P.S. this post might shock and dismay you.

viewer discretion advised....

SO, i'm feeling pretty low. crumby actually. then i made the mistake of listening to new order which made me down right melancholy. so, why i'm choosing to write about my trip to new orleans.... well i guess it sums up my trip. keep in mind that i have ALWAYS wanted to go to new orleans since i was a teen. i'll give you a power point presentation of this trip.

• i knew karma was trying to tell me something when i got to the airport and it turned out they changed my flight from a non-stop to a lay over in atlanta. not only that, it was moved up from 5:45 to 5:15pm and that i would have to run through security to make it. then after being harassed by the security guards by having to go through EVERY thing that i owned AND opening up the nebulizer and using it to make sure it wasn't a bomb, i ran with my son to the gate to find that it was delayed to 6:10pm!
• then i forgot wesley's diaper bag. which caused my husband and girls to travel all the way back to the airport and made me go through the security line ALL. OVER. AGAIN.

• my flight into atlanta was delayed twice. so, instead of arriving into new orleans at 9:30pm, i arrived at 1:30am. yup, that's 4 HOURS later. my poor dad had to wait around the entire time. we did however get to ride in a limo to the hotel. those things are WAY over rated in my opinion. the hotel was fancy smancy. that's about it. oh, just wait. it gets way better....

the hotel lobby

the entry way of our hotel room

our fancy bathroom

the liter evian water that they wanted to charge $6 dollars for!

• when i unpacked that night, the fabulous airport decided my bag had terrorist material and needed to be searched. what did they do? they tore open my son's medicine box that i had so carefully packed away, and then they just threw the medicine back in the suitcase and not even back in the box! oh, and they opened my liquid med's that then spilled all over my plastic bag that i had put it in. and for some reason they needed to check my body wash for good measure because that too could have been a bomb and was spilled all over the other bottles in the plastic bag i so carefully wrapped together. good times....
  

• the next morning my dad, wesley and i tried to eat at the buffet my dad had free meals to. turns out new orleans has some screwy laws about anyone under the age of 21 being anywhere NEAR a casino. even children can eat at restaurants and buffets in vegas. nope, not here so get the hell out. (that's basically how they said it). so, no food for me or my child. great. nothing a little trip to wholefoods wouldn't fix. by bus. for an hour and half EACH way standing most of the time holding my child. oh well, it only cost $1.25 each way, so i guess i can't complain.

night of st. patricks day brought us a nice irish band to listen to.

• then my body thought it would be hilarious to pull one over on me. this is what my body told me: "i know that i have been kind to you in the past. i've even let you off lightly after each of your children by allowing your "little friend" to be short and pretty much non-existent. and i know that your "little visitor" hasn't been around for the greater part of two years from being pregnant and nursing and all, but i think NOW is the best time for that to go out the window. and i think NOW when you're traveling with your baby and your FATHER is when i will make it SO bad that even the super plus tampons will still make you run to the bathroom EVERY TWO HOURS to avoid any "little accidents". ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. that is just SO hilarious!" yeah, my body and i are NOT on speaking terms right now.

who doesn't love naked baby pictures?

• we did a lovely steam boat ride, which left me with a terrible sea sick headache that went away after 3 hours. and the food on the boat was not the greatest. but i had a nice time with my dad and wesley.

this man entertained us while waiting to board the steamboat

wesley and the steamboat we took

• i spent the rest of the day wandering around the french quarter. let me tell you, this town, or at least the parts i saw are not only spirit suckers but soul suckers as well. it was hard to keep the spirit with me, and i TRIED my hardest to be prayerful and attentive of the spirit. but, man it just didn't want to hang around. for good reason. i thought vegas was bad but man, this is truly the devil's playground. i can now kind of understand why some crazy evangelical ministers would say this is why katrina happened. i'm not saying they are right. i just can understand why they would say it. the people who live there are nice, very kind people. but when you have the majority of your city income coming from alcohol and chest baring woman and just a PARTY! PARTY! PARTY! attitude, well some bad things are going to happen. i'm just saying...

st. peters cathedral. the oldest cathedral still in use today

• since my dad is cripple, he can't walk much so, for our last day we took a trolley through most of the town. we saw a lot of the garden district which i really liked. i'm a big fan of beautiful houses, and there were some beautiful homes. i also spied a mormon church in a nice french looking building. good luck to those people stuck in between a party college and a million bars!
  

my dad riding the trolley

one of the pretty houses i saw

• that final night, i walked around with wesley to pretty much everywhere. i walked nearly 6 miles! i'm not even joking. i left at 4pm and didn't get back to the hotel until 10:30pm. i was SO tired and there really wasn't much to say i did. i tried to find some cool stuff but since katrina, all the real stores close at 6pm which only leaves open the bars and tourist shops for the remainder of the night. okay, there were a few restaurants open in between the bars and tourist traps. oh, and just to warn you, bourbon street literally is just a street full of bars. go figure, and the lovely part? it smells like vomit from the start to finish. seriously. it was NOT the highlight of my night.

my awesome, harley lovin', biker daddy

• so, that was my trip. not the greatest since coming off of such an AWESOME trip as philadelphia. but they can't all be winners. and the trip home couldn't have gone more smoothly. especially since i wrote a nice but firm note to the terrorist looking airport team to put my stuff back the way they found it. (they did). now wesley has another ear infection and i'm sick sick sick. but the best part of my trip? being able to spend a lot of time with my dad, and my dad spending a lot of time with his grandson. how cool is that? i love my dad. he cracks me up and we were able to have some amazing conversations that i will remember and cherish. i wish more people would just love my dad for the person he is and stop setting limits of how they will love him. "if you do a,b,c then i will love you." it's just so unfair. he has been through the ringer and all he needs is some unconditional love. maybe then is testimony of my church would become stronger and he could live is life the way he was meant to. i cringe at how for so long growing up i hated him. i mean, really hated him. i am so grateful that i was able to make amends with him and that we are now great friends. heavenly father does have a reason for such trials in this life. i now can say that i NEVER want to go to new orleans again. been there, done that.