Visiting Santa

On Friday night we went to the Macy's 8th floor display where we enjoyed seeing the elves in the workshop.

After visiting the workshop, we stopped in to tell Santa that we wanted Minnie Mouse for Christmas. There wasn't much talking just apprehension at first when Mom and Dad sat down with Santa and Maeve, and then screaming and crying when we let Santa hold Maeve, and then yelling 'out' when Grandma Jan and Grandpa Steve sat down with Santa.

Why do we torture our kids for these pictures? It does give you a good chuckle, doesn't it? Nonetheless, it was good to keep the tradition going of the pictures. Here's a comparison of how the last 2 years have gone!

NOLA Thanksgiving 2015

Food, food, and more food! What else would you do when it's both Thanksgiving and you are in New Orleans?! We had a delicious deep fried turkey, another turkey and all the fixin's from Whole Foods, red beans and rice from Sean's stepdad, Shrimp mirliton from Kara, pecan pie from Houston, po boys, beignets, and probably a lot more!

We enjoyed so many fun activities with the kids. Hunter (7), Kaelyn (5), Maeve (2), Finn (18 months), and Audrey (15 months) had fun at the Aquarium, Christmas in the Oaks, the Zoo, and City Park. We all survived staying in one house!

Christmas in the Oaks was one of my favorite Christmas memories growing up. It's a different experience with a toddler and they no longer let you drive through the lights and instead you take a train. After waiting 1 hour to ride the train and getting bumped off the train we were set to get on after telling Maeve we were getting on (because we were there on opening night and the workers didn't seem to have it all together yet) we were not very happy. You can see Maeve's reaction in the pictures. While the train ride wasn't worth it, we did enjoy seeing the lighted trees and tall poinsettia tree.

The aquarium and the zoo were a big hit with all of the kids. They also enjoyed the pool table at the house and playing with the Mardi Gras stuff around the house. It had a great backyard as well so we could get outside.

In between kid activities, I enjoyed brunch with friends while Eric hung out at the brewery with another friend to watch the Saints lose. Texas A&M lost to LSU when Paul and Marcia were at the game and Notre Dame lost to Stanford with Dad and Eric watching from the house. All losing teams this past weekend!

The lights display at the Roosevelt hotel was amazing. Of course Finn and Maeve weren't cooperating for pictures so you'll see that in the pictures. We were able to capture a few good ones, though! We also brought Maeve and Finn to see Santa Claus. Neither were interested in sitting next to him so we just looked from a few feet away.

We had great weather (75 and sunny), everyone was healthy (until they got home), and of course the weekend went by way too fast!

I hope everyone else enjoyed their Turkey day too!