House of Hylton: New Orleans

At the beginning of May we headed to Louisiana. Eric's parents, his sisters and their husbands were all going for Jazz Fest.

We loaded up and hit the road bright and early Wednesday morning. We loaded the kids up in their pj's and started driving.

Elle and Ollie handle road trips so well. Give them iPads, some colors and some fun snacks and they are good to go.

We all made the mistake of letting Eric pick where we should stop for lunch. :)

We ended up at The Big Apple Inn in Jackson, MS. It was a place Anthony Bourdain went to that is famous for it's pig ear sandwiches. It was...interesting. We ordered a variety of the sliders they offered - cheeseburger, sausage, hot sausage and pig ear (Eric was the only one to try the pig ears).

I don't think anyone loved anything we ordered (except for the strawberry sodas the kids got).

We arrived to the house in Louisiana and the kids immediately went to check out the bayou where apparently an alligator was spotted right before we arrived. (yikes)

The rest of Eric's family headed out for a late dinner but the 4 of us ordered pizza and had a quiet night in.

The next morning we were up and headed to Biloxi, MS to hit the beach. The rest of the family was headed to Jazz Fest so this was a fun one day trip for our family of 4.

Buzz Lightyear has landed at the beach!

This little public beach was perfect.

Driving through Biloxi one side of the street was old southern houses and huge trees. The other side of the street was like a little beach town with beach side restaurants and brightly colored buildings. So crazy how each side was so different.

The kids played in the sand and the water for a really long time...

and then Ollie decided to lay down for some cuddles.

Everyone started to get hungry so we moved farther down the beach to eat at Shaggy's.

There was a little beach side playground, we ate outside on the top deck which overlooked it and it was just the most perfect day.

There was a big airshow happening, daiquiris, yummy food (fried green tomatoes!!!!!)...by far my favorite day of our trip.

Full belly's and ready to head back to Louisiana.

The next morning we started the day in New Orleans at Cafe du Monde.

Watching the beignets being made.

They were beyond delicious!

Ollie refused to try one and only wanted to order a hot coffee (chocolate milk).

Next we headed to Jazz Fest.

It was LOUD, it was HOT and there were moments the kids and I alllllmost left so Eric could actually enjoy the music but we made it through until the very end of the day.

Some face painting in the late afternoon (and a temperature drop) really helped everyone!

We found a spot to sit and watch a musician Eric had been wanting to see...

and Sissy PASSED OUT!

She slept until it was time to wake her up to leave.

This little tiger kept himself entertained by playing with a pile of ice. A really nice guy next to us poured a bunch out from his cooler so Ollie could play.

The next morning was filled with HUGE thunderstorms.

After sitting around the house for awhile Eric and I ended up taking the kids to lunch and then an inflatable jump place.

Once we left the weather had cleared up so we decided to head back to New Orleans to do some exploring and found ourselves right back at Cafe du Monde for round 2 of beignets.

This time Ollie tried them and of course loved them!

We walked around Jackson Square...

did some shopping...

and then Eric decided he couldn't be this close to Bourban Street without stopping to at least grab a drink. So here we are at 5pm on a Saturday with our kids on Bourban Street. #parentsoftheyear

Why yes, that is Ollie in line for a hand grenade.

The kids and I quickly left because they needed to go to the bathroom and there was no way I was taking them inside a bar on Bourban Street. Once Eric got his drink he met back up with us.