Off to Loisiana to See Grandma and Grandpa

Eric's parents have been serving a mission in Baton Rouge, LA for over a year now. We decided several months ago that it would be fun to plan a trip for Spring Break to go and visit them. So we did! It was made all the more fun that Uncle Chris and Aunt Rachel's family from back East joined us, as well as Aunt Tamie and our niece Shayla and her husband Howard. We also got to see our other nieces and nephews which our kids loved having the opp to play with cousins they don't see very often. Here is our trip laid out day by day:

Day One
We went to the Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center in Baton Rouge.

The kids were given an opportunity to pet a baby alligator.

We explored one of the trails that meanders through this preserve and swamp land.
Daddies and babies

Later that night, we checked out one of Grandma's favorite spots for dinner, Don's Seafood. We ate lots of fried seafood that night!

Day Two
We drove to New Orleans to get a taste of the French Quarter. Here we are standing in front of St. Louis Cathedral, a very famous landmark in New Orleans.

I wanted to learn a bit of history regarding this place and decided the best way to do that with little kids in tow was a cart and buggy ride. The driver would give us a very condensed history of course but I knew it would give me a little taste of the area. Shaley's family joined us.

A look down Royal StreetOur tour guide pointed out this building on Bourbon Street, Lafitte's Blacksmith shop which is now a bar (we are on Bourbon street people) as being one of the oldest buildings in New Orleans.

While getting our taste of the French Quarter, Grandma and Grandpa were picking up Tamie and girls from the airport. We would meet them in the afternoon at an old Creole Plantation house along the Mississippi River.
Lyndsee and Daddy chilling while waiting for our tour of the plantation.

Enjoying the beautiful afternoon while waiting for our tour time. "Isn't she lovely?"

The whole lot of them! Our kids loved being with their cousins.

Laura Plantation House
Day Three
Today we went to church with Grandma and Grandpa. Its always fun to visit other wards in our travels because even though they have different people, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the same. It is taught the same, the comforting spirit we feel is the same and we can go knowing our testimonies will be strengthened.
We also took a little drive to the Baton Rouge Temple.

Later we drove around downtown Baton Rouge where we walked along the river front of the Mississippi River. Today we enjoyed eating and visiting with family in Grandma and Grandpa's little one bedroom apartment.

Day Four
About an hour north of Baton Rouge is the Global Wildlife Center. Grandma recommended this fun place and we really enjoyed doing a safari as a family on this day. We bought a TON of food for the animals so the kids could feed them along the way.

I love the way Will is looking at the girls.

Reagan is posing with her cup of food. I didn't realize that Madison was doing the same pose until I looked at the picture later. Silly girls!

Lyndsee loved feeding the animals too.

Rachel and Charlie feeding the animals.Day Five
This day we headed out west over the bayous to Lafayette, Cajun Country. The drive out alone was interesting because the freeway is built on stilts in the swamps a lot of the way. We spent the morning at Vermilionville which is a village of learning about the Cajun people and their way of life starting in 1790 and thru the 1800s. One of my favorite moments here was when we listened to some Cajun music played live by two volunteers and our nephew Charlie danced for us all.
Our kids like being able to go from one house to another.

Sitting on the porch with our adopted child (for the moment) Charlie.

Our roam through the village included a short boat ride where we used the rope to pull ourselves over to the other bank. For some of the kids, the ride was TOO short.

The Magnolia trees were just starting to bloom while in Louisiana.

After visiting the village, we grabbed some fast food and headed out to Breaux Bridge to meet our swamp tour. We were also hoping to meet up with Grandma, Grandpa, Tamie, Emma, and Madison who drove out to Lafayette later than us. They were at a stand still on the freeway because of a serious accident and it wasn't looking good that they would make the tour time. Taylor told us at this point that she wanted to pray that they could make it which we told her would be a very good thing to do but me of little faith hoped she wouldn't be disappointed when they couldn't make it. Well, they were a little late but they made it and Taylor recognized later that her pray had been answered and I was quite frankly amazed. We had such a great time out on the boat and it wouldn't have been the same without the whole group there.

About the time we questioned whether we would really see alligators, we saw this one. We ended up seeing 5 in all.

Another one hiding in the swamp growth.

Cute turtles floating on a log.

Even though we got a late start, our tour lasted just about the right amount of time as babies were getting restless and certain children had to pee (of course--another one of the trials of traveling with kids!) We all loved it though and I was amazed at how beautiful the swamps are.

Breaux Bridge is the crawfish capital of the world so we had to have some. And yes, it was a little unnerving ripping their little bodies apart to get the yummy meat out.

Our snack for the ride home.Later that night, we met in the park and ate Cane's chicken. They have Cane's here in Las Vegas but apparently it originated in Louisiana. We said our good-byes to Grandma, Grandpa and Tamie tonight as well. Grandma had a big huge box of Mardi Gras beads she let the kids choose from to take home.

Day Six
Our flight wouldn't be taking off until evening so we decided to take in a little more of New Orleans. We drove to the Garden District to get a fill for it. We parked our car in this beautiful neighborhood and walked a block to St. Charles Ave to ride the trolley to the French Quarter.

Walking along St Charles Ave. Beads were dangling out of the trees along here.

Will would ask at each stop if this was our stop and when I would tell him "No" he would say "Good" because he was enjoying the ride.

This time while we were in the French Quarter, we stopped at Johnny Po Boys and Cafe DeMonde' for a literal taste of New Orleans. It wasn't necessarily easy with the kids but definitely worth it. I had a really great shrimp po boy.

This little girl was one of the highlights of our trip. We hadn't seen Audrey since she was born. It was finally nice to meet her.

After riding the trolley back to our car, we decided to walk the main wide route through one of the old above ground cemeteries in the Garden District. We had been warned that these cemeteries can be dangerous so we stayed on the main path that goes from one side to the other.
Will was having some kind of tantrum (yes our kids aren't perfect when we travel) in this picture and I thought it was funny that he was burying his face in the tomb. One of my favorite shots of the trip as well. There is something really beautiful about these old cemeteries and this one had a particular beauty maybe due to the neighborhood it was in.

We found a tombstone on the main path with Will's name on it too.

Loved our trip! Loved being able to see and hang out with family. Loved seeing where Grandma and Grandpa are spending their time these days in the service of our Heavenly Father. Looking forward to seeing them a little more this fall.