Spring Breakers...

Spring Break has officially begun and we headed out last Friday to kick off this week long excuse to be lazy by driving 6 hours to Baton Rouge - the irony of that statement is not lost on me. Gigi and Pops headed out with the bigs early Friday morning while Sarah snapped Landry's one year pics. (more on that later). We all met up at MaMaw's for a giant slumber party in a house that seems to have shrunk over the years - in the best way possible. 

Saturday morning we woke up, grabbed breakfast and headed out for a day of fun. 

First stop: Baton Rouge State Capitol. 

There are 50 steps leading to the entrance of the capitol building that list the names of the states in the order they joined the union. Radley was so pumped to find Texas, California and Louisiana but there was someone else who was equally excited... she climbed up half of them by herself!

He was equally excited to see the inside and in true Radley form asked about 2048 questions that I really couldn't answer. I have no doubt that this boy could be sitting in one of those chairs one day.

Now, while all things are bigger (and arguably better) in Texas... the Louisiana state capitol is the tallest - 40+ stories and we made it all the way to the top. Landry of course loved it (and as you can tell, was trying to winch her way out of the Moby Wrap). 

It's a good thing Emmy's hair was in piggies because that wind was crazy!

This guy. He's cute, huh? 

Pops was pointing out all the boats, buildings, and sharing stories with Radley - all of which I seem to remember from way back when.

As we headed to our next stop we paused for the required "Texas" pic - with the obvious additions of Louisana gators.  

On the way to our next adventure we spotted a farmer's market - and clearly pulled over to walk down Main Street for a sampling of goodness. 

Homemade wine. Now, I am not real sure what a "muscodine" is, but it makes some tasty beverage. 

Landry's view is always the best. 

We noticed some slight differences between Louisiana farmer's markets and others we've seen. We sadly did not buy any alligator sausage on Saturday. 

 But we definitely didn't leave empty handed. 

 The last stop of the morning was to visit Mike the Tiger. We decided that the LSU mascot may be able to beat the Aggie mascot - but Radley wasn't scared.

(Fun fact: the LSU school newspaper is called The Reveille)

Mike wasn't feeling into all the visitor's but the kids LOVED him and they were greeted with lots of smiles from all the LSU fans even though they were all decked out in their Aggie gear.  We hung out and roared at Mike, spent too much money at the bookstore (where Pops purchased the kids some purple and gold) and met my sweet cousin who is a senior at LSU. She joined us for lunch at a campus favorite where I had the best Bloody Mary/poached eggs over crab cakes brunch ever. 

All of that before noon. 

We were tired. 

But these guys weren't done yet - they were headed to Bocage - a BR country club where all white clothing is required to play tennis. I nearly died when they came back from Academy and walked out as twinkies. 

I mean died. 

The girls and I proceeded to take a 3 hour nap, chat with more cousins and then headed out for dinner at my Dad's cousin's new restaurant. We clearly don't go hungry in Baton Rouge which makes everyone's tummy happy and hearts full.

I failed at taking any pics at dinner, but it as amazing. Full of family and love and everything that life is about. Ryan is trying to talk me into moving to Baton Rouge and some days I think he may be on to something... we will see. For now, I love visiting a place that has filled my childhood with happy memories and watching my kids discover the wonders of this place all over again.