Holidays, Continued

On December 30th, Alex and I finally made our way back to Louisiana, but not to our house.  After spending the previous night in Mobile, AL on our return from the mountains in North Carolina, we stopped in the Baton Rouge area to have brunch at Dawn's house.  My college roommate, Jen, and her 15 month old, Landon, made the drive from Luling to meet us there.  Hanging out with these ladies (plus Alex and Landon) was just another bright spot on this fabulous two-week trip.  It was super fun to carve out visits with everyone along the way - well worth the efforts.

My family was so kind as to delay "Christmas" until we arrived.  My parents and brother waited to exchange gifts with us, as did my grandmother and aunt/uncle/cousins.  On New Year's Eve, we were finally able to enjoy Nanna's delicious seafood gumbo, and visiting with everyone was definitely an added bonus.  All of us cousins are growing up - most of us have spouses or significant others now and it is just cool to see how we are all growing up these days.

You should totally be jealous.

While we were in town, Alex even got to make good on his promise to Seth for a man-date at Buffalo Wild Wings.  Alex and Seth sat next to each other, while Victoria and I sat across the table, and each gender kept their respective conversations going for over 2 hours.  It was entertain to see how different the conversations were for each of us - boys talk about farts and boobies, where as girls talk about faith and babies.  

This is a terrible picture, really, but it's all I have from our visit with the triplets this time around (obviously Drew is missing from the photo).  We gave the kids their first set of skates as Christmas gifts, then Alex and I, with the help of their mom, spent the next 30 minutes making circles through the living room, kitchen, and dining room, as they tried out their new toys.  It was totally adorable.

Then of course, our big ticket to report was the purchase of a new vehicle.  We put nearly 2500 miles on my Corolla this trip, and the poor girl was so weighted down that her tires may have gone flat if we added a toothpick to the pile.  Between the trunk and back seats, it looked like I was moving across the country again.

  

We didn't plan to make the car purchase until we returned to Monroe, but there was a deal in Lafayette that no one would match and we certainly couldn't pass that up.  It was rainy and gross here for most of the week, though, so Alex has yet to really have the chance to take it out on the road.

2014 Acadia

We were supposed to head back to Monroe yesterday, but my car has been in the shop since Tuesday getting a major maintenance work-over, so we are at the mercy of the dealer.  It looks like we'll be cleared to get on the road a little later today.  Sadly, I won't get to enjoy the inaugural trip in our new ride, but I'll be following closely behind in my like-new little Cajun Yota.

Even the new car is filled to the brim!

I can't wait to get home and settle back in before dragging my butt back to work on Monday.  Ugh.  The thought of work just makes me want to puke.  At least the kitties will be waiting for us, and I am sooo looking forward to cuddling with those cuties.

Hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays and are excited about kicking off this new year.
-Lauren

Update:  We have arrived in Monroe safe and sound.  See below for the final mileage we racked up (in my car only) on this 15-day trip.