NOLA

What do you do when you and all your friends are turning 30? Head to New Orleans of course and act like you are 21 :) This is exactly what 14 of us did 2 weekends ago and it was more fun than I even imagined! Craig and I always talk about how blessed we are that we have so many amazing friends from college - friends that have stayed so close through the years, friends that would do anything for each other and friends who can make your cheeks hurt from laughing when you spend an entire 4 days with them!

We had such an amazing time relaxing kid free (although we missed them:) ) and running around exploring New Orleans (ok let's be honest we just drank the whole time) but man was it fun! Cheers to the start of a great 30th year!

Pat O'Briens for the famous hurricanes!


Here comes the famous "Magnum Hurricane" - 3 gallons of deliciousness :)The whole bar was watching as it was being delivered to our table - hehe!



John loving the hurricane!


Let's drink it...




We did it!




Onto Blacksmith Shop Bar (the oldest building in New Orleans) - so cool.








The next morning we headed to breakfast at Cafe Du Monde in Jackson Square for those famous beignets. They did not disappoint - such amazing food and great Cafe Au Laits!



Trying to get a picture in Jackson Square but our camera got foggy...



Off to start a day of pub crawls starting with some bloody Mary's!


Next stop - a bar known as the home of the "Famous Hand Grenade" - a drink I did not try but was apparentely very strong!






The band at this bar was awesome - I especially loved when the lead singer pulled out his own personal fan to blow in front of him so his hair could be wind swept - haha!


Next, drinks on a balcony overlooking Bourbon street. Such good people watching :)



That night we went to an amazing dinner at Mr. B's restaurant. We had awesome food and had so much fun as a group getting to spend a nice dinner all together!


Emily & Kad with their shrimp bibs :0)





After dinner we hiked to the 1 casino in town. On our way we had to, of course, stop in convenient stores along the way and buy beers that we could brown bag all the way to the casino :) We had way too much fun in these stores!




Hanging out outside the casino... (Maybe we should have stayed outside because we definitely did not win any money once we went inside!)


Tricia and I having fun in a convenient store feeling the spirit of New Orleans :)


Later that night we headed back to Bourbon street for more fun (till 3:30am fun!)





The next day we spent most of the day relaxing in the sun and drinking buckets of Coronitas on the patio of a mexican restaurant...



Poor Steve twisted his ankle on the cobblestone street and had to ice it at the restaurant. What a trooper though - he still went on a walking pub crawl that evening and danced into the late hours of the night :)


Time for our jazz pub crawl...



We spent our last night partying it up on a balcony overlooking Bourbon street and dancing our booties off - so much fun!!