The End of Our March Madness

We knew March would be a crazy month in our household and we are glad its coming to an end.  As you could tell from the last posts, we traveled to Savannah, then the following weekend I went to Florida with Liam for my dad's 55th birthday party, and this past weekend we all went to New Orleans for an academic conference. I had packing with children down pat!
In New Orleans, Nick and I both presented some of our research.  I have to say this because this will become a running joke in our house....Nick has "Soc groupies."  There were 4 women who attended his presentation last year and sought him out this year and attended the session just because of Nick.  Nick said that he walked by them before the session and he overheard one saying to the other "this guy is good".  Well, yes he is!!!  I know I have a biased opinion but I do enjoy and admire Nick when he is in his element.  As we like to say, he "owns" it.

Anyhow, we brought the kids with us to this conference because well, we have no other option.  But we learned that we CAN do it!  On the first day of the conference Nick had to attend a welcome reception for a group we belong to (Sociologists for Women Society South- SWS-S) and given the name of the group we were pretty safe bringing the kids around.  Gavin was hilarious.  When we walked in we saw groups of people in circles talking/catching up.  I was talking to a member I met last year and when she walked away, Gavin said "I want to meet more people. I want to meet those people" as he pointed to the circle closest to us.  I said "go ahead" just to see what he would do and he walked up to the group and stood next to a woman.  However, no one noticed he was there to "meet" them so Gavin turned around and yelled to me "Mama, can you help me meet these people?".  Of course that got everyone's attention and he quickly made his way through the group.

The weather in New Orleans was pretty crappy the first day.  I was really worried we would get cabin fever but it cleared up the next day and we were able to do a little exploring.

French Market--- love this place

There was a food festival going on and the boys picked up some free hot sauce

Nick got to meet up with "Aunt Liz"- Nick's committee chair, who just adores Gavin.  It's amazing how Gavin did not forget her.  Even though he hasn't seen her since July, when I told her we would see Aunt Liz he lit up.  They had a good old time.
Liz had asked us to attend the President's reception (President of the conference) on the second night at the conference but because it was the "President's" reception we weren't sure if it was ok to bring kids.  She assured us we would be ok and others agreed so we took the risk.  It was at 7pm so I thought we'd have a meltdown for sure.  But we did not know there would be a live jazz band in true New Orleans fashion and Gavin would have a ball.  As soon as the music started Gavin started playing his air guitar and dancing.  Liz and Kris danced around Gavin.  We stayed until the reception closed down!  Then Gavin high fived all the musicians.





Here's the obligatory picture of Gavin eating beignets (french doughnuts)....this was right before the reception so it may have accounted for all the crazy energy!

I must say that I didn't think I would like New Orleans as much as I did.  Actually I should say- like the French Quarter....we never left the French Quarter so I have no idea what the rest of the city is like.  The art is fabulous!  When we go back in a few years (the conference is there every 3 years) I will definitely buy some local art.

Regarding traveling with the kids--we were definitely a spectacle.  We didn't want to check any bags but we didn't think it through all the way.  We had two small carry-on suitcases, a backpack with snacks, Liam's diaper bag, and Gavin's bag with toys/entertainment, AND the pack n' play.  We did check in the pack n' play but we carried the rest ourselves....which was ok until it was time to board the plane.  The plane aisles were super narrow and we couldn't wheel our suitcases down the aisle so Nick had to carry them and the Samsonite bag with Gavin's toys.  I Bjorned Liam and carried the diaper bag and backpack and Gavin walked ahead of us.  On a couple of the flights people in line to board behind us asked us if we needed help and Nick accepted so we were passing out bags behind us like an assembly line!  Nick kept telling people- "it's our first time flying with children, we are learning our lesson"...people laughed.  We flew from Charlotte to Atlanta to New Orleans and although I dreaded the stop, it ended up working out well both ways.  The stop was only 45 minutes and it allowed us to give Gavin some time to run around and burn some energy, get some food and use the potty.  Each flight was about an hour so it was perfect for his attention span.  Liam behaved really well too.  He would nurse right at the beginning of the flight, fall asleep for 20-30 minutes and then be his happy self.  It wasn't until the last flight home where he was fighting sleep so bad that he got cranky.  But he never was cranky enough where other passengers noticed.  He was just a bit restless on my lap.

Although we survived and learned that we can do it...it's a lot of work to travel with kids.  There were more than a couple of times where we both said "next time, NO kids!" but we are glad we brought them this time and we all had a good time.