Christmas in South Carolina

Who takes a 5 month old on a road trip half-way across the country?

....Us. We do. 

We set off from Illinois on the evening December 8th (a Friday) and drove until 1-ish AM and stayed in a hotel in Tennessee to get a few hours of sleep. We planned ahead and the first leg of the drive was..pretty uneventful and went according to plan. Thatcher slept for 85% of the 7 hours we were in the car. 

However, by the time we got a room and got settled, he was WIDE AWAKE and wanted nothing to do with sleep. He was in a new place and hates his Pack-n-play. So naturally, he screamed. Momma didn't get more than an hour and a half of sleep at best that night.

I have never been a caffeine drinker, but when it came time for breakfast the next morning, I (and a tired, whiny baby) went down to the hotel lobby and I got a cup of the 'house blend'. It was horrible. But I gulped it down anyways and went and took advantage of the free continental breakfast. Lucky for me, the breakfast area had a TV and Thatcher loves TV so he sat on my lap and watched the Weather Channel. (That's what was on). 

We were only 4 hours from my parent's house, but it took us nearly 6 hours to make it there. On our route, we have to drive through part of the Smoky Mountains at the eastern edge of Tennessee/western border of North Carolina. This particular area had gotten 3-4 inches of snow the night before and though the roads were fine, anytime there is the mention of snow- people freak out and you almost always have "that car" that thinks they need to drive 30mph and/or truckers that block both lanes of the highway because the one in the left lane is going like, 2mph faster than the one in the right lane and it takes them 10 miles to actually pass the other one. We got lucky enough to encounter both kinds of drivers-multiple times!

Thatcher took a nap for most of that part of the drive, so I was able to look around and appreciate the snow-covered mountains.  

 We were going to stop at the mountain rest area just inside North Carolina and let Thatcher meet snow for the first time, but again, he was sleeping and we weren't going to "poke the bear" so to speak. Besides, about 30 minutes later, he woke up SCREAMING and had a complete meltdown and we had to stop at a Wal-mart in Hendersonville, NC. 

We finally did make it to my parents house and all things considered- Thatcher did excellent for being in his car seat for so long and we only had one real meltdown. 

If you are able, definitely travel by night when traveling with small children. The 4 hours we drove during the day felt much longer than the 7 hours we drove at night while he slept. 

We had a great week visiting with Grandma and Grandpa. We had Christmas, drove through some Christmas lights, took Thatcher to the beach for the first time and put his feet in the sand (he hated it), built a gingerbread house, and put together part of a puzzle. My Christmas gift was a spa day, so I got to get an hour massage and Micah and I had several lunch dates just the two of us while Grandma babysat. We ended our visit with a trip to North Carolina and I have that in my next post. 

For now, here are a few pictures from our latest adventure! 

       

     

 

Side note: my mom sent me a picture earlier this week, my step-dad and brother finished the puzzle.

 

 
 If you're a repeat reader of my ramblings: well, first of all, thank you! But second, make sure you read my last post for 2017. Exciting things are coming in 2018

Whew!

The title says it all.

"WHEW!" aptly describes the last 2 1/2 months of our lives. In fact, it could also be used to describe the entire year of 2017 thus far.

After some back and forth on whether to keep going with this blog, I have decided to give it until the end of the year to make my decision. I was worried that since we are settling down (well...sort of) I wouldn't have any travel adventures to talk about, plus, Micah and I have both made the decision to step back from the internet-world and keep more of our lives off of social media. However, I enjoy writing- when I have time- which... is even more scarce now, with a 2 month old.

So, let's start where we left off.

First of all- I am no longer pregnant! Thatcher Rexton made his appearance in mid-July, just short of 2 weeks early. I will spare you all the details, but 20+ hours of labor and one blood pressure issue later, we had a healthy baby boy with a full head of hair.

Pretty much after that... everything is a blur. The baby is colicky (just like his momma was) so his stomach bothers him and he cries. A. LOT. I know what you're thinking- babies cry, it's normal, get over it. Let me tell you, this poor baby used to cry inconsolably for hours at a time. We would try bouncing, rocking, singing, walking, gas drops, gripe water, breast milk, Gentlease formula,  NOTHING worked for our poor baby. I am happy to report, however, that at almost 12 weeks, this is getting better. When he cries now, 99% of the time he can be consoled. Granted, he has to be moving most of the time he is awake, but I still count this as a win.

So far things I've learned as a mommy:

• Sleep is totally over-rated. I am amazed at how my body has adapted to little-no sleep. 
• Baby can sleep through the vacuum cleaner, loud music, video game sounds, thunderstorms, and me washing dishes. However, don't even THINK about sneezing or stepping on the creaky floorboard.

About a week after we brought him home, our tree got hit by lightning and part of it fell on my car..

 So, that tree went from this:

To this. 

Good riddance. It was mostly a dead tree to begin with.

At 2 1/2 months old he can: hold his head up, push off of things with his legs, roll over, hold his own bottle (now, whether or not he WILL is another story, but he CAN. He has done it several times). He jabbers, smiles, and is starting to show some personality.

His favorite band is Linkin Park. It's kind of funny, he will be screaming and we put on Linkin Park and he quiets down and either watches the music video (if we are streaming from youtube) or goes to sleep if it's just playing on our phones or something. He also enjoys Glenn Miller band and Frank Sinatra.

The cat and dog seem to like him well enough, Atticus doesn't want to be close to him, but he is never very far away either. Ellie loves to lick his feet, which he hates. 

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Thatcher from his first pumpkin patch experience.. he loved it, if you couldn't tell.

In other news, I am the newest travel agent for Travel Connections! I am so excited to get some training done and help other people experience how much fun vacations and traveling can be.

I am also in class to get a real estate license and have a job lined up for when I finish class and pass the state exam. One more week of class and then two exams left to go on this endeavor. Then, my hope is that I can help people find a place to call home. And my license will be valid for anywhere in Illinois, so if any friends in the Salem/Mt. Vernon area would like help buying/selling a home, let me know!

Micah and I are also taking a Japanese class at SIUE, because, you know, we don't have enough going on.

If everything goes as planned, our first major trip with baby will be in December. I won't tell you where we are going just yet, but, I am so excited to start traveling and taking Thatcher on adventures. I know, he is too small to remember anything quite yet, but it does this momma good to be out and exploring new places.

Baby Ilbery: The (early) Third Trimester

First of all, can I just say: GEEZ! Where did April go? Like seriously, I feel like last week it was February and now it's the beginning/almost middle of May. I guess time really does fly when you're busy nearly night during the week and have various events every weekend.  Spring is a busy time for our family, though- let's be honest- EVERY season is a busy one for us.

Plus, we had to replace our water heater two weeks ago and now our basement flooded last week with all the rain we have gotten. So, there's that too.

This week I am rounding out week 28 of my pregnancy and I am finally starting to feel more like myself! (well... this week anyway)

We've been trying to take these photos since December to document the changes taking place as baby grows, and I would like to say we have been diligent and there are 29 of these, BUT... well...I've gotten better the past 5 weeks about doing them weekly. I haven't shared any of them publicly because I haven't liked how I look in most of them (and, I mean, Micah or I neither one wants to be one of those people that live their lives on social media- but it truly IS the easiest way to update everyone at once. )

In the past two/two-and-a-half, I have had:

• a return of energy - (some. but hey, I was operating on almost zero before, now I feel like a solid 50% most days)
• a lift in mood/attitude (I was kinda cranky and tired all the time before)
• I actually WANT to cook again
• I actually WANT to go do random things again
• I'm still very overwhelmed, but I am handling "life" much better now, more like how I did before I was pregnant
• I've started making it a point to walk a few nights a week, get some low-impact exercise (weather permitting, of course)
• I've started talking to people a little bit again (I sort of went MIA for awhile, had no desire to make small talk with people outside of my immediate family that saw me or talked to me on a regular basis) 

I've also had the fun pregnancy symptoms of:

• Lower back/tailbone pain
• Trouble sleeping at night (which probably has something to do with my energy levels)
• Feet/Hands swelling
• NOTHING sounds good to eat- I've been eating on auto-pilot with the exception of a few days here and there where something actually sounds delicious, but other than those few days- pretty much the entire pregnancy so far I haven't felt hungry.
• I've not really had what I would call mood swings, but I have noticed that whatever feeling I happen to be feeling at any certain time- is an intense feeling. 
• If I'm tired- I'm exhausted
• If I'm upset, either- I want to cry/do cry (usually briefly) OR am ANGRY and you should stay away from me for about 10 minutes
• On the rare occasion that I'm actually hungry- I'm starving
• If I am in "go" mode- I clean EVERYTHING I can get my hands on (laundry, dishes, sweeping floors, picking up the house, organizing closets, anything)

Since I haven't really had any desire to really open up about the pregnancy so far, here are a few answers to the questions I get asked all the time...

-*-

Have you been having any cravings?

No, I haven't had any stereotypical cravings. No pickles on ice cream, no tacos at 2 am, no "I ate an entire pan of brownies this afternoon" - the only real thing that I have noticed is different than usual is that now, when we go out to eat at a restaurant, if my meal is served with french fries- I want to dip them in ranch dressing, not ketchup. I have never really liked ranch dressing, so this was a surprise to me that now, I prefer that over ketchup or bbq sauce or anything else for french fries. Oh, and Red Robin's fries/ranch combo is my FAVORITE. 

You don't look very big, when are you due? 

First of all, THANK YOU! I'm taking that as a compliment! 

When I get this question, I usually give the vague answer of "late July". I have been given 3 different dates as my "due date" but in reality, this baby will come when it is ready, regardless of what the doctor guesses. My "official" date that was written in my chart, and what they're using to measure me on, is July 26th. 

And trust me, while I might not look "all that big yet", I assure you: I have one pair of pants that is still comfortable to wear, my feet and hands have started swelling a little bit in the evenings and I have started having trouble with my right knee swelling too (it's my bad knee that flares up sometimes).
Exhibit A: my foot after attempting to wear "real shoes" to work one day two weeks ago. See where my shoes were laced up?

I probably am not very big yet because I haven't been hungry. I'm sure that if I kept junk food around the house, I'd have probably gained more weight than I have.. 

Is it a boy or a girl?!

...YES. :) About 85% of what we have asked for is gender-neutral (which, I planned on doing anyway because if we have another baby a few years on down, hand-me-downs are the best thing ever!)  

Are you guys ready?

Like, to be parents? - Sure! We're looking forward to it!

Like, nursery, supplies, game-plan -wise? - HA! We still have 10-11 weeks to get everything together. Don't underestimate me! 

..but really. As of right now, we have three newborn outfits (that's enough, right?) and we don't even have the room we are going to use as the nursery cleared out yet. It's currently Micah's office space and we can't move him and his computer, guitars, video game consoles and games, and other electronics down to an unfinished basement that floods.. we've been working on it, but again, we've had several setbacks and a budget that I've been stretching as best I can.

The setbacks being: having to buy a new hot water heater that was leaking and having water come up through our cement floor and depositing a quarter-inch of water into our basement when we got all that rain a week and a half ago. We haven't gotten the floor fixed yet- but we will have to do something with it before we put the nice flooring down. I don't want to be down in the basement trying to sop up water with towels again. Luckily- very few things got ruined in that mess. Most of what we have down there currently is on storage risers or plastic storage tubs. We don't have the budget to actually have our basement finished, but we are trying to make it more... nice.  

Kentucky: Kangaroos, Caves, and Wedding Anniversaries

It's official. We have been married whole 3 years! Holy moly. Seriously?

In some ways it feels like yesterday we were stressing over wedding details and getting our travel arrangements set for England.. but in other ways, it feels like we have been together forever :)

(...Because we have. It's been..9 years altogether)

This year, since our actual anniversary fell right in the middle of the week (Wednesday, April 12th) we decided to take our anniversary trip a few days early and spent April 7-9 in Kentucky! As with most of our trips, the hardest part was deciding WHERE to actually go.

In fact, as of Friday morning, I still didn't have anything booked as far as lodging or activities. We still weren't 100% sure where we were going. I had several contenders, the main two being:

 Kansas City, Kansas (we need Kansas for our travel map) 

OR

Glasgow/Bowling Green, Kentucky (it was reasonable driving distance and they had kangaroos)

Originally, we were looking at Denver, Colorado- but, since our trip to New Orleans last month, time has kind of gotten away from me and for last minute decisions (like this one) I didn't want to spend the extra money (or headache) of booking last minute flights and accommodations. In the end, because my doctor wasn't thrilled about the idea of me flying in a hot air balloon (as I was gunning for in Kansas City) we decided Kentucky was the best choice. 

I was able to book a bed and breakfast Friday morning for that night and Saturday, and after showers and getting ourselves packed, we headed off for the 5 hour drive. We came through Mt. Vernon around lunch time and I had Micah call his dad and ask if he would like to have lunch with us. He did, and we went to the Blue Goose (FINALLY!). Micah and my father in law have talked this place up as the best Greek food around for so long, but I have never gotten to go because they are only open during weekdays and I was never in Mt. Vernon on weekdays. But, you know what? ...they were SO right. Best. Gyro. I've. Ever. Had. 

My father in law also wanted a picture of us in front of the restaurant since it was my first time eating there, so..here ya go.

..Er.. just kidding! Looks like I didn't save the picture he sent me through text message..

The rest of our 3-3 1/2 hour drive was pretty uneventful. I drove from the welcome center rest stop in Indiana to Owensboro Kentucky (and we didn't die, I might add!) and then Micah drove us the rest of the way to the Bed and Breakfast in Glasgow.

I chose Main Street Bed and Breakfast because:

1. we had never done a B&B before and wanted the new experience

2. it was HALF the price of the chain hotels near the interstate

3. I was able to book it the morning we left for that night + Saturday (so basically, it was available last minute)

Upon our arrival around 4pm, we had to call and let the owner know we had arrived so we could pick up our keys to the house/our room. I wish I had taken a few more pictures since the place was adorable..but we were in the Carroll Cottage behind the actual main house. It wasn't anything extravagant, but it was clean, the bed was comfortable (seriously, I actually slept pretty well both nights and that's saying something since I'm a light sleeper and don't typically sleep well away from home, or at all since being pregnant...) and the bathroom was clean and the showers were hot. It also had a small flat-screen tv with cable! I was able to watch travel channel for a few hours Friday night, which is a luxury to us, since we don't have cable at home. 

There was a Shogun Japanese Hibachi restaurant within walking distance of our B&B so we decided to have our one "expensive" meal that night and ate there. We both left feeling sick from eating so much food and neither one of us cleared our plates..they served SO much. But on our walk back to the B&B, we stopped downtown to take a photo under the gorgeous, flattering, yellow streetlight,

and watched TV until about 10pm, which was about the time that some of the other guests in the main house decided to go stargazing outside our door and stay out there talking and their kids running around yelling. But, we both put in earplugs and only heard them a few times after that.

Saturday morning started off with scrambled eggs, bacon, and waffles for breakfast in the main house at 8:30am, then we set out for Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo, which opened at 9. We got there a little after 10.

As I was afraid of, there was already a line out the door. I figured they'd be busy since it was a forecasted gorgeous Saturday during several different school spring breaks. After waiting in line for about 5 minutes, the family in front of us turns around and asks if we were purchasing our tickets at the counter or if we had already bought them and had a voucher. I told them we were just planning to purchase our admission at the counter and they told us they had already bought a groupon for 4 adults without reading the fine print. They thought they were buying a family pass (they had two children with them) but the Groupon clearly said 4 adult admissions. So, they offered to just let us have their other two spots if we would pay admission for their son (the daughter was still young enough to get in for free). Children's admission was $15.95, so I gave them $16 and we all went in together.  

Once inside, I made a beeline for the kangaroo enclosure (at the back of the park, naturally) because, let's be honest, that's why we were there. It's free to go into the walk about, and $1 per food cup. We got two, one for me, one for Micah, and headed in. It was amazing!

They were so sweet and gentle, and their fur kind of felt like a rabbit's- soft and fluffly. We ended up going at the perfect time because the kangaroos hadn't already been fed all day and they were interactive with us. I even had two fighting over the food I had in my hand. We had an emu come up to us as well. I would have tried to bring one home, but I left my big purse at home. WHAT was I thinking?! (I'll come back for you, Rocko!) 

We spent close to a half-hour inside the kangaroo enclosure, or the "outback walkabout" I think it was called.

 ****if you want to plan a trip to Kentucky Down Under: ****
 Go in the morning and make it the first thing you do. We looped back around after exploring the rest of the zoo (it was about noon-30) and there was a wrap-around line to the entrance of the enclosure and swarms of adults and children alike inside. And by that time, most of the kangaroos were curled up in the sun trying to nap, having presumably being fed for the past 3 and a half hours. It would not have been the same experience had we waited and gone through the zoo first, or had waited to do the zoo until the afternoon.

After feeding and loving on the kangaroos, we walked over to the bird house and fed the birds. I got pooed on :( but we had a good time taking pictures with the birds.


Micah, the bird whisperer...

From there we went to the sheep herding demonstration and got to watch two dogs herd a flock of sheep. There was some sort of presentation going on with it, but they didn't have a microphone on the guy so we couldn't hear anything he said. But it was very cool to watch him give commands to the dogs and watch them do their herding.

One day, I WILL get my hands on an owl..But that day will have to wait a while longer :(

Kentucky Down Under also had a few birds of prey you could look at (but not interact with), some Macaws, parrots, a Kookaburra, and several other species. They also had lemurs, arctic wolves, foxes, bison, goats, horses, and a beautiful white peacock.

Located in the middle of the grounds next to the gift shop was the opening to Mammoth Onyx cave, of which a tour is included in your general admission price. So, we decided to take the tour happening at noon.

The cave itself was neat, though if you have trouble walking or squatting, it's not the tour for you. There were several instances where the stairs were steep, wet, and wandered out of reach of the handrail.

You also had to crouch in several places to get through the passages, and the man in front of us (he was a larger man) had to "suck it in" as his children said, to get through the narrow opening at one point. The tour itself was pretty short, we spent the most time waiting for everyone to get into the space that we were supposed to stop to hear the tour guide speak. The group was entirely too large for that little cave... they need to have a ticket system in place so they have a max number. But again, it was neat, and a welcome break from the 80 degree sun above us.

After the cave tour, as I mentioned, we took another look at the kangaroo enclosure and decided against round two after seeing the crowd and we just left. We had lunch at Cracker Barrel (it was about 1:30pm) and then headed to Diamond Caverns, near Cave City, KY. I had thought about doing Mammoth Cave, but after my own research and the advice of our Bed and Breakfast owner, we decided to forego the crowds and tour a less popular attraction. Plus, I have been to Mammoth Cave before- when I was young. I remember our tour being sort of a trek, and being pregnant..wasn't sure I was up for a trek.

We got to Diamond Caverns and walked into the main building and neither one of us got a good vibe from the place. The staff we encountered seemed almost apprehensive, like we were an annoyance to them, and the cashier in the gift shop gave me a look of "either buy something or leave" when I was reading the signs for their tours. And I guess I was standing in the wrong place or something because I stepped into an open doorway to get cell phone signal and was told by the staff I couldn't take my purse on the cave tour and I needed to leave the area... I told him I wasn't on a tour, I was trying to get cell phone signal and he was super rude after that.

So, we left. On our way out, I picked up a brochure for Lost River Cave in Bowling Green (30 minutes away) and this cave tour was a boat tour. That's where we headed!

Lost River Cave had a much different atmosphere. We got to the grounds a little after 3, and the next tour was at 4. This particular cave had some great nature trails you could walk and a little play area for children. We walked down part of the nature path to where our tour was supposed to meet, found a bench, and waited.

We enjoyed the nature trail heading down to the mouth of the cave, and the tour guide stopped once to tell us a story about the river that runs through the cave. The boat tour itself was short and sweet, and our boat got stuck at one point and the guide had to use a long stick to push us off of the bank. There is also an interactive tour, if you are more adventurous, it gets you all muddy crawling around in the cave... we didn't do that one. By this point we were both tired from walking and being in the sun all day. Lost River Cave was also a nightclub in the 30's, 40's and 50's, so we took advantage of the tourist-y cutout on our way back from the mouth of the cave.

We ended our evening with a round of mini-golf at Kentucky Fun Park (or something like that). The park itself looked like it had seen better days, but for $5 a person to play 18 holes of mini-golf, we decided it was worth it. We both hit hole in one's on the course! ...oh, and I WON :)

The park also did ziplines, horseback riding, and other activities, so if you have children, you could probably easily spend half a day here doing the different things. We just did the mini-golf though.

We got back to the bed and breakfast around 7, I took a shower to get the bird poop from the morning out of my hair, and we ended up driving to Arby's about 9pm to eat a small dinner.

On Sunday morning, we were served more eggs and bacon, and all you can eat pancakes in the main house. After breakfast we checked out and set off for home. We met Micah's parents in Mt. Vernon for lunch again, and got back home around 3pm, just enough time for me to do laundry and get ready for the week ahead.

I'll be honest, I wasn't sure about this weekend and how it would end up going. I didn't really want to go anywhere, I didn't have anything planned out and set up, I was physically and mentally drained, and that old thought in my head had popped up saying "do you really need to spend the money to go away again when you've got other projects going on at home and all the usual bills..." but, as always, I'm glad we went and made the memories. It's our anniversary, and to us: it's always been important that we take care of OUR relationship first. It's important that we spend time together celebrating us and that we don't our let day-to-day routines bog us down and make us forget how fun life can be with someone you love. (Now's the part where you either gag or say "Awww!")

So, in a way, our little weekend trip was the perfect ending to year 3 of our marriage. I can't wait to take on year 4 and all the changes that will happen between now and next year.

Heck, we've already had one this week! Our hot water heater is leaking and we have to buy a new one! Yay for homeownership! Yay for being an adult! ...... :/ Oh well, it's just money, right? 

New Orleans (Part 2): Tastes of New Orleans

For those that know me, it should come as no surprise that my favorite part of our recent trip down to the Bayou was centered around a food!

On day two of our trip, we took the Flavors of the French Quarter tour by Tastebud Tours. Tickets were $56 a person and you could choose between two different times. Our tour met at 11am and we basically spent the next 3 hours walking around New Orleans eating food. (Which is included in the price of the tour. The only thing that costs extra is if you want to buy alcoholic beverages at any of the restaurants or you want to purchase merchandise from the locations.)

Micah and I left our hotel around 10am and walked the almost mile to the meeting point on Decatur Street, down by the French Market. Once our group of 14 was assembled, we set off.

Our first stop was across the street (literally) at a place called Tujague's. The second oldest restaurant in New Orleans, Tujague's is known for inventing the drink "the Grasshopper" and also for its mirror behind the bar, which was shipped from France in the 1800's. Our tour guide said what made this impressive was that it was shipped AS IS (all in one piece), and it arrived and has hung, STILL all in one piece ever since.

Our dish from Tujagues was Red Beans and Rice. Which- I'll be honest- I wasn't thrilled about when I heard that was our first dish, BUT, it was actually quite good and I ate all of it. 

Our second stop was a candy shop a few blocks away called Laura's Candies. 

 

Without a doubt, the best part of this stop was the ALL YOU CAN EAT FREE SAMPLES found around the store. I tried 4 different kinds of Pralines (Micah's new favorite thing), some flavored almond barks, a Mississippi Mud fudge, and they give you an entire Praline to go when you leave! (**this is one of the stops that several of the other tour members bought extra items after trying them, and had we wanted to carry a bag around with us, we would have too! If this had been the last stop of the tour, I think we would have ended up spending $50 before I could get Micah out of there. **Feel free to insert the "kid in a candy store" joke**)

Stop number three was, again, a few more blocks away, but our tour guide did an excellent job of taking us down the "less traveled" streets so we could get a feel for the 'real New Orleans'. The scenery was gorgeous, and the rain they called for earlier in the week seemed to change its mind and we had a beautiful day of nearly 80 degrees to enjoy. 

I am going to apologize now, because it's at this point that my camera decided when it was going to work. I took so many pictures and when I got back to the hotel, I realized that half of them were nowhere to be found! 

Stop three was at a fun hole-in-the wall place called Old Coffee Pot Gumbo. This was a neat little place and we were seated in their outdoor garden area. The walls were painted with frescoes of Old New Orleans. (This was one of the many photos that 'disappeared' from my phone...thanks, Google Photos.)

This was one of my favorite stops of the day because we got to try TWO menu items. Gumbo and Jambalaya. It was also here that we learned the difference between Creole and Cajun. Creole is the native New Orleans style of cooking and Cajun sort of encompasses the entire state of Louisiana. So when you say that you are going to New Orleans to eat Cajun food, you're not TECHNICALLY wrong- since you're still in the state of New Orleans, but you're probably incorrect if you're eating locally in New Orleans since most places cook in the Creole style. 

This was the seafood Gumbo. My Jambalaya picture disappeared. But, both were surprisingly very good. I was nervous about the Gumbo- and they brought that first. It was a chicken-broth base, with rice, okra, oysters, carrots, shrimp, and various herbs and spices. I don't like shrimp very well, but the soup base was delicious. I ate everything except for the big pieces of shrimp. 

The Jambalaya was a tomato/rice base (so it had an orange-red color and was thick enough of a dish you could eat it with a fork or a spoon). It had sausage, chicken, and some spice to it. I love spicy food, and since they serve you a big glass of ice water at every location, I would have even added a little more spice to it, had it been an option.  I ate all of that in its entirety, it was delicious. I could have ordered it in a 5 gallon bucket and brought it home with us. 

Our next stop brought us to Bourbon Street- to a place called Nola Po'boys. Guess what they serve? Yep, ice cream! (Ok, they did have an ice cream counter, but they serve 40-something kinds of Po'boy sandwiches. 

It was here that if we weren't on a tour and I had ordered something, I would have walked out. We were treated as an inconvenience, and all three staff members that we interacted with were completely rude to us. It's not like we were filling up their main dining room and taking seats away from their 'real customers', as they had a room in the back for the tours to sit in. Even our tour guide said something to the effect of "I guess everyone is having a bad morning today" so that makes me think that perhaps they aren't always this rude...but still! 

At this stop we got nearly half of a roast beef po'boy. It was roast beef, lettuce, mayo, and a heaping helping of gravy all smashed between a fresh baked baguette. Our tour guide joked with us that no one gets any utensils, and you only get 7 napkins. She then wished us luck. 

I picked mine up, and all the contents immediately slid out of the bread into the paper they had put down for us. I had a picture of my sandwich fail, but it was in the photos that disappeared, unfortunately. I still managed to eat most of the sandwich with my fingers and what I tasted was heavenly. I am not usually a fan of mayo, but it worked well with the gravy, meat, and lettuce. Had they not been so rude to us, we might have gone back for dinner that night and gotten full size sandwiches (and maybe a plastic fork). 

By this time, I'm feeling pretty comfortably full, and that's good because I wasn't too thrilled about our last menu item, Shrimp and Grits. By this time, we had walked about a mile and looped back sort-of near our starting point, but farther down the street. 

A cute little cafe called Saint Cecilia. It had a decently welcoming feel, but they were very strict about where we could sit and we couldn't move chairs around. (the bachelorette party that was on our tour were the only ones that really seemed to care that they couldn't all pile around one table, but whatever)

It was here that we were served the 'famous' shrimp and grits. Again, I'm not a huge fan of shrimp but boiled shrimp is my least favorite. Sure enough, they brought us three boiled shrimp smothered in a special BBQ-esque sauce, all on top of a scoop of cheese grits. Knowing full well that I probably wouldn't care for it, I nibbled at a piece of shrimp and honestly, I was surprised. The shrimp isn't what I disliked!.. It was that sauce. It was sweet but also left a tangy/sour taste in your mouth; it tasted vaguely smoky, like they had tried to go for a smoky sweet BBQ, but had accidentally dumped too much vinegar in the mix and as a result, the sauce was almost too bitter and was runny like a beverage, not thick like what I typically envision BBQ sauce or gravy. It was bad enough that I offered my shrimp to Micah and he declined (he LOVES shrimp). I couldn't even eat the cheese grits on the bottom because they had dumped that sauce all over the dish and by it being so thin and runny, it had soaked down into the entire bowl. I envied the girl sitting next to me a little bit, she had a shellfish allergy so the restaurant had brought her a bowl of just the cheese grits, which she offered to share with me because her bowl was almost the size of a platter (had I been actually hungry, I might have accepted and shared a bowl of food with a stranger). 

I'm no food critic and I would certainly eat at Saint Cecilia Cafe again, but the shrimp and grits...weren't for me. Or anyone else at our particular table. 

Our tour ended after this. We were across the street from the Old US Mint, so we decided to walk around the front of the building and check it out. It was free admission, after all. 

The first floor was all we really cared about seeing, and that was the actual old Mint part. The top two floors were a jazz/art museum. 

It took us about 20 minutes to go through the part that we wanted to, and then we went to the second floor to sit on a bench inside the art museum while we figured out a plan of action to see as much of the city as we could in one afternoon. We decided to walk down a few more blocks and catch the cable/streetcar. Day passes were $3 a person and a single day pass was good for any line in the city. So we started by riding the blue line, which was down by the river (where we were currently wandering around). They had the windows on the streetcar open, and the ride was very enjoyable to our tired feet. 

We got back into the downtown area and hopped on the red line, which took us through the main street/heart of the city, all the way out to Mid-town. Then we came back on the green line and walked back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner. 

They also had lines that took you out to the cemeteries, and several other lines we didn't get to ride, (brown, orange, purple..grey?) but we were tired from walking around for the last 3 hours. We had dinner at a little pizza place down the street from the hotel and had the entire indoor dining room to ourselves. It was a nice change from being in a crowd of people all day. Plus the pizza was good, the two of us finished off a large by ourselves...I might have helped, a lot, with that.. (hey, baby was hungry!)

So, overall thoughts: 

Could I live in New Orleans? -No. 

Could I spend a week there? -Probably... just maybe not the week AFTER Mardi Gras and the week BEFORE St. Patrick's Day. 

-I really enjoyed the cuisine, and there were a ton of things we could have done, had we wanted to spend the money and had the leisurely time to do them. There are tons of tours and events, if you do some research. Swamp tours, ghost and vampire tours, voodoo tours/museums, dinner cruises down the Mississippi, heck- you could just wander around listening to the different bands and street performers- there's definitely enough to do. Even for families with small children, they have an aquarium and a children's museum. Granted, I'm sure there are more things for families to do but those are the two things that we came across in our two days in the Big Easy.

Would I go back? - Yes, I think so. Micah and I agreed that next time, though, it would be ideal to have a little group, or at least another couple to go do some of these things with. (And me preferably NOT be pregnant. After 3 hours of walking, my feet were pretty swollen and I'm sure I got cranky...)

These next few weeks (ok, months) are already booked up, so on to the next adventure! Life doesn't slow down, so neither can we.