February 20, 2012 (Yes it took me 8 days to finish writing this!)
Last week I didn't have any blog posts because first nothing much had happened during the week and second because we were getting prepared for Maria's first long car trip to go see Mama and Papa Jeffery as well as Maw Dave (Great-gran). We were also happy to go since it would also be her first Mardi Gras. We had planned this trip about 2 weeks after she was born and we were really looking forward to our little mini vacation.
We were going to leave on Friday as soon as David got out of school. I made a list of things to pack and a list of things to do before we left. We, for the first time in our entire traveling career, didn't forget a single thing!
Friday morning Donnie and I slept in until 10 it was so nice of Maria to let's us sleep (or in my case go back to sleep after she got me up at 7). We got up and dressed and ready to go with our list of places to visit and things to do. Doctor for me, lunch, dogs to the groomers, get the boat, get a manicure, and go to Target for the last few little things.
While I would like to think that with all of our list preparation that we would have been able to accomplish everything and get out of town on time it was a sad state of affairs. While we do own two cars the car that has the baby seat holder in it and consequently is driven by who ever has Maria is also the car that pulls the boat. With that knowledge in mind since I had three things to do all within a 2 mile radius of the house and all within the same shopping complex we decided I would in fact stay with the stroller at the shopping complex with Maria while Donnie picked up the boat and he would pick us up after he was done getting the boat and by that time I should be done too. It was a nice day, perfect for Maria and I to test out her stroller.
We left for lunch and forgot the dogs (the first of many misadventures) and had to turn around and go get them. My doctors office had an hour and a half wait so while I was on call ahead waiting we figured enough time to eat lunch and Donnie to leave to get the boat which would allow us to finish at the same time. No sooner had we dropped off the dogs after going back for them did we get a call from my doctors office they were ready to see me. Grrrr. Okay can they wait until after we eat? Yes. Great so lunch together at Chilies with Donnie and if I finished before him I could either wait for him to get done or walk home no big deal. We pulled the stroller out and Donnie left from Chilies and Maria and I walked to the doctors office. They got me in right away and determined I needed a kicker to go with my blood pressure medicine I was currently on so a new prescription for me. Target should be able to fill it (they couldn't and I had to have it filled in Louisiana but it wasn't a big deal).
I then walked over to the nail salon to get my nails done, and boy was it time! While I was at the salon Donnie called me he drove all the way to the boat in Lewisville figured out everything that was going on with our lease (and yay we got back $90!) at the boat storage place when he realized he forgot the trailer hitch. He had to drive all the way home and get the trailer hitch. I told him no problem I was almost done with my nails if he would get the dogs I would go to Target and he could pick up Maria and I and if he got the dogs and left before Maria and I were done at Target then we would walk home.
He actually got the dogs and was back on the road before we had even made through finding our first thing at Target so Maria and I walked home. It wasn't a bad walk either, I only wish I wasn't wearing Croc's not the best thing to walk 2 miles in.
By the time all of this had happened it was almost 3:00 and I knew we wouldn't leave as soon as David got home but I had no idea it wouldn't be until 7:30PM! We got everything packed but left home some things that we thought we would need but turned out we made the right decision. For lack of space we left the playpen at home and the swing and instead we just brought Maria's bouncy seat along with just about every piece of clothing she owned :).
Leaving when we did and driving with a newborn baby while pulling a boat wasn't conducive to our normal way of travel and we didn't get to Grandma's house until after 4AM. We fell into bed exhausted and slept a good chunk of the morning away. Maria who had slept most of the car ride woke up at 5 and 8 like usual so I fed her and changed her and walked the dogs and we got up for the day. Donnie who drove the whole night slept until about 10:30. Donnie, his dad, brother, and David were supposed to go fishing on Saturday but that just wasn't going to happen with the time that we arrived so we adjusted plans and we decided to go visit Maw Dave and Donnie's Nanny instead with a quick pit-stop to Target on the way there. We would go to the parade that night and Sunday morning the boys would go fishing. Plans were set.
Well like everything else that didn't go as planned either. It was raining when we got to Target so I ran inside and got what we needed (more drinking water for the fishing trip, laundry soap for Maria's clothes, and my prescription) then we drove to Nanny's house. Nanny and Maw Dave turned out to not be home so we drove all the way back to Donnie's parents house to watch the news since the rain hadn't stopped. They had called all the parades in New Orleans for that night but they still hadn't called the one in Houma so we decided to go eat dinner and play it by ear.
Dinner was delicious seafood at a new to him resturant Mr. Rickie wanted to eat at. I am not a big seafood person. I don't like shrimp, I have never had lobster but I don't ever really want to try it, the few times I had eaten crab I didn't care for it, but I love, LOVE, LOVE crawfish and it was the one thing I was looking foward to eating while we were in Louisiana. Turned out the crawfish are small and the resturant didn't have any and all they had was crabs. Tons of crabs. All you can eat crabs. And a catfish plate and a shrimp plate. But they also had a crabcake plate. The one time I had a crabcake in Louisiana at the Green Goddess restaurant I loved it. It was so good so I thought I would try the crabcake here. Wow best decision I had ever made. I knew that seafood in Louisiana tasted different than other places and one of the biggest turn offs I have is that fishy taste the preservative that they put in seafood. I can't stand it. All the crab I had eaten had tasted like that. This tasted like a sweet morsel from heaven in my mouth. I really enjoyed it. I now know that I can eat crab but not that fake nasty stuff.
While we were eating dinner (as we suspected) they called the Parade. So we went home and decided to make it an early night so the boys could go fishing tomorrow. We even stopped on the way home to get Donnie a license and a few new fishing bates. Maria had been a champ all day long not too fussy for being in a new place and not having her swing. But by the time bedtime rolled around she was gearing up for a colic fit. Sure enough she had a blow out fit. We did however discover that the bouncy seat we brought (which has a vibrate setting) is the best thing we could have asked for in a situation of no swing. She loves the bouncy seat now not just for the playtime but for the soothing vibrations. I was so happy that she was happy I jumped up and said "winner winner chicken dinner" and Donnie looked at me like I was crazy but we found a winner for Maria and it helped her calm down and not be fussy for so long.
Sunday they were going to have three parades back to back to back the two that were scheduled for that day plus the one they canceled from the night before so the boys decided to stay close to the house and fish at Bourg instead of going out to Lake Decade. They returned home about 20 minutes after they had left. The dock was shut down and they didn't have time to drive anywhere else to go fishing if we wanted to go to the parades. Crap but where was Donnie? He stayed behind to just launch the boat and run it up and down the bayou since it hadn't been run in almost 2 years. I have told him that while I love having a boat they are money pits (the first time I heard it on Pawn Stars and now I always say it) bust out another thousand! Well Donnie got home about 15 minutes after that looks like the fuel pump in the boat is bad and needs to be replaced. Fortunatly Mr. Rickie knows a guy and he will take it to him to get it fixed. So not a thousand but definitly a couple hundred.
We made it on time to the parades and had an awesome time catching beads and seeing the floats and hearing the music. Maria enjoyed her first Mardi Gras. That afternoon we visited Nanny and Ma Dave with David and Mrs. Lorraine and we really enjoyed our time spent with them.
We left on Monday at 2:30 (later than we wanted) and didn't get home until 1:30 thanks to another misadventure when we tried to stop at Heberts to buy some stuffed chickens which left us behind the parade lines in Lafayette, but we made it home and now we do have a good chicken dinner (or rather 11).
So while our weekend was wild...it wasn't because of Mardi Gras but rather the adventures of taking your first mini family vacation with a newborn.
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