Louisiana trip--part I

On December 18, we got up bright and early, finished loading up the van and hit the road for a 10+ hour drive down to Scott's parents' house. I couldn't believe how good our 3 boys were!! There was NO fighting from the back of the van and even Colin did better than expected. He didn't really understand why he couldn't get out and run around, so when we stopped, he ran around like a MADMAN until we forced him back into his seat. But, overall, things went pretty smoothly, thank goodness.

The boys were very concerned that Trix wouldn't know where to find us, but William quickly decided that he must be flying over our van and following us. This quickly led to lots of warnings to Trix when we went under overpasses--"Watch out, Trix, there's a bridge coming up! Don't hit your head!" Scott & I were in stitches in the front seat. And, imagine the excitement when they woke up on day 2 and this is what they found:

From Maw Maw Lin's

On Monday night, we finally got to head over to NOLA for Christmas in the Oaks. (It's been closed due to weather the last 3 times we've tried!) The boys had a blast taking pictures and riding rides. Here are the 3 of them posing with a huge alligator statue--it's wearing a Santa costume!

From Maw Maw Lin's

And on the carousel:

From Maw Maw Lin's

From Maw Maw Lin's

From Maw Maw Lin's

William's favorite part was a roller coaster with a roaring dinosaur that lit up and scared you as the coaster car raced by in front of it! Daniel's favorite part was the ferris wheel--William's response to that was, "Daniel, I can't BELIEVE you picked that!" Not, as you might think, because it's not exciting, but rather because he seems to have inherited his daddy's fear of all heights!! And, poor Scott had to go on it with them because it was not advised that you ride pregnant. What do you mean??? Of COURSE I wasn't milking that........

On the Wednesday, Scott's brother Brian and his wife Kristy came over with their 3 kids to exchange presents and hang out. My boys were very excited to see their older cousins! We even managed to get them all (remotely) still for a group pic. Scott had to get down on the floor with Colin because he kept wanting to run up to the camera and yell "Cheese!"--imagine that!

Jay Douglas (12), Meredith and Madelaine (8), William (5), Colin (19 months), and Daniel (4)

From Maw Maw Lin's

And, we got a very rare shot of Scott's entire family--Chad (younger brother), Maw-Maw Lin (AKA Ms. Linda), Paw-Paw Bip (AKA Mr. Bill), Scott, and Brian (oldest brother).

From Maw Maw Lin's