Oak Alley Plantation

After our swamp tour we grabbed some lunch and headed over to Oak Alley Plantation.  

This was definitely an activity I planned for me.  I knew it wasn't high up on Mark's list to do (and I can pretty much guarantee it wasn't on the kiddos!) but I really wanted to go and see one of the plantations.  I did a lot of research and each one looked so interesting (and I love learning the history of an area) but, if we are being honest, I strictly picked this one because it is BEA-UTIFUL!

I completely fell in love with the trees and the house.  One thing we quickly learned this day is that is is SO HOT in Louisiana!  Oh my stars!  We were all dripping.  And everyone kept commenting on how we were so lucky to come when the weather was still so pleasant.  What?!  This is pleasant?!!!  Humidity and heat is no bueno for the Berning family.  But do you want to know who hates it most?  BENJAMIN!  This little guy was one unhappy camper.  In his defense, it dawned on me that he has never experienced heat.  We are still in the 40's in Garden City (which actually is feeling pretty good) so to then go to 80's must have been quite a shock to his system.  He was not a fan.  He was so fussy anytime we weren't in an air-conditioned space.  We feel you, buddy, we feel you.  

We started by taking a tour of the "Big House".  It was beautiful although we weren't able to hear as much as I would have liked as Benjamin was not too thrilled and so I kept trying to hide away in hallways to not disturb other people.  But it was still really interesting what we were able to hear.  

The contraption above the table is a giant FAN!  Have I mentioned the heat yet?!  This was a job for one of the young child slaves to perform during meals - to steadily pull the cord to fan the table.  

The bulk of the house is actually on the outside - there is a huge wrap around porch on both levels!  There are 28 trees lining the pathway to the home and they used that number in many things.  28 columns surrounding the home and 28 doors leading to the outside - LOTS of cross breeze!

These were some of the slave cabins still on site.  

The backside of the "Big House"

I loved these roots at the bottom of the trees!

Me: "Isn't is beautiful?"
Jacob:  "I think it's handsome."

We DEFINITELY bribed the kiddos with ice cream to get through the tour!  They had a lovely ice cream parlor and we all loved a refreshing, cool treat!

After the plantation, we drove back into New Orleans and ate at Mother's Restaurant.  We had some po'boys and lemonade.  A great first day in Louisiana!

Swamp Tour

This was our fullest day but was probably my favorite day of our entire trip!  We started the morning by driving over to LaPlace for a SWAMP TOUR!

We had the greatest swamp tour guide.  He is definitely from "the bayou"!  He talked just like you would expect, was born and raised on the bayou, and had some pretty great stories.  We learned it's all about checking the alligators pupils - the ones with the biggest pupils are the ones to be scared of!  Good to know!

We easily saw over fifty alligators.  It was crazy!

Waiting to get on the boat...

I think the "blood" dripping from his mouth is a nice touch!

Our first gator...

Independence...it's a killer

I think the raccoon was Sarah's favorite part!

This was a cemetery right on the side of the swamp from a small community that was destroyed during a flood of 1915.  I truly cannot imagine living right here!

 

This was my first time in the south and even though it is ridiculously HOT the scenery is beautiful and so different from what I am used to.  I was completely mesmerized by it all.  

 

We had a great time!  It was such a neat experience and definitely a highlight for everyone!

Our Journey to Louisiana

Last week we took our family trip to LOUISIANA!

On Sunday, we headed down to Draper to stay with my family and get us closer to the airport.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 5:45 AM so we were in for an early start to our day!

Mark and I got up at 3:15 in the morning and got ready and the car loaded.  We got the kids up and they were all so excited!  We left my parents at 4:00 and headed to the airport.  We thought we were doing okay on time until we got to the airport parking.  It took us longer to get the car seats out and everything at the bus stop and then we just barely missed the bus and had to wait for the next one.  Then we also made the mistake of being only the second stop so we had to go through all of the other stops.  By the time we got to the check-in counter it said it couldn't process our request for tickets.  PANIC!

We headed up to the counter and they told us we were five minutes too late to check our bags.  UGGG!

So they bumped us back to the next flight which also meant that we were now on standby.  I have never flown standby and with all of us needing tickets (and needing them to be by each other) I was a little nervous.  Plus, now we had a whopping three and a half hours to kill!

It all kind of went downhill from there!  Even when we got into the security line the system went down so we had to wait for them to start it all back up again!

We finally got on an 8:45 flight and Jacob, Sarah and I all got to sit together and Mark and Ben sat somewhere else.  The kids did SO WELL!  We barely even scratched the surface of what I brought for them to do.  While in flight, a man two rows in front of us had a heart attack and things got a little crazy.  Luckily, there was a lot of help on the plane and I think he will be okay.  But we came in pretty heavy on our emergency landing.  

We had a layover in Dallas and had another hour and a half to kill before our next standby flight to Baton Rouge.  They could only get one of us on the flight and we didn't want to separate so we got bumped to the next flight! Another hour and a half to wait!  During our next flight they informed us that there was a problem with the flaps and so we would be having an emergency landing.  The second one in one day!

The kids were absolute SUPER STARS!  They did so well and just rolled with everything.

"WAIT...WHERE ARE WE?!"

We finally rolled into Baton Rouge at 5:00 (we were supposed to get there at 11:30 that morning!).  Our luggage was no where to be found - nor was anyone else!  Benjamin had been amazing all day but he was DONE!  He completely lost it while Mark tracked down our luggage.  We finally loaded our crazy crew and got into our MINI VAN!  I am not a huge mini van person - or at least I wasn't - until now!  Oh my goodness, it was heavenly!  It was so nice to have so much space!  

We then made the trek down to New Orleans.  This took about an hour and 45 minutes.  There was A LOT of crying on our way down.  Sarah was so done and finally conked out about halfway there.  Benjamin cried most of the way and Jacob was just happy as could be in the back.  

We got all of our stuff in the hotel and pretty much immediately went to bed.  EVERYONE was in bed by 8!  I don't know the last time I went to bed so early but we were all exhausted.  

It was a L-O-N-G day!  But we are so glad we made it and the week of fun we have ahead of us!