Beads & Beignets!

Beads & Beignets and there are more "B's" to go along with those when I think about New Orleans, but I'm going to leave it with the beads and beignets. :)  We snuck away this past weekend to the Big Easy to meet Fletcher for a couple of nights.  He had a cross country with a few students and it was the perfect timing before baseball season starts in full force.  The boys and I drove over on Friday afternoon and checked into the hotel just before Fletcher arrived.  Beau was ready to "suck the heads off some crawfish" which I'm guessing meant he was hungry.  I never say that, so I'm going to have to give credit to his dad for that constant reminder of what he'd wanted to eat the whole weekend.  We hopped the train and headed to the French Market which is where I realized I need to return with girls.  The little shops looked fun, but only from the street did I get to admire.  Boys hate to shop!  I'm good with that because I've come to realize I hate to shop with boys. :P  We made it to Jackson Park where Beau got to see the statue of one of his all-time faves....good ol' Andrew.  We swung past Café Du monde and headed back to our hotel for dinner.  Yummmmm!!!!  Another observation, there is no healthy eating in New Orleans and I'm totally fine with that!  Every calorie we took in was completely worth it!  Saturday morning we started with breakfast at Mother's (http://www.mothersrestaurant.net/) and it was beyond fantastic (which is why we made ourselves run the stairs at the WWII museum shortly thereafter).  They claim to be the home of World's Best Baked Ham and it's fair to say my boys agreed!  Ham, biscuits, grits, OH MY! 

We spent the next 4 hours (yes, I said 4) at the WWII Museum and we were completely blown away!  If I'm being honest, I was good after the 3rd hour, but I keep the company of war historians, so at that point I was along for the ride.  It's a must-see if you have the chance and I now have WWII aficionados in my home.  I may have to reiterate how important it is to be the "good" side considering I overheard Bennett and Beau trying to teach neighbor how to march like the Germany Army.  I had to shout from the garage, "march like the Americans!!!!".....hopefully we don't offend too many people, but truth be known I've let go of that hope years ago.

After the museum, we snacked on hot beignets down at Café Beignet (http://www.cafebeignet.com/) and again, worth every calorie!  That carried us through our afternoon of walking around Jackson Park again, the St. Louis Cathedral, and then onto Bourbon Street for what I like to call life lessons in the Big Easy.  Bourbon Street is where the boys learned how important good hygiene really is (ie. brushing your teeth, using soap and water), how important staying in school will be (kindly passed along from a highly intoxicated man on the street corner...I'm not judging, just reporting), and lastly, how important it is to watch where you step (no need to elaborate if you've ever walked there).  Never a dull moment in New Orleans. 

We had an early dinner at Deanies (http://www.deanies.com/), so we'd be done in time to catch the parade.  Little did we know the boys would be front and center for the bead throwing.  They got so much loot before the parade, it was like Christmas morning!  The parade was a little more than we bargained for, so in an effort to avoid questions I'm not ready to answer, we headed back to our hotel. The boys were beyond thrilled covered in beads, glowing bracelets, and handfuls of mini-king cakes and I was so glad I hadn't wasted $20 on those souvenir dog tags they had begged for earlier.  Bourbon Street = free souvenirs!  

Sunday morning we headed home in time to unpack, disinfect whatever might have come back with us, and get settled in to watch the Super Bowl.....not that I was that excited about it.  In case you don't read my facebook, I didn't have a dog in the fight.....and I might even be a little bitter about how my dog got eliminated from that fight, but who's holding a grudge?  BTW, Dez caught it!:)