New Orleans (Part 2)

February 12, 2014:

On Wednesday, we headed to the Insectarium (Bug Museum)! We went in not really sure what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised. Of course, a lot of the bugs were "yucky" but others were so cool to watch like the butterflies and ants. The ant exhibit showed Leaf Cutting Ants, which did just that- they cut the leaves and carried them up the branch and into their colony. The butterfly section was full of gorgeous butterflies, I think that was Kailyn's favorite since she was wearing her butterfly pants, just for the occasion! A few of the more gross exhibits included cockroaches and flies. One of the workers took a liking to my kids in the Louisiana section and offered to go and get some worms so that they could feed the fish. Caleb turned him down because he didn't want to touch a worm!! They even had a very fun 3D movie that included bugs running under your bottom and behind your back, blowing air at you, and different scents like honey bees and stink bugs. Caleb was terrified as soon as the first bug sensor went off under his bottom...but he stuck in there and we made it though. This museum was so kid friendly and clean, it is definitely a go back next time we are there. It isn't too big or small so it took us just about the right amount of time for us to get through and get back to the hotel in time to eat lunch and take naps!

That night for dinner, we headed to Drago's. Daddy and I were tired of kid friendly, fried food dinners! This restaurant seemed a smidge kid friendly and a little bit fancier/healthier foods. It was very good! The kids were even well behaved with their stickers and crayons I packed to keep them entertained. The restaurant was inside a big hotel (can't remember which one) so we walked around the lobby area for a few minutes trying to get up the guts to brave the cold. Since we didnt take any pictures at dinner, we snapped a few then. This was another verrrry cold night and we froze on the walk back to the hotel, although it felt like 20 minutes it was only about an 8 minute walk! Since we didn't walk around town or anything, we had extra time before baths and bedtime so we went downstairs to swim in the indoor pool. Their pool water was pretty cold so this Mommy stayed in the hot tub the whole time and Daddy was brave enough to swim with the kids in the cold water. Kailyn was SO excited about her new Ariel swimsuit too!!

February 13, 2014:

Our trip flew by and we were already at our last full day in New Orleans! The kids had waited and waited and waited for this day- Zoo Day!! We had to wait for the warmest day since it was outside, which wasn't very warm. We still had to wear jackets and Kailyn and I wore gloves for about 1/2 the day. The Zoo was really nice, but several animals were put up due to the cooler temps. Then my favorite- the elephants, were put away somewhere in a building because their normal habitat was under construction. They had a lot of neat animals that we don't normally see at "our" zoo like a white tiger, bear, fox, and many more! Bless his heart, Caleb loves the zoo so much as soon as we make it to the next animal, he is so excited to go see what the next one is that he doesn't enjoy the one we are at. This was by far our longest day because the zoo was not in walking distance. We had to take the public transportation bus, which I was all kinds of nervous about. But it wasn't bad at all!! I'm sure I had tourist written all over me so the drivers were kind enough to ask where we were going and then told us when we were about to stop there. I did have 2 kids, a stroller, and a backpack in tow too! By the time we got on the bus to head back towards our hotel, we were all worn out. Kailyn passed out in my arms on the way back and if Caleb had to stopped talking for more than 15 seconds, he might have too. Thankfully Kailyn went back to sleep once we got back to the hotel and we all were refreshed and ready for Daddy to take us our on our last night in New Orleans!

For our last dinner out, we walked into the French Quarter to the Royal House. It was super yummy! We had a white table cloth and a little candle on our table! The kids even did great at a fancier place. We went a little early, so I'm sure that helped to eat before it got busy. After dinner we walked around a little bit but didn't really stop in any shops or anything. We finally headed back to the hotel to round up the few items we could pack to get a head start on leaving the next morning.

February 14, 2014:

Happy Valentine's Day!! We were all sad that our vacation was over. We definitely fell in love with New Orleans and can't wait to return. Even the kids didn't seem ready to go yet! The drive home was pretty good and we had heard that all of the snow had melted, so the kids got wound up when they saw that they still had a little bit to play with in our backyard when we got home that afternoon. It was nice that they were entertained while we unloaded the car.