Our Louisiana Christmas

We headed to Louisiana on December 23 and drove straight through till we arrived at 2am ET.  It was a long day, but we were able to relax on Christmas Eve and not have to worry about another long drive in the car.

Joshua hadn't been feeling well, so he was quite irritable, but stopping to purchase a dual DVD player really helped make the 2nd half of the trip more endurable.  The kids loved watching movies to pass the time.  (Side note:  We'd bought a portable DVD player when Jenna was 1 1/2, but last year, she decided to clean the screen with a wet wipe. It was never the same.  Somehow, watching movies that look like negatives isn't quite entertaining).

We crammed a lot of fun into the 4 days we were in LA.  We visited with family, celebrated Christmas, shopped, ate out, visited our niece and nephew's new house, took family pictures with all of Randy's mom's grandkids and great-grandkids, ate beignets, and visited Randy's sister's dog grooming/boarding shop.  Here are some of the pictures:

Joshua was able to catch some zzzz's at the beginning of the trip.

Jenna was too excited to sleep for most of the trip!

While at a Best Buy, Jenna found this R2D2 display.
Knowing Daddy's love for Star Wars, she had to pose for a picture.

Jenna loves this hat she found at Old Navy!

The madness of Christmas Day with a large family!

David shows Mamie and Leslie the new iPad.

Jenna's loving this technology!

Joshua just liked playing with all the toys.

Here's Mamie with 9 of her 10 grandchildren and all 4 of her great-grandchildren!

The younger kids enjoyed playing on the "set"!

Kalel had to try on Mamie's glasses.

Sweet cousins who could be twins.  Asher's just 2 weeks older than Jenna.
Jenna cried when she had to tell Asher goodbye.

We loved meeting happy Baby Tripp for the first time!

Jenna loves her cousin Toby too!

Beignets at Coffee Call are always a must when in LA!

This trip brought a new food experience -- freshly prepared Japanese food by David's girlfriend.

These kids spent all their energy--they konked out on the drive home!