New Orleans With A Toddler

Brian had a conference in New Orleans and Vivian and I decided to tag along.  Even though it is stressful traveling with a toddler, more on my end, I figured the more traveling she gets under her belt, the better.

  

Thankfully, she does great traveling!  She does really well on the plane.  Better than being confined in a car seat!  We made it to Charlotte with a wonderful 3 hour layover.  That's great with a child.  You can eat and let your child burn off all that energy before going on a little longer flight. Vivian napped for 1.5 hrs on the plane.  Yea!

We arrived in New Orleans around noon.  We gate checked the car seat and stroller frame in hopes of it not being damaged vs counter checking.  Somehow and another a black piece that holds the seat belt when not using the base had broken off.  Not sure how that happened.  Brian reported it to the airline and they said we can the car seat off and see if they could repair it which would take 2 weeks.  Sorry, that's not acceptable.  Who can have their car seat away from them that long?  Especially if it's the only seat you have.  Guess we are stuck with a ghetto looking car seat now. Strike one against US Airways.

We took a taxi to the hotel, but we first had to stop at a Walmart to find a box fan for Vivian.  She needs her white noise.  Unfortunately, the fan was a no-go.  Anxiety began.  I started downloading white noise apps on my phone.

When we arrived at the hotel Brian asked the attendant if by chance they had a box fan.  She said they had just purchased a few to dry paint quickly and she would call housekeeping to send one to our room.  Thank the Lord!!  Drury Inn rocks!

 We settled into our hotel room before grabbing an early dinner.  B had a reception he had to attend at 6 pm.  We went to a pizza place down the street.  It was so good, but took forever to get our food.  Plus, we were the only one's there eating.  Vivian was all over the place.  She was a wild child.  We finally got our food, ate and left.  B walked to the hotel where the conference was being held and Viv and I went back to the hotel.  Viv got her bath and was in bed by 6:30pm.

The next morning, Vivian woke up at 3 am!  Ugh.  I almost went into the room to get her because I didn't want her to bother the neighbors, but decided not to.  She settled after about 10 minutes.  At 4, she started crying again, settled again and then back up at 5:15 am for the day.  

We went downstairs for breakfast at 6:30am and explored the hotel.  Brian finally got up and we all got dressed for the aquarium.  Vivian loves all animals and she loved seeing all the fish.

    

      After the aquarium,  we made our way to Huck Finn's Cafe.  I wanted a shrimp poboy and B wanted boudin balls.  Very good food.  Poor Vivian was exhausted.  She almost fell asleep in my lap.  I got her into her stroller and she was out.  We went back to the hotel so she could nap.

Brian had a presentation at 4 pm, so he left and it was just Viv and I.  We walked to the local grocery store and picked up a couple of baked potatoes and soup for dinner.  We also ran up and down the halls for a bit.  She loves to run around.  Little girl had zero issues goibg to sleep.

Our last day, Brian's sister and her husband drove down from Baton Rouge to go to the zoo.  The Audubon Zoo was really nice.  I actually liked it better than San Diego Zoo.  Vivian again had a great time.  We all did!

Not long after getting into the car, Vivian was out!  We ran her ragged :)  Drury Inn offers free dinner to all guests so we decided to eat at the hotel.  I wish I knew that the night before, I would have ate there.  They had a nice spread...pasta, salad, baked potato, broccoli and cheddar soup, hot dogs and chips with cheese sauce.  We called it an early night since we had to leave the hotel by 5:15 am.

We got up bright and early the next day to make our home.

B checked us in at the self check-in.  After the tickets were printed, my ticket from Charlotte to Wilmington did not print.  Apparently U.S. Airways over sold our flight and I got bumped off.  Geez.  Strick two against US Airways.  B said he would stay behind and I could take his seat if they unable to get me on the plane.  

We landed in Charlotte and thankfully they were able to get me a seat.  We weren't able to sit together, but at least we were on the same flight.  Vivian and I sat next to a nice older lady that entertained Vivian the majority of the flight.  Made for a nice flight home. 

Hated I didn't eat any beignet's...oh well. Another trip for the books.  I have to say, I'm done with traveling for a while.  We are worn out!