Southern Comfort

Photos coming soon.

Jerome and I took a flight down to Mississippi over the fourth from his family reunion. The difference this time than any other is that we brought Tink with us. I was a little worried about the flight. I hoped that she wouldn't scream uncontrollably. She thankfully fell asleep on our first flight which was our longer one of the two. She even remained asleep until we were walking off the plane. On the second flight she just played, colored, and looked out the window a time or two.

We picked up our car and were on our way to Jerome's parents house. For some reason Tink had a very disgruntle look on her face for most of the way... perhaps that's from being awake at 3am... who knows but it was funny to us.

We arrived and quickly settled in. Jerome's mom and dad were amazed at Tink... how big she got, what she could say and how she acted. We figured out who would be watching Tink Thursday and Friday. We packed her a bag and also ourselves and we were on our way to New Orleans Thursday.

We checked into our hotel - The Holiday in the French Quarter called Chateau LeMoyne. It was a beautiful hotel, nice and clean and only a block off our Bourban Street. After getting settled in we made our way out into the French Quarter for some sight seeing. We had dinner at The House of Blues. We made our way down to Cafe Du Monde for a fantastic dessert of beignets... ohhhhh so delicious! We had hoped to get to the French Market for some shopping but it was already closed for the day.

We headed back towards the hotel, stopping at Pat O'Briens per two people's recommendations for a hurricane and a bowl of gumbo before tromping through the puddles on Bourban Street. Yes, it was raining. But it was fun... or perhaps that was the hurricane talking for me! :) We got back to the hotel and settled in for the night.


View French Quarter, LA in a larger map

The next day we awoke, packed everything up and checked out of the hotel. We then took a trolley down Canal Street and then walked a few blocks to Mother's Restaurant. I had the early bird special: eggs, grits, too spicy for me sausage, a biscuit and OJ. Jerome had an omelet with grits and a biscuit. I'm not sure if I would go back there again, but at least I can say I was there and say it was fun... packed... but fun.

After breakfast we took another trolley down the Riverwalk to the French Market. We walked through... I picked up a fan at the first booth... it was sweltering hot there! I wish now that I would have picked up the purse that I debated on... oh well... guess I'll have to get it next time :)

We made our way back up to Jackson Square, where we found a tour guide in a horse and buggy. For $12 each we were taken all around the French Quarter horsey style... Ha! We shared the buggy with a family from Florida. The guy in that family knew a few details too as he was originally from New Orleans so it's almost as if we had two tour guides for the price of one.

After the tour we went for a sammie at a place that the tour guide mentioned and then headed across the street for one last round of beignets before heading to my sister in laws house.

We got ourselves dress for the Essence Music Festival that night. We jumped in our car, my sister in law and her boys in theirs and went to the Superdome. We parked and had hoped to jump right in line to get inside. Too bad I had ALL the tickets! Yeah... we weren't thinking. I had the tickets for my other sister in law, her husband and her daughter plus Jerome's parents. UGH! They were running late and the show had already started by the time we got a hold of them.

Man oh man. We missed most of Salt and Pepa... one of the groups I really wanted to see :( I did manage to hear just a bit of them singing but only saw them for about 1/2 a song. Neyo was on, then John Legend and the Beyonce herself. Yeah ugh... I could toss out Beyonce any day... but whatev.

After the show we headed back to Jerome's parents house. I could not keep my eyes open though. So I dozed off here and there and everywhere! Thankfully my hubby is a night driver and had no issues until we pulled into the driveway. We both passed out in the car because Jerome's parents were actually behind us in driving. When they arrived I woke up, nudged Jerome and we went inside to sleep.

The next day we awoke, got dressed and had to go pick up Tink at her Great Aunt's house. While walking out to the car I fell. I sunk into an ant hole up to my thigh! I screeched, Jerome came around the car and saw me on the ground. He kept asking if I broke anything. I didn't but I was full of dirt and saw red ant swarming all around. UGH. It put me in a mood.

We drove over, met Jerome's mom to get the car seat and let her know about the hole in the yard that I fell in. I was still in a mood.

We picked up Tink, stopped in the house for a bit for a sip of water and chat. I of course, still in a mood. Ugh. I had to get out of the funk. We drove back to Jerome's parent's house. We put on our family reunion shirts - red ones this year, and headed into town for the festivities.

Tink didn't get a nap in... and boy could we tell. She didn't want to listen, she didn't want to sit, and sure didn't want to be told to come by us. She knew we would try to rock her to sleep. Boy oh boy did she run around with her little cousins.

After we ate we headed back to the house to grab a few items and then headed over to Jerome's Grandmother's land. People were set up outside playing cards, watching movies and just plain chatting. We took up a spot and joined in on the discussion.

The host family has a home right near where we were. They were going to be shooting off fireworks over their pond that night. We of course were going to watch from where we were. We pulled our chairs out from under the trees to see the fireworks as they started. I started to complain of mosquitoes biting me and thankfully the show was done so that I could go inside. Ends up I must have disturbed a red ant hill... and had those biting me instead of mosquitoes. Yeah... 20 RED ANT BITES :( Ugh. I was miserable.

My feet instantly began to itch and swell. Of course, we are out in the sticks and nothing is open. I suffer through the night. The next day, being Sunday, everything was still pretty much closed. Jerome's mom, his sister and I headed to Dollar General. Of course... they didn't have what I was looking for either, but I did manage to get some Benadryl that had more symptoms than I had to take. It knocked me out.

Monday we got our stuff packed up as we would be leaving around midnight to drive back down to catch our early morning flight Tuesday morning. We talked and shared stories and then headed to bed. Thankfully Tink was in the mood to sleep when we went.

When we got up and ready we picked her up to take her to the car and she woke up... wide awake. OH BOY :( Well, thankfully on the car ride down she fell back asleep. We checked our car into the rental lot and headed to the airport with all of our bags and baby gear and Tink. Someone should have checked (hey... I can't be expected to do everything right!) but the airport was closed until an hour before our flight. So there we sat... at the entrance to the airport... waiting on someone to open the doors. Of course, by the time the doors opened Tink was wide awake from all the commotion.

We headed in, checked our baggage and went to find our departure gate. We grabbed a little breakfast and hoped Tink would sleep on the plane. We left out... and yes, she fell asleep... but about 10 minuets before we landed. Ugh.

On our second plane we had an unattended child sitting in front of us. She was about 11 or so and turned around and started playing with Tink to keep herself entertained. We of course were a little ticked since she needed to sleep. When it came time for us to take off Tink became mad, screaming bloody murder because the girl had to sit in her seat for take off. Tink wanted to sit in the seat next to her, we told her no, and she threw a fit. Ugh. We were those people. I'm sorry anyone on that flight.

She finally calmed down. I hung up her blanket so she couldn't see the girl in the seat in front of us (thank you for the tip internet!). She was calm and content coloring. Whew! She was so sleepy though. Eventually I pulled her into my lap and she fell asleep. And continued to sleep for the landing, departure of the aircraft and getting our bags from baggage claim. Holy cats.

We were glad to be back. To sleep in our own beds. To give Tink back to her mama... but of course work came way to soon for us. Thankfully we did take an extra day off just to have a break from our vacation before heading back to work. It still came too soon.

Glad to be home.