New Orleans!!

Well we found out on a Friday Brandon was going to have the following week off, nothing like spur of the moment plans! I love the unexpected day off...a whole week was unreal! We were about 17 hours away from New Orleans and so we said, hey lets go there and visit family, this is the closets we will ever be to drive.  Its about 37 hours driving from home in Cda...

I picked up the rental car and we headed that way Sunday morning.  We stopped in Dallas to get something to eat, we didn't know all the restaurants are BEFORE dallas...we seriously drove around downtown and couldn't find anywhere to eat so we ended up eating at some BBQ place that honestly wasn't very good.  As soon as we got on the road again we passed a Texas Roadhouse...dang it seriously?! Sometimes Siri can really let us down.... We also drove through the biggest wind farm we will ever seen in our entire lives, it went on for like 30 miles!!!

 We got into New Orleans about 3:30 am, we were so hungry so we went to the french quarter and got some breakfast at ihop! What a crazy experience to be in the french quarter  at 3:30 in the morning.  We were the only white people in the place and probably the only sober ones :) We headed to Aunt Susan and Uncle Gerrys and at about 4:30 and we stayed up talking until 7:30 when Aunt Susan had to go to work.  It was so fun!!
We went to Cafe Du Monde every morning and got beignets....4 orders to be exact! They are so good, puffed up donuts with powder sugar on them, yum!! It was a blast seeing all the street performers, jazz music and good food! We spent a whole day on Bourbon street and that was a crazy experience, getting to go from bar to bar with your drink and not getting in trouble.  They even have "to go only" bars there, haha it was too funny! One of the bartenders told us where to go and where not to go, there was a very large gay section, every day one way or another we ended up in the gay section and Brandon would get hit on....he said to me "do not let go of my hand" while he was squeezing it so hard, haha made me laugh! On Thursday a lot of family members got off work and we all spent the day in the french quarter, starting out at Cafe Du Monde of course then heading to bourbon street, it was the best day!!

The family at Cafe Du Monde

Melissa, myself and Melissa on the Ferry

Ashley Paul and Brandon on the very

Brandon, Uncle Gerry, Aunt Susan, Uncle Rolland and Ashley Paul on Bourbon Street

The guys Brown Bagging it :)

Brandon and Uncle Rolland 

Aunt Susan, Melissa and I 

Uncle Gerry and I

Us girls having some fun with a street performer :) 

Brandon on Bourbon Street

Everything in New Orleans is so huge....Brandon had to get the biggest sandwich!!!

Check out this little guy we found in a bayou....I was scared its momma was going to come eat us!! 

What an amazing experience getting to meet all my new family.  Brandon hadn't been there in years so it was very special for him too.  I have so many great memories and now I truly know my new family.  I love everyones personalities and how they will all get together at the drop of a hat.  Plans change from second to second and it is just a riot.  In the end everyone comes together though and the laughter starts.  One special thing we got to do was go see Brandon's Grandmas resting place.  I never got to meet this lovely lady but I feel like I know her from the way everyone talks about her.  Everyone just lights up and gets such a warm look in their eye at the mention of her name or when telling a story.  What a special lady, I hope to leave an effect on people like that when I go.

 It is so special to have such large loving families all over the country.  Brandon and I are very focused on family and that is our number one priority. When we went to New Jersey and saw all my family everyone welcomed him like he had been in the family for years.  We we went to New Orleans, I got the same exact welcoming and it just warmed my heart.  We are so lucky that Brandon has such a great job, it will allow us to be able to visit our family at least once a year.  We will definitely be making a trip to New Jersey and New Orleans once a year to stay connected with our families.  It may have been a little late when we finally got to New Orleans but we wont be missing anything now!! Love y'all!! xoxox