year we visited New Orleans. Years ago when I first moved to the US for my studies, New Orleans was one of the places I wanted to visit most. Then life happened, and now some 10 and a half years after moving to the US, I finally got the chance to visit, which was nice. Because Jon had studied there, I pretty much left all of the trip planning to him, exempting 2 places I wanted to visit. I even somehow manage to push the responsibility of packing for the trip to him, though in retrospect I regretted that because he somehow under-packed M's clothes, and she ran out half way. In the end he had to handwash and attempt to dry her clothes in the hotel room. For future reference the way to pack for kids is this: days of trip x 1.5 items of clothing. Also for some reason we always never have enough moisturizer. And the kids are always cold.
Top 3 Things
1. The Food - Jon had done his research and booked some really nice restaurants for us to eat at. At the same time I really enjoyed getting to try Cajun and Creole cuisine, plus just eating all the seafood in general. I loved having cheesy grits with my food, nibbling on beignets (which reminded me of ham chim peng), and was happy I got to have a breakfast of biscuits and gravy. E always enjoyed eating Red Beans and Rice, which of course made us happy too.
2. The Kids - E was very excited about the trip. For some reason she was really looking forward to the plane ride there. It was nice seeing them excited about seeing the different and new sights, and watching them play. It was also enjoyable having snowballs with them, and visiting the Children's Museum.
3. Shopping - NOLA has a fair amount of unique shops, beyond the tourist crap (which of course we partook of too), and other mass produced junk. I actually bought quite a few pairs of earrings for reasonable prices in and around the French Market area. One of the places I really wanted to visit was also Yvonne LaFleur, a women's clothing store in the Garden District. I had seem videos of the store, and it seemed like a lovely old school women's store, with a remarkable owner to boot. Sure enough, while I was looking around the store, Ms. Yvonne LaFleur appeared and even chatted to E and I for a while. I really liked looking around the store and taking pictures with E. If only we didn't have a mortgage to pay, or else I'd have bought more from there.
Bonus item: The scenery/architecture.
I really liked seeing the architecture of the houses around New Orleans. Of course there was the French Quarter itself, but I also liked the shotguns and double shotgun houses that were all over. There were those painted in bright eye catching colours, there were those decorated with permanent Mardi Gras beads, and those with just pretty porch furniture. I also appreciated how during the evenings you could see people actually sitting on their porches just chilling out. It really added to the vibe of New Orleans being 'The Big Easy' to just see people hanging out and relaxing.
Worst 3 Things
1. The Food - I hated dealing with the kids during every meal time. M was particularly difficult because she is a picky eater anyway. Travelling meant even more foreign items, and us being too tired to deal with her nonsense. She basically didn't eat an entire vegetable or fruit during her entire time in New Orleans. She also largely survived on the bread that was given as an appetizer when we ate at nicer places. The top meal highlight for the kids was when right before we went to the airport to fly back to NJ, we went to a McDonalds. That that McDonalds happened to have a play place too was icing on the cake. Best meal ever for kids: chicken mcnuggets -___________-"
2. The Kids - OH MY GOD THEY CAN BE SO ANNOYING. Also they complain allllllllll the timeeeeee. Too hot too cold too tired too sun-in-my-eyes-Mummy. They definitely made the trip unpleasant and tiring several times. At one point on our sole planation visit (I would have wanted to see more ordinarily, but we were cognizant of the kids) to Laura Plantation, I had to dip out for 1/3 of the guided tour because M kept complaining she was hungry, so I had to bring her to the Gift Shop to buy a $2 pack of peanut butter crackers for her to eat (to her credit she did finish the entire packet of 6 crackers). I also don't remember exactly what happened but after our morning visiting a section of the French Quarter on our first full day there, the kids left me so drained I basically crashed out and napped for 2h back at the hotel afterwards. According to Jon I snored quite a bit too, so I really must have been wiped.
3. The Hotel Room - We had a hotel room at a Fairfield Inn in Metairie, just outside New Orleans proper. It was decently priced, had a hotel pool, and included breakfast, which were all great. What wasn't great was how quickly the kids managed to trash the hotel room, and there were no places to put things like towels. The kids and Jon also went swimming twice (I went once) and there was no place to put their slopping wet things and Jon just piled them in the middle of the bathroom. Also for some reason housekeeping only came once during our 4 night stay there. I very soon hated being in the room because of how it made me feel, even though I was so tired and just wanted to lie down.
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On Friday after having a rushed McDonalds lunch, because we wanted to have ample time at the airport, we found out that our flight to Newark would be delayed by 2h 15mins. We ended up staying at the McDonalds for longer so the kids to play at the play place. Then even after we passed security, we waited at an empty gate so the kids could run around without disturbing anyone else. By the time we landed at Newark, it was 10:30pm, we got our car around 11pm and ended up picking up McDonalds again for a late night supper since it was around the corner from our long-term parking lot. We reached home at 12 midnight, and obviously the kids had fallen asleep on the way home. Shower time for the kids that night (morning?) was obviously very traumatic with a lot of screaming because they were tired and didn't want to shower (of course). I myself went to bed around 1:30am because I was feeling keyed up, and Jon probably slept around 2am after running a load of laundry.
That was Saturday morning. We then stuck around enough to do some chores, before heading out for a quick lunch and then going to church for their Easter community event at 1pm, so the girls could enjoy an Easter Egg Hunt. Then we drove to Long Island to visit my in-laws. Sunday morning we all went to Easter Mass together (I saw half of it because of course M got bored and noisy so I brought her outside), then we had lunch and started the drive back to NJ sans M (leaving her in Long Island for the week, because Jon will be away in Atlanta for a conference from Weds to Fri). Once back in NJ, I did non-stop chores all the way until about 6pm, where I got to play my much missed KCD2 for about an hour before going to bed early too.
It's Monday now and I managed to go to yoga today. I really feel the strain from not having exercised in a while. Between the trip and M falling sick often recently, I haven't been able to exercise as often as I'd have liked. I also did grocery shopping for the week, and by the time I got home it was around 12:15pm. I sat down to write after eating lunch, and so far it's taken me about an hour of straight typing and thinking to write all of this so far. The rest of my day is equally busy (E has a pediatrician visit, homework), so I should stop dawdling and get on with the rest of my chores now.
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