Our vacation and the first day of school
Last month, we went on a little vacation to New Orleans. We went to the zoo, aquarium, and then on the way home, we stopped at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
I waited to journal about the vacation because I wanted to include the pictures. I'm warning right off that the pictures are horrible. They were taken with a disposable camera because we didn't realize my camera was broken until we got there. I took pictures of landmarks too but none of them came out.
The trip was ok. The hotel was an old apartment building that had been made into a Holiday Inn. It had a pool (which the kids loved), breakfast, and a lovely courtyard in the traditional New Orleans style of courtyards. It was only a few blocks from Bourbon street and the French Quarter. Some highlights:
The trolley cars. Devon LOVED riding them. He also loved the sky scrapers because those are the "biggest buildings" he's ever seen. He felt the magic that is New Orleans and said he wanted to live there forever and walk everywhere every day...lol. I remind y'all that in MS, we drive everywhere because it's too far to walk.
I felt weird about taking my kids on Bourbon Street, what with all the titty bars, porn stores, and drinking mecas, but most of the time, we were in route to a restaurant...not actually loitering on Bourbon. A few times, we had to say,"Hey Devon, look this way." to make sure his head was turned away from the large posters of titties.
After leaving one restaurant (Red Fish Grill was the name I think), a crack head sitting on the sidewalk attracted Layla's attention. When the lady saw Layla, she mumbled something about Layla being a pretty girl. Layla knows what pretty girl means and if you say it to her, she will be your friend for life. So she sat down next to the woman and within seconds, I snatched her, said "Thanks" and hurried away. I hate being rude (even to crack heads) but the woman's hands were making her way to Layla's face or hair, and I wasn't having that. It was funny (and scary) to us how comfortable Layla was with the woman, just because the woman told her she was a pretty girl. I really don't think the woman meant any harm to Layla; she didn't seem menacing or evil, but I still didn't want her to touch my child.
Back to the Red Fish Grill, it was superb!!! The restaurant was more of a fine dining one so the chef had recommendations for his dishes. My dish was recommended to be on the undercooked side. I'm not a sushi eater so I was skeptical but went along with his recommendation. I'm glad I did. Medium rare was perfect. I regret not updating about all this sooner because my memory fails me now. I would really like to recall the type of fish and the sauce that it sat in. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water. It's ok though, because I just bought 3lbs of shrimp to fry and boil tonight. So my stomach will be satisfied soon enough.
The pictures, like I mentioned, aren't the best. I apologize for that. There are also a few pictures of Devon on the first day of kindergarten.
Devon at Stennis Space Center.
Tony at same.
Layla at same.
Tony and kids in mock space ship at Space Center.
Inside the cock pit.
Some electrical/air thingie with a crank and a bunch of buttons at Space Center.
Outside of Space Center.
Devon with monkey statues at the zoo.
At the zoo.
Old climbable oak at the zoo.
Devon heading to school.
Devon at school..
Devon in the breakfast line at school.
Heather(my sister and Layla. I'm growing out Layla's bangs.
Layla got a hold of the camera.
Tony and the kids on the day we left. I was inside the salon behind them getting my nails filled.
Near the zoo's entrance.
Devon took this shot.
Notice the tiger behind us...on the rock.
Tony at the zoo.
The big oak again. Layla wanted to climb too.
A "spider web" at the zoo.
Another statue at the zoo. Devon enjoyed the statues more than the real animals.
Layla on a statue. It took her some time to stop fearing it would come alive.
Devon in the ball cap he insists on wearing even though it's too big.
Zoo
Layla had just enjoyed a sno-cone.
See the monkey hanging behind them. Layla screamed "HELLO!!!!!" at it several times.
These are the kinds of things the kids think are the "bestest". We yawn at them.
We were at a bar-b-que place on Bourbon. Note the humidity fogging up the lens.
Looking at fish at The Aquarium of the America's.
Devon has a fascination with sharks.
Another of the "bestest".
Layla wasn't too sure about the fake sharks.
More "bestest".
I love how Layla's head is positioned.
Jeez...another one.
Lower left corner. I'm pointing things out to the kids.
I waited to journal about the vacation because I wanted to include the pictures. I'm warning right off that the pictures are horrible. They were taken with a disposable camera because we didn't realize my camera was broken until we got there. I took pictures of landmarks too but none of them came out.
The trip was ok. The hotel was an old apartment building that had been made into a Holiday Inn. It had a pool (which the kids loved), breakfast, and a lovely courtyard in the traditional New Orleans style of courtyards. It was only a few blocks from Bourbon street and the French Quarter. Some highlights:
The trolley cars. Devon LOVED riding them. He also loved the sky scrapers because those are the "biggest buildings" he's ever seen. He felt the magic that is New Orleans and said he wanted to live there forever and walk everywhere every day...lol. I remind y'all that in MS, we drive everywhere because it's too far to walk.
I felt weird about taking my kids on Bourbon Street, what with all the titty bars, porn stores, and drinking mecas, but most of the time, we were in route to a restaurant...not actually loitering on Bourbon. A few times, we had to say,"Hey Devon, look this way." to make sure his head was turned away from the large posters of titties.
After leaving one restaurant (Red Fish Grill was the name I think), a crack head sitting on the sidewalk attracted Layla's attention. When the lady saw Layla, she mumbled something about Layla being a pretty girl. Layla knows what pretty girl means and if you say it to her, she will be your friend for life. So she sat down next to the woman and within seconds, I snatched her, said "Thanks" and hurried away. I hate being rude (even to crack heads) but the woman's hands were making her way to Layla's face or hair, and I wasn't having that. It was funny (and scary) to us how comfortable Layla was with the woman, just because the woman told her she was a pretty girl. I really don't think the woman meant any harm to Layla; she didn't seem menacing or evil, but I still didn't want her to touch my child.
Back to the Red Fish Grill, it was superb!!! The restaurant was more of a fine dining one so the chef had recommendations for his dishes. My dish was recommended to be on the undercooked side. I'm not a sushi eater so I was skeptical but went along with his recommendation. I'm glad I did. Medium rare was perfect. I regret not updating about all this sooner because my memory fails me now. I would really like to recall the type of fish and the sauce that it sat in. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water. It's ok though, because I just bought 3lbs of shrimp to fry and boil tonight. So my stomach will be satisfied soon enough.
The pictures, like I mentioned, aren't the best. I apologize for that. There are also a few pictures of Devon on the first day of kindergarten.
Devon at Stennis Space Center.
Tony at same.
Layla at same.
Tony and kids in mock space ship at Space Center.
Inside the cock pit.
Some electrical/air thingie with a crank and a bunch of buttons at Space Center.
Outside of Space Center.
Devon with monkey statues at the zoo.
At the zoo.
Old climbable oak at the zoo.
Devon heading to school.
Devon at school..
Devon in the breakfast line at school.
Heather(my sister and Layla. I'm growing out Layla's bangs.
Layla got a hold of the camera.
Tony and the kids on the day we left. I was inside the salon behind them getting my nails filled.
Near the zoo's entrance.
Devon took this shot.
Notice the tiger behind us...on the rock.
Tony at the zoo.
The big oak again. Layla wanted to climb too.
A "spider web" at the zoo.
Another statue at the zoo. Devon enjoyed the statues more than the real animals.
Layla on a statue. It took her some time to stop fearing it would come alive.
Devon in the ball cap he insists on wearing even though it's too big.
Zoo
Layla had just enjoyed a sno-cone.
See the monkey hanging behind them. Layla screamed "HELLO!!!!!" at it several times.
These are the kinds of things the kids think are the "bestest". We yawn at them.
We were at a bar-b-que place on Bourbon. Note the humidity fogging up the lens.
Looking at fish at The Aquarium of the America's.
Devon has a fascination with sharks.
Another of the "bestest".
Layla wasn't too sure about the fake sharks.
More "bestest".
I love how Layla's head is positioned.
Jeez...another one.
Lower left corner. I'm pointing things out to the kids.
