Second stop: N'awlins

We had a great start Tuesday morning, leaving Houston exactly at 9 AM as planned. I took the first shift driving since I had already eaten breakfast and was wide awake from playing with Lydia for an hour. We made really good time and only stopped to have lunch around 1 PM; Lydia didn’t wake up until we reached the little diner. After feeding the baby a couple times and eating a lovely lunch of gumbo and cabbage rolls, we headed off again for New Orleans. Trung drove the second shift and we arrived only a couple hours later. So far, this whole driving with the baby has been a breeze; Lydia must love sleeping to the vibration of the car. When we got to the hotel, Lydia took another little nap while we settled in. Here she is in her first hotel room...We soon ate at a nearby restaurant since Acme Oyster House was packed and we felt strange walking around the French Quarter at night with a baby stroller; I have to admit though, it was a sight to see. :P

Wednesday we slept in, well, I kinda did. Lydia didn’t sleep too well, probably due to the unfamiliarity of the place, so she woke up a couple times during the night. It was nice that the Marriott set up a crib for her though because she’s been waking up scrunched up in her travel bassinet. For breakfast, um, brunch, we had beignets at Café du Mont, which was quite yummy. The only place in Austin that sells beignets (that I knew of) closed down, so I was really looking forward to having them again. After a quick stroll, we headed back to the hotel for the baby to nap. We caught lunch at Acme Oyster House, which my friend Jeff highly recommended…great choice, Jeff! J Lydia was napping just fine in the stroller, so we walked down Canal Street and in the French Quarter to check out the shops. Nap time again for baby, then dinner at one of the famous Brennan family restaurants, Bosco. Trung had tuna and I had redfish; the portions were mighty small but very scrumptious. It was bath day for Lydia, which was definitely interesting since we had never bathed here in anything other than her baby tub. She looked so small in the adult bathtub, but we managed and she came out squeaky clean.

Thursday…one word: driving. Dang, Florida is long! We headed out 9 AM and stopped at 12:30 PM for lunch at Cracker Barrel in Crestville, FL. Lydia woke up once on the way to lunch, but just played with the car seat mobile and fell asleep again. Now we’re back on the road again, and probably won’t get to Tampa until night. I actually wrote this post in the car since I’ve got lots of time on my hands. See ya when we get to Ma and Ba’s house, um, actually Toan (Trung’s oldest brother) and Teresa’s house since they’ve got internet access.

Hmmm, strike that; we found wireless connection from one of Ma and Ba's neighbors.
Shhh...don't tell!