Our Trip to New Orleans, Part 2

The day after the rehearsal party we decided we needed some nice greasy food to soak up all the wine we had (or in Jeff's case, beer) the night before so what better place to go than Cafe Du Monde for beignets. And boy were they yummy! Daniel sure enjoyed them:

As did Allison:
Then the cousins hung out in the French Quarter:
Afterwards, we had some time to kill before the wedding so we decided to hang out at the hotel pool, which happened to be on the roof of the hotel.

After the pool, it was time to get ready for the big event. The ceremony was in a catholic church and hence there was a catholic mass. This was the first time I had ever been to a catholic mass. Everyone always talks about how long they are and all the sitting standing and kneeling involved but when you compare it to a 2 1/2 hour Jewish holiday service, it really ain't all that bad. Here we are at the hotel before leaving for the church. (If the kids outfits look familiar it's because they wore them to my cousin's wedding two months ago):

And being silly with a very dapper Uncle Brad:
Again, I tried for a great family portrait. Not bad but Daniel wasn't in the mood to smile I guess:
On our way to the church (two of my favorite pictures):
The happy couple! That is, afterall, what it's all about!

After the ceremony Jeff's mom met us at the church to pick up the kids so they could have a sleepover at her house and Jeff and I could enjoy the reception. This part turned out to be a bit stressful. We tried to exit the church through the rear door since we were parked out back but it turns out the entire back was fenced in. So we ended up having to walk around to the front of the church. The problem was that Jeff and I had to catch the shuttle to the reception and it was about to leave. In fact, it did leave. We threw the kids in Nana's car (okay, we didn't really throw them but it was close), and then we started to run...very fast...me in heels, Jeff in his suit...we saw the shuttle starting to move down St. Charles Ave. We waved our arms and yelled for it to stop. Inside the shuttle, Brad was lobbying for it to stop as well. Luckily for us there was a ton of traffic in the area and the shuttle couldn't get too far. We were eventually able to catch up with it after running in the middle of traffic and dodging a few cars. Jeff was a sweaty mess but I was good to go. Although I knew my feet would be telling me otherwise later in the night. We finally made it to the reception and it was just amazing. The room was gorgeous the food was delicious and the company was so much fun. We drank, we danced, we ate...what more could you ask for?
Can you tell were having fun:

Afterwards, Jeff was content to go back to the hotel and go to bed but I, (along with his cousins and brother) convinced him to go out. We had a very fun night in the French Quarter, although my feet were killing me by the end. Jeff's cousins Kim, Lieske, Suzanne and I were all commiserating about how much pain our feet were in. You'd think with all we had to drink we wouldn't be able to feel the pain, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. We plopped ourselves down at the first bar we went to and took off our shoes:
We had a blast, went to another bar and finally walked back to the hotel (achy feet and all!) at 3am. Which is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay past my bedtime. Funny thing was I still woke up at 7am the next morning. Damn internal alarm clock. After readjusting to the world, we went and picked up the kids from Nana's house and headed out to get snoballs from a place called Hansens Sno-Bliz that Jeff has been telling about for the past 14 years. That's another place we've always tried to go to while visiting New Orleans but we were never there at the right time of year and it was always closed. The problem was, I really wasn't in the mood for a snoball. But Jeff was and boy was he in heaven, as was his cousin Suzanne:
Allison enjoyed one as well:
Then we headed to Aunt Weezie's house for the final family event of our trip...a seafood party! And boy was it yummy...crawfish, shrimps, crabs, oysters. Oh how we were anticipating that party! Especially Jeff...dying for his crawfish. And he feasted...and feasted...and feasted:
While Jeff was busy easting the bottom on the ocean, the kids had fun playing. Daniel hung out with Aunt Leslie:
And Allison made chalk pictures with Suzanne, the artist:
So that's all I got. We got up bright and early the next morning and headed to the airport. Luckily our flight got off given that there were crazy thunderstorms going on. We took off about twenty minutes late but still made our connection in Tampa. I wasn't thrilled about taking off in a thunderstorm especially since I absolutely abhor flying but I'm glad we made it home safely, and on time. Thank you to all of Jeff's family, especially Aunt Wezzie and Uncle Ted, Scott and Whitney for giving us a wonderful excuse to go to New Orleans. We are planning on heading back in February for Mardi Gras and we can't wait!!