This is the worst trip I've e-ver been on (A.K.A. Beach (Hating) Boy)

Who HATES the ocean? This guy.

Nice wet squishy sand? Beautiful sloshing waves? Other little kids running and screaming for joy? Ben clings to his parents in terror and spends over an hour refusing to be set down. So much for our first beach adventure.

all dressed up and no where (safe) to go

Ben loved the mirror on the hotel elevator's ceiling

In a way, that was typical of our weekend adventure in south Texas. Last Friday Clay had some work to do for one of his cases in Brownsville, so we all drove down Thursday night.  Friday evening we had a wedding (of one of Clay's former classmates) to attend. We were pretty excited that we would be able to combine business with pleasure, and turn the weekend into a little family vacation.

However, nothing on this trip went quite the way we hoped it would. I ending up having to cut short Ben's fun at the Brownsville Children's Museum Friday morning, and then Ben's two-year-old hyper-self did not want to conform to the solemnity of a Catholic church wedding.  While he looked quite dapper in his button-up shirt and bowtie, at the start of the ceremony Ben was super wiggly and noisy and then clapped and said "yea!" loudly just when the bride finished her grand entrance. Cringe. In order to save the decorum of the ceremony, I took him outside for the rest of the wedding, where he proceeded to try to run into the street, pick up trash and generally run his mother ragged. (P.S. I hate you, high-heeled shoes!)

This morning I was so excited to go to South Padre beach, thinking how much fun our boy would have digging in the sand and splashing and running around, and how that would help him sleep on the 4.5 hour car ride back to SA... yeah, not so much.  (Poor, terrified little guy.) 

But we did end up having a delicious seafood lunch before we headed back, and Benito DID end up napping for almost two hours on the way back, so all-in-all I guess it was a worthwhile adventure after all.

**(below) Brownsville Children's Museum madness**

   

spent (literally) 20 minutes "driving" this car)

***... then this is what was waving good-bye to us from the side of the road on our way out of South Padre this morning??***

NOLA: Oh glorious (Ben-heartsore) liberty

Hurray for freeeeeeeedom vs. I miss Ben so much I want to go home RIGHT now: that's how I would describe my clashing mindset during our first vacation without Benito. Clay's fantastic parents watched Ben for a long weekend while Clay and I went to New Orleans for Amerivespa 2014 (a national scooter rally that takes place in a different U.S. city each year). I have never in my life felt such conflicting emotions as when we were dropped off at the San Antonio airport without a demanding toddler to carry, entertain, and worry about; feeling so ecstatic and so forlorn I had to go to the airport bathroom for a good cry. Sheesh. I think it was good for all of us, though.

I'd never been to New Orleans before, but I feel like we got a nice taste of the city riding around on Clay's scoot. You definitely see the world differently on two wheels, and New Orleans is a pretty incredible place to ride around in. We split our time between doing rally stuff (including an awesome, 500-scooter, police-escorted ride on the bridge over the Mississippi River), wandering around town by ourselves, and hanging out with one of Clay's local friends, Kevin. He introduced us to some fantastic restaurants that are way off tourists' radar. (I had one of the best meals of my entire life at Toups: buttery bone marrow with escargot and chicken liver mousse on toast.... followed by the bone marrow luge--they pour a shot of whiskey down the bone tube from your meal. YES.)

beignets & coffee @ Cafe Du Monde

rainy morning in the French Quarter

outside Faulkner's house in Pirate's Alley

a Sazerac @ the Sazerac Bar

bone marrow, escargot & liver mousse

...While back at home, Ben was living it up in the best hands ever. (Clay's parents are so wonderful!)...