A couple weeks ago Philip and I went to Louisiana, because well why not? Philip's sister, Tammie, her husband Ryan, and their adorable family live in Lafayette, and we happen to really like Mardi Gras, so we decided to combine the two with a little vacation!
Our first day/night there started with Po' Boys, then a concert put on by are adorable nephews.
Ben was a little slow to warm up to us, but as soon as his clothes came off and the guitar went on, he was in his element.
Payton just started playing the trombone this year and is amazingly good so far.
And Jack, who is on the right in the picture, entertained us with his sweet dance moves.
Then Ben really warmed up to Philip and acted like a kitty crawling all over him.
It was pretty much the most adorable thing I've seen in my life.
And one more, because it is impossible not to fall in love with this child.
Our second day, we woke up early and went to a restaurant where they have an in house zydeco band and people get up and dance around and whatnot. Unfortunately, the line was crazy long with it being the weekend before Mardi Gras, so after 20 minutes of not moving and being starving, we went and picked up our King Cake and ate that instead. And if you haven't had King Cake before, your life is not yet complete.
And I'm glad that we were inside because the light rain that we had on our drive home turned into this ridiculous downpour. I was completely blown away by it all! Seriously, I think that in all my 26 years, I've never seen so much rain.
When the rain finally let up, we went to Lake Martin, which is surrounded by swampy marsh land, and they even have a rookery! Just like an owlery on Harry Potter!
There's a crocodile! See it's tiny head in the picture below? I was amazed that Ryan could spot that from the car!
Then they have a little board walk where you can walk out and get a closer look at everything, which was super cool.
And Ryan spotted another crocodile! This one was right beneath the walk way, so like three feet away from us! And then Ryan kind of liked to harass me and threw a stick at it while I imagined it jumping out of the water at me.
Swamp!
See the stick! That's the one Ryan threw, and though I was kind of freaking out, the crocodile didn't seem to mind.
More swampness!
That night had crawfish for dinner, because that's what you do in Louisiana! Raaaah! This one wants to eat you! Too bad we were eating it instead!
You just pull them apart, like so...
Not even joking, they were alright. Tammie got a video of me eating it for the first time, which is about the most awkward looking thing on the planet, and kind of hilarious at the same time. And look at our dead and eaten friends. I was pleased with myself for eating several.
The next day we went to a couple of plantations, both of which were beautiful, and based on the picture below, I'll give you two guesses on whether or not it was cold. :)
This first one was Nottoway Plantation, and it was pretty, but the tour and tour guide was meh. The red beans and rice that they served us for lunch though was delicious.
This porch overlooks the Mississippi River, which I think would be quite a dreamy landscape to get to look out on.
We then ventured a little further to Oak Alley, which was incredible! These oak trees that lead up to the house are referred to as the "Baby Oaks" because they are only 150 years old. What the what?! It was breathtaking.
Out of all of Philip's 7 sisters, I think that he and Tammie look most alike with their adorable dimples and are very very similar personality wise. It was so much fun to hang out with her, and to get to see them interact together. They are twinners, for sure.
I was a little obsessed with these oak trees. These front ones were 300 years old! Remind me next time I travel back in time to plant oak trees in Arizona. The only thing we have here that are that old are saguaros, and it's not like you're ever all, "Wow, look at how many arms that saguaro has." Ugh, I would trade all our saguaros for just like three oak trees any day.
Look at us being all tiny on this huge tree! I was totally imagining the tree people on LOTR, because I'm super cool like that.
Excuse me while I look 5 months pregnant.
I love them.
Can you even believe this?! So pretty I wanted to die.
The next day, we started out with a trip to the Tobasco factory, which Jack had been talking about all week!
It was there that we first tried Boudan too. Basically it is sausage and rice in a casing, and is super super weird to eat. But look how classy I am, pinkies up and all.
Kinda weird, and the first ones we had at the Tobasco factory were kinda gross. But later, Ryan got us some boudan balls, which are the same ingredients, minus the casing but battered and deep fried. Way better that way.
We then went to the Rip van Winkle house and garden, and it was super cool and super pretty and had a really cool history to it.
Isn't Jack such a handsome boy?
And Payton too?
Lol, I know this next picture is awful, but we were laughing so hard because we had Jack take it, and as soon as he got the camera, he walked up like two inches in front of us, then we told him to scoot back and he instantly asked where the zoom was. So here we are, super close and laughing hard.
Oh these boys, could they be more adorable?
More oak tree love. And the moss hanging from it? Love love love.
Okay, it isn't a masterpiece, but you would not believe how impossible it is to get a good picture of the three of these boys, and I was thrilled with this picture.
While we were there, we decided to buy this house. Isn't it lovely? Would you like to come visit us? If you come, you have to mow the lawn.
And then we stumbled upon a peacock! Proud like a peacock baby! Very proud.
And another one! All in all we counted about 15 that were just sauntering about.
Ben was clearly concerned that the peacocks would be "houd".
I might have been thrilled with this shot, what with them flanking the fountain? I think I'll take two peacocks to go please.
And then that night the Mardi Gras festivities began! Now let me give the disclaimer that we were in Lafayette, which is the family friendly version of Mardi Gras. No shenanigans like in New Orleans, very kid friendly. Just so we're all on the same page now.
These high school bands and their dancers seriously get down. Yet another thing you just don't see in Arizona.
Beads!
Ben was pretty much a magnet for the bead throwers, and he also got all sorts of stuffed animals and prizes! Who could deny that face?
This picture is another that I know is kind of awful, thanks to my creepy hand and Ryan trying to have Ben look at the camera, but for the sake of having a group shot, here we are.
Philip was particular with his beads and only wanted certain colors. I, on the other hand, was a bead whore, and got as many as possible, and would wear whatever was thrown my way.
Mardi Gras day started out overcast and rainy, but that didn't keep us and everyone else in Louisiana from enjoying the parades.
Group shot once again. These were our winnings after the first parade, decent, but not fantastic.
Once again, Philip was picky and I was not. I did start to get specific though and yell to the floats, "Throw me the big ones!" At which point I got asked to shimmy, which rest assured, just did not happen.
Before the next parade would start, we would take off all our beads and start fresh, and then the cops would start the next parade off by doing tricks and giving the kids high fives.
Those dimples got him a lot of beads.
And you would not believe the arguments that would take place later over that stinkin' foam sword. Gotta love a house full of boys. :)
The second parade was a bust, and we were kinda pissed about it, but the third one was just a bunch of drunkards that played loud music and wanted us to dance. And dance we did.
And at the end of the day and after all of the festivities, we had an entire carry on luggage bag full of beads to bring home to Arizona, and enough to bury poor Payton alive.
And that is it! It was such a fun trip, I loved spending time with Tammie and Ryan and their boys and getting to relax and see such fun things. I mean, come on, how many people get to say they've been to Mardi Gras?! Or to the Tabasco Factory? I have been! It was absolutely fantastic, and I can't wait until we go again!
