Wanderlust with Children: New Orleans

I love road trips. Its so freeing and to me the best way to really see the countryside. When we made the decision to leave our dog with my parents, it was only natural to me to just go. So I loaded up the SUV with the dog, two guinea pigs and four children to drive across the country. Why you ask? Well, as part of the process of getting ready to move to Japan we are leaving our beloved German Shepherd with my parents. The poor dog wouldn't survive the long plane ride and the quarantine period in Japan is extremely strict & long. He will be staying on my parents 2 acre hobby farm enjoying the good life. One of the stops on our 3 day drive was visiting my cousins in New Orleans, which co incidentally happened to be the start of Marti Gras! Like how lucky are we to just happen to roll up into New Orleans for Mardi Gras??

We arrived in New Orleans around 10pm to a traffic jam the likes I have never seen before. The excitement of the city was just contagious. Everything was lit up in celebration and while sitting in traffic everyone had their car windows down enjoying the cool breeze coming off the river. Music filled the highway street from the parked cars, I could feel the energy of the city and couldn't help but smile as I passed the time imagining all the parties my fellow drivers were on their way to.

We finally got to my cousins house around 30 minutes later and were elated to finally be out of the car. I got to meet my Cousin's new son and hold him for the first time. Seeing that little boy brought tears to my eyes. I didn't think it would be possible to love another persons child so much. He is one special little dude to me.

We got up bright and early the next morning to attend a parade happening outside my cousins neighborhood. I was ecstatic. My first family friendly Mardi Gras parade!