NEW ORLEANS

On the drive back from New Orleans tonight Jeff asked me what my favorite part of the day was. My favorite part was the whole day not just one specific thing, I loved experiencing the life of the city. I walked slow, took a ton of pictures, and just people watched as we walked all over the French Quarter and the River Walk for 4 hours. The weather was perfect so it made for a great day of adventure.


This is an example of the LIFE that I enjoyed watching. It was a wedding right in the middle of everything (between the French Quarter and the Riverwalk). I saw it from many different views as we were walking (I even stuck around at one area to watch the bride walk down the aisle). The idea of it seemed so fun to me. To get married in the middle of it all. Random people (like myself) stood by and watched and it all seemed so romantic...of course you are talking to the girl who wanted to elope to Las Vegas to get married (the only reason I didn't was b/c I couldn't convince Jeff to do it)



Jeff and Ty infront of some RANDOM statue along the RiverWalk



Us as we were unloading from the car, ready to take on the city. The kids did great considering the lengthen of time we spent walking around. Ava and Ty took turn in the stoller and being held. Ava didn't cry, whine, or make a peep she took in all the sites of the city and watched everyone as they walked by. She never went to sleep but as soon as we got in the car she was asleep foe the night before Jeff could even pull out of the parking space. On the way to the hotel, Ty informed us that there were parts of the day that weren't very fun. Other then complaining about his leg being tired he was a trooper.

I loved taking in all the sites and buildings of the french quarter.


A beautiful fountain that even had Ty sitting sit to take in its beauty.

Can you tell what JEff is spelling? He is making a "Y" with the string and the yo-yo serves as the "O"--to make "YO." This is his thing he does for all of his pictures while on tour.



Two little sweeties.

Ty getting a free ride on Jeff's shoulders


We wanted to go for dinner and a cruise on this steamboat, but due to a private party it was closed for the night. Instead we ate dinner dinner at Hard Rock.

This picture looks so magical to me...It is actually the oldest catholic church in the US but with the horse carriages in front it look like a magical kingdom bringing princesses to a ball.


Me and the kiddos. We seemed to walk accross alot of railroad tracks...so why not take a picture?

Towards the end of the night we hit up a few souvenir shops and let Ty pick out something to take home. We went to 3 shops searching for a pirate mask but he was disappointed only to find feather masks...this hat was the alternative. It reminds me of a character of Monsters Inc.


Jeff and I along the riverwalk. Can you tell Ty took this photo? We had to bend down so he could get our faces in the photo

You would be impressed how we took this photo. I set it up on a table, zoomed it into location, put on the self timer then RAN to "my spot" I didn't make it in time so Jeff was the runner after that. I can only imagine how we looked to others. B/c it was quite a distance we had to run. A couple walking by took pity on us and offered to take our family photo...we struck up a conversation and I was made fun of for saying "ya'll." The guy was from New Jersey and it made me think of all my NJ friends...here is shout out to ya! After the couples kindness taking the photo, I liked our self timer photo the best.


So if I had to pick ONE favorite part it would be listening to the street bands. This women was a killer clarinet player.

The fam in front of the magic kingdom

Another street band on Royal Street

If you look closely you will notice ther is a guy flipping over 5 adults.
As we were walking around we saw a HUGE mass gathered and decided to join them.
They were all gathered to watched these guys in the green shirt perform dances and tricks. It was entertaining...and one of the things Ty thought was fun as well.


Just a fun picture of only HALF the mass of people.

There was so much character in the buildings.

Looking at this picture makes me GAG!! His guy was standing on a street corner and I noticed other taking pictures with him (and posing with a green pipe just like TY is)so we got in on the fun. As we getting positioned to take the photo the Green guy gives Ty a pipe and then puts one in his mouth. Jeff tells Ty to stick it into his mouth and smile. SO we take the photo and as we are walking away the guy asks for the pipe back...oh GAG...it was then we realized he is reusing the same pipe over and over again for each person...and I watched a handful of people before us put the pipe in their mouth. It seemed like such an evil trick...

We walked down Bourbon street briefly until we came across "this" area then jetted back over to Royal street with family friendly street bands:) Jeff and I were both grateful Ty can't read yet.


Jeff doing his "YO" infront of the Bourbon street sign