Wednesday in Weezy

We call Louisiana "Weezy" all the time...short for Weezy-ana. Catchy, no? :)

Anyway, Wednesday morning we woke up and skipped the hotel buffet in lieu of Louie's. Lieu of Louie's! Ha! It's another spot J likes. It's close to the LSU campus, one of those 24 hour kinds of places. I think it's quite the nostalgic spot for J. But whatever, we were happy to join him. I had the chocolate chip banana pancakes. Easton had "animal pancakes" which they said you could request in the shape of whatever animal you wanted. We picked monkeys because Easton is our monkey. They didn't come out great so the chef (who made monkey noises while cooking them) said they were "research monkeys". Ha! Easton didn't care:


Nor did Dalton, because he didn't eat them. He ate the "fruit cup" Easton's breakfast came with. He's never one to pass up bananas:




After breakfast we hoofed it over to Mike the Tiger's cage on campus. The previous two times I've been the tiger wasn't there so I was nervous to walk alllllll that way (only about 10 minutes) in the cold (it was a bit brisk) just to see his empty cage...but alas, he was there!

Isn't that a cool picture of him licking his chops? Too bad for the chain link fence in the way. Actually, with the way he's licking his lips looking at us I guess I am glad for the two layers of fencing.

My former Tiger and his future Tiger??

Before D started slimming down we thought football could be in his future. Still could, I s'pose. Never know what they'll grow up to be, do ya?

Me and my fancy Tiger pose:

Apparently Jason thought Mike the Tiger was featured prominently in that above photo. But he is not.

He is here:

That's what I'm talking about!

The statue, do you like J's rock star pose?


This next one and the one with Mike right behind them are on J's desktop now:


After LSU it was time to head back to the hotel for D's morning nap followed by another visit from The Maws:


D, under the table, looking for scraps?


We found a new trick to beef Easton up a little...stuff him with balloons:




Up?


G-Ma and July headed back home to Alabama after that. Thanks for meeting us, Maws!

That night we went to have dinner with some more of Jason's old pals. There were quite a few kids for the boys to play with. Most of the kids ate first then went to play while the adults ate. Easton ate in between the two rounds of dinner, we stuck him in the highchair because the table (and therefore the chairs) was so high.

His ladies in waiting...waiting for him to finish, that is:


Dalton found plenty to do:




They did laps around the apartment on the hippity hops. Taking turns was hard, I think, but it was cute to watch:


One of the little girls gave Easton this very sweet "vase" of "flowers". He loved it because there is clay or Play-Doh or something at the bottom holding the stems in place. Too sweet.


I really enjoyed that evening's fellowship and it really reminded me of what I'm missing here at home, not having Christian friends and all. We've got to find a church!

Tuesday in Rouge

We did breakfast at the hotel as usual and then after Dalton's nap The Alabamaws came to hang out in our suite. And they did not arrive empty handed:

New hats for the kids:

The LSU shot glass was from J's dad, though.

They also brought Valentine's balloons which entertained the boys thoroughly the entire rest of our stay:


Well, save for some quiet time spent in front of the tube:


We were going to head to lunch at a Chinese place Jason wanted to make sure to hit, but just like yesterday with Semolina's, Taste of China was closed for remodeling! Darn...so we headed to a Greek place also on J's list in the midst of a huge rainstorm. I liked the taste of lunch just fine but it did not agree with me and we could not get back to the hotel fast enough. Ugh.

That night we went to dinner at the house of one of Jason's very best friends: Jason Miller:


Miller's wife, Heather, is a great cook and made us a delicious lasagna. The boys were kind of wound up but oh well.


After dinner I headed back to the hotel with the little dudes and J stayed at their house a while longer so they could have some real quality time to catch up and such. The Millers dropped Jason back at the hotel later that night.

Monday in B.R.

So we woke up and did breakfast at the hotel buffet. It was so nice to have that there. We had a little kitchen in our room too, but didn't actually cook anything there. It was soooo cold in the lobby where the breakfast was. I had to take Easton back to the room for some extra clothes and a hat. Not too long afterwards Easton said he had to leave again to poop. But when Dalton and I joined up with E and J at the room Easton was on the potty telling Jason in a sing songy voice, "I'm not tryyyyyy-iiiiiiing. It's still in my buuuuuuuuutttttt." He's such a goober.

We let Dalton get in a morning nap and then we met up with G-Ma and July at the Mall of Louisiana (sounds fancy and Britney Spears shops there, but it's not as fancy as it sounds). Anyhoo, we took the boys to the play area:










We also hit up their carousel, Easton insisted on a tiger for "Go Tigers"...we were near LSU, after all.


I had G-Ma take Diddles:


Coming around, I love catching those spontaneous smiles:


I think he's roaring as he came around this time:


Look how big Dalton looks holding on like a carousel pro:


After the carousel Easton got to take another spin with July:


We went to leave after that but The Maws said they would treat the boys to pretty much whatever "the 3 of us could agree on" from the Disney store. Easton picked out a Buzz "doll". And Dalton picked a Nemo ball. Thank you, Maws!

After that it was time for lunch. I had my heart set on a place I'd been to when visiting once before called Semolina's. But it was closed! So was their other Baton Rouge location! :( Big bummer. We hit my new favorite McAlisters instead. Whew.

The end of lunch meant Dalton's nap time. So they all dropped me and D back at the hotel for a nap and then the rest of 'em went to the park.






Apparently Easton had to have a time-out while at the park for not stopping throwing sand when he was asked. Bummer. I think J had him sit by the tennis courts. Way to be consistent even when out in public on vacation, Dad!

That night we had dinner back at PawPaw Gary's and Mimi's again. Easton brought his new Buzz to show them:






Trying to catch a falling Buzz:


And I took this picture of Dalton just because I felt bad I wasn't taking any of him. Poor kid.


He's the most beautiful baby ever but he doesn't get as many pictures because he's still learning how to do more than just look purty. :) He sleeps a lot...and really, how many sleeping baby pictures can I take? I might wake him up. But I feel bad. Hence that token photo above.

Oh well.

Sunday in Baton Rouge

Easton slept in till 8 today! Niiiiiiiiiiiiice. He needed it after his behavior at PawPaw's the night before.

The rest of us were all awake and in the bedroom part of our suite when Easton got himself out of "bed" for the first time and busted in the room declaring, "It's me!!!"

Silly.

We went to church at Jason's old church in the morning. It was really nice to get to meet a bunch of people we send Christmas cards to and such. He has a lot of people who really love him and miss him. It was nice to see some of his history like that. In the past, trips to Baton Rouge have been too short to include friends or church so this was very very nice. It was probably weird for everyone since they last knew Jason married to his ex-wife but they were all very sweet to me and at least knew the story, not like I was a surprise. Although a few that J didn't know well seemed to think that I was Susan. They were like, "Oh you've got kids now!" Um, yep...and a new wife too.

The church service was in the pastor's home and so the boys were in a "nursery" just off the main room where the service was. I was able to leave them in there without issue and peek at them frequently which was nice too. A good first start!

After church we hit Picadilly for lunch. It's another favorite chain we don't have here. We headed back to our hotel after that so Dalton could nap and Easton could do a bit of quiet time before heading to a small get together at the house of Jason's Aunt Ingrid.

G-Ma and July were staying with Ingrid and Robert and they arranged a little reunion with another sister Claudia and her husband Mike. I hadn't met Mike and Claudia before so it was nice. We headed over there to see The Maws and everyone else. Ingrid is a grandma too and everyone was great with the boys. She even had a bag full of toys for them to go through:

I didn't get my camera out so every picture you see from tonight is courtesy of G-Ma.

Aunt Ingrid had a really awesome idea to take Easton out to her "winter garden" to show him where certain foods come from and she had him help her pick some broccoli:




She even cooked it up for him and broccoli is something he likes so he ate quite a bit of it with his dried cherries and almonds he had for dinner that night.

On our way back into the house we got sidetracked by their boat, which Easton got to "drive":


And Dalton got to sit:


"I'm the king of the world!"


Diddles at dinner:


And with Uncle Robert:


Jason's mom is one of 6 girls and I will admit I have a very hard time keeping everyone straight and what order they come in and who is married to who and with what kids...the grandkids are darn near impossible. But, I did learn an interesting tidbit: of G-ma and her sisters, all but one of the grandkids are boys (I think they said there are 9).

We also learned that day, rather we noticed, that Dalton began a bit of stranger anxiety. He's never been too wary of strangers but in all these new environments full of new people he began clinging to our necks if we so much as thought of passing him off to someone else.

It's normal so I guess it's time! :)

Saturday in the Red Stick

Saturday morning we packed up in Vicksburg for the relatively short drive down to Baton Rouge...short compared to what we'd been driving. I drove the whole way, don't think we ever had to stop. Dalton had a nap. Easton should have had a nap.

He was being a naughty naughty boy once we got to Mimi & Paw Paws that afternoon. He was tired of being in the car, I'm sure, and tired from staying up so late giggling with Dalton the night before. Life on the road...

But we still tried our best to enjoy our time with them. Paw Paw made us dinner and Mimi found things for the boys to play with. We also brought some bubbles of our own:



I like how the moving bubbles are in focus but that Easton is moving too fast for the camera's shutter speed.


At some point in the yard Jason found a bird's nest in a tree. He wanted to point it out to Easton because normally we'd have guessed Easton would think that was pretty cool. Perhaps he might say so. Instead, with the mood he was in he told Jason, "I want to break it." *sigh* We made a mental note right then to make certain he was in bed at a normal time that night. :)

We spent some time banging on the piano:


And then we headed back to the Residence Inn to let the boys get some much needed sleep. And luckily we had ourselves a 1 bedroom suite so that the boys could sleep and we could stay up. Both of 'em went right to sleep that night. Easton on the couch with his pillow and bed rail from home...Dalton nearby in the Pack & Play:

But we knew to put E to bed first then I'd take Dalton in the bedroom and nurse him to sleep just so they wouldn't keep each other up. A bad habit but whatcha gonna do? Vacations call for mucho flexibility when able. And he's able. He's so easy.

Last Day with AJ (That's supposed to rhyme!)

So we woke up Friday and Jason ran to McDonald's to pick up breakfast. We took our time again so that Dalton could get in a nap. We brought out Adam's birthday present (his birthday is on the 15th) but we thought he could open it early and the boys enjoyed playing some Hungry Hungry Hippos.


I knew Adam loved orange so it's no surprise he adopted the orange hippo as his very own.


Perhaps Easton got bored, I was in the shower so I don't know how it all went down, but somehow this giant horse appeared from the garage:


Easton was a fan, with his small stature he's got some jockeying potential.

AJ's Rebel at work again there. I love that picture.

He's got his first fan:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Jason and Easton shared a shower after that and Jason knocked over a bottle of shampoo. Easton picked it up and when J thanked him Easton said, "Sure, Dad...any time." :)

Once Dalton woke up and the car was all packed we said goodbye to their beautiful house and Ozzie their pug and went out for lunch. It was to a place called McAllister's which is a chain we don't have here. But it was my new favorite restaurant and they serve sweet tea so I had to go online and find any near me. One is coming near my mom! Woo hoo!

Easton had mac and cheese but he also actually ate some of Adam's PB&J. Score! If we can get him to eat those at home in the future that would be very very super. Finally after lunch it came time to say goodbye. How sad. The boys shared a hug:


And Dizz made some more silly faces for AJ:


Then she took the only family picture of us in the whole 2 weeks we were gone:


We said goodbye and have no clue when we'll see them again. Although I would've said that in October too, didn't have to wait too long to see them. We had so much fun! Thanks for letting us take over your house for a few days, AJ!

That afternoon we drove to Vicksburg, Mississippi for the night. Easton trying to lift the Pack & Play:





The boys were soooooo wound up that night. It was so cute. We put them to bed and then hid near the bathroom until they went to sleep. But Dalton kept standing up in the Pack & Play to see Easton in his bed and they'd laugh and laugh. We thought it was so cute and so frustrating all at the same time because they really needed to go to sleep. That night was one of the worst as far as taking a long time. It's so hard being all in the same room at bedtime. Because J and I stay up a little later but the boys need darkness and quiet to fall asleep. Oh well. We survived till the next morning when they found some time for a little more hotel room mischeif:


Next stop: Baton Rouge!