The Seattleites visit Nola

You know how that saying goes "Cousins by Chance.  Friends by choice."  I know, dripping with sap, right?  However, it's truth when it come to my cousin, Shonda, and me.  I am only 6 months older than her, so we grew up spending the night, or even the week at each other's houses.  And just like any good girls cousins, we were usually ready to pull each other's hair out by the end of the week.  However, we have lots of memories together and we have stayed close even into adulthood, not to mention our husbands are pretty good friends.  Imagine our delight, in 2009, when we found out we were both pregnant and were both going to have baby boys.  Even though we were separated by miles, we kept in close touch with one another throughout the pregnancies.  Here is a post where I talked about our experiences.   In September, 2010, Cory and I got the rare opportunity to take a vacation to Seattle to visit Shonda and Tim.  We were just thrilled, this year, when we found out they were planning a trip to Louisiana, AND they were including some time in the Nola area with us!!!  Not only would we get to catch up and talk about all our old memories.  Our children would get to spend some time together and make some memories of their own!  I just hoped we should show them as good a time as they showed us in Seattle.

Typical me, had to think of a unique way to greet them.  Lan made a "Welcome" sign for them, which I thought was great.  But. I wanted to do something really fun and unexpected.  So naturally, I made everyone dress up in costumes so we could throw them a Mardi Gras parade!  Best idea ever, right!!??

Wrong.  

Everyone was dressed with beads on their arms.  Cory waited outside with his iphone qued to play "The Second Line."  Our plan: Wait till they were close to the house, turn on the music, jump outside and shower them with beads.

It would have went off without a hitch, except Mr. A had just fallen asleep in the car.  So when he woke up to unusual music playing, people dressed in strange costumes, and being pelted with beads, you can imagine his horror.  Way to go Amber.  Way to make our guests feel welcome!!!  When I think about it now, the sign probably would have sufficed.

I am happy to report, that he was able to forgive me for terrorizing him, and he warmed up quite quickly after that.  The kids acquainted themselves with one another.  They played for a few hours and then we took them to one of our favorite hangouts.  Anyone who know us should be able to name that place in, oh about, .23 seconds.  THE SHIVER SHACK!!!   Summer in South Louisiana is made for splash parks and snowballs.  We love our one stop shop for both of those.  We had to give our guests a taste.

 Everyone had a ball!

After that, we quickly got the kids bathed and in bed because they needed plenty of rest for the next day's activities.  We would be taking a trip to the city to ride the street cars and see all the sites.

First stop: Mahoney's.  Their poboys are to die for!!  I'm not even kidding.  We probably should find some other restaurants to go to in the city, but we are so in love with this one I'm not sure if that's really necessary

Next Stop: The Car Stop to catch a Street Car

3rd Stop: The Riverfront

Sorry there are not many pictures of the riverfront.  We were too busy walking and chasing kids ;)

4th Stop: Cafe Du Monde.  Home of the Best Beignets and Cafe Au Lait!  One can't visit New Orleans without stopping by to indulge a little.  No need to feel guilty.  It's actually a sin NOT to enjoy a beignet in Nola!

 5th Stop: French Market.  I'll admit, this stop didn't last long.  We had some tired little children on our hands.  Who am I kidding?  We had some tired adults. LOL  We stopped long enough to grab a few pralines to go and then we began the voyage back

6th Stop: Car Stop again....

And finally we arrived back at our car and rode back home.  

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner together.  Put the kiddos to bed.  And tried to enjoy some Farkle, but it seems some people are a little too analytical for that game (Ahem...Tim).  

The next day, we said our goodbyes..... until we met up again in Lake Charles the next day.  Seems we just couldn't stay away from each other. LOL

Shonda, Tim, and A,  Thank you so much for visiting us!  We will never forget it!!