{Dallas World Aquarium}

This past Saturday we left home bright and early to meet some friends at the Dallas World Aquarium. Nate had met Chris through a fishing tournament and they have stayed in touch. It was the first time for the rest of us to meet. Chris' wife and I showed up wearing almost the exact same thing, Our shirts were similar and the same color, our pants were the same shade of blue jean and we both had on camel colored sandals. To everyone else it probably looked like we planned it. We met at 9 when the aquarium opened and I am so glad we did. We were able to take our time casually strolling through the exhibits while talking and forming new friendships! It was an amazing day.

{Vacation Recap // New Orleans Day Two}

I'm back with the 2nd installment of our vacation recap! I am having to break it up by day because I took so many pictures! If you missed day one in New Orleans you can catch up here. Warning, another picture heavy post comin' at ya!

We decided to spend our 2nd day in New Orleans walking around the French Quarter and the Garden District. We didn't really have any set plans, just a few general things we hoped to see and do. We used Uber for the first time, ever. There were seven of us and we had two cars and the thought of having to find parking was daunting, so Uber it was. And it was perfect! She dropped us off right in the heart of the French Quarter, which was gorgeous. We didn't really know where we were, so we just started walking (and snapping photos).

    

We popped in and out of little shops soaking in all things Nola. Mason found some fun beads and a crazy mask which made him the ultimate tourist. I found a Nola shirt that I have been obsessed  in love with. It says "Joy of Life" but in french and has the cutest arrows on it.

   

We came out of one shop to find the YouTube famous Grandpa Elliot singing his heart out. We stopped and listened to him for a while and then let Mason give him some cash.

We then made our way over to Bourbon street since we were so close to it. I mean, you can't go to New Orleans and not see Bourbon Street. I don't have much to say about Bourbon street because we stayed approximately 2 minutes. But I will say this, as soon as we stepped foot onto Bourbon it got 50 shades dirtier. And I would be lying if I said I didn't pull Mason in closer to me. It reeked of urine and it was not the cleanest place. It was lined with mostly bars and just didn't feel like a safe place to drag Mason through. We snapped a couple of photos and then left to find some lunch.
 

I started following an Instagram account called Eating Nola before we left for our trip in hopes of finding some amazing places to eat in Nola. After seeing some photos on this IG account we really wanted to try The Company Burger.

Better hurry before they close! #Boom #Repost @companyburgerdowntown ・・・ •Meatloaf 2.0• It's back and better than ever! Meatloaf, spicy ketchup, crispy fried onions, & cheddar cheese. Come & get it! #companyburgerdowntown #companyburger #specials

A photo posted by Follow My Snaps 👻 @eatingNOLA (@eatingnola) on Jul 7, 2016 at 6:31pm PDT

But sadly it was no where near us at that time. We were close to Gumbo Shop, though! It had been recommended to us by a friend and also kept popping up any time we searched where to eat in Nola. So we decided on that! It was amazing. Since I am not much of a seafood fan I played it safe and got the sausage red beans and rice. Oh my word, so delicious. It was a tad too crowded in there, but I think that's every where in the French Quarter. I can't believe I don't have any pictures of our meals.

Shortly after lunch (as in they basically had to run) Ty and Michelle wanted to do a Graveyard tour. They raced to make it on time and we trailed shortly behind. We just hung out and waited while they did the tour. It eventually started raining, so we camped out under some trees.
   

When the tour was over we called another Uber to pick us up and carry us to the Garden District. It started raining cats and dogs on our way over. We were all kind of wondering what we were going to do in the pouring down rain. Thankfully, our Uber driver drove us right up to a Starbucks. We decided to hang out there and let the rain pass. Once we felt that the rain was letting up we stepped out on to Magazine Street. But, wouldn't you know it started pouring again. We found some awnings and hid out for a while. An employee of a place called Brick and Spoon was across the street trying her best to get us to come over for free Mimosas. It was pouring and the street was a foot deep in water so it took some major convincing for her to get us over. But, she was adorable and so sweet and we were tired of standing out in the rain so we went over. She gave us a card for a free appetizer as well. We weren't starving so we just ordered our first beignets of the trip! Nathan, Mason and I shared some cinnamon sugar beignets and the rest of the family shared some bananas fosters beignets. We enjoyed those and our free mimosas! They were delicious. Jennifer, the sweet lady that got us to come over was so kind and wrote down some addresses to houses owned by famous people in the area.

  

The rain stopped so we carried on down Magazine street. We went into a few more shops before the guys found a cigar shop. They spent a bit of time in there while we just took in the sights around the shop. The humongous trees out front had beads hanging from them...so typical Nola, right?
    

By this time we were pretty much at the end of the street so we searched the list of famous houses to see if any were near us. Jay-Z and Beyonce's house was fairly close so we set off to find it. It was about 5 blocks over and it was huge in comparison to other houses in the area. Our waitress had told us it used to be a house where nuns and brothers (?) both lived. It sounded crazy to me, but it was New Orleans after all.
  

At this point we were all so hot, sticky and tired and quite frankly just over it. So we called another Uber. While waiting we watched the street cars go by! We went back to our resort for a little swimming and then some fishing. We caught an amazing sunset that night!

            

Stay tuned for day three in New Orleans which involves the aquarium, Barcadia and a Children's Museum.

Have you ever been to Nola? What was your favorite thing about it? Least favorite? I will be sharing ours soon.

{Memorial Day camping trip to Mason, TX}

When someone asks me what my favorite holiday is I naturally say Christmas or Thanksgiving. Then Memorial Day rolls around and I am quickly reminded that Memorial Day weekend ranks pretty high on that list, too. It's one of my most favorite weekends and camping trips.

Each year we road trip about 4 hours to the Texas Hill Country for a weekend of camping with some pretty amazing people. We camp at a little park right next to a golf course in Mason, TX. This time we had 12 campers in our group. In September we will have 18 campers with us! It's a weekend mixed with both relaxing and playing. During the day we normally split up into groups and do various things. Some will go shopping in Fredericksburg, some will golf, some will go to museums, some just hang out at the campsites, etc. During the evening we all come together for supper and games. We have a theme for each night and then it's potluck style. It's some really good eating! And we always call the police department to come out and eat, and they do. I think that's so cool and has become one of the neatest traditions.

Mason, however, does more playing than relaxing, though. He plays from sun up until sun down while we are there. The playground is in the middle of where we camp and since we have so many in our group we span the length of the park. So, there are always more than enough eyes on them. He had about 10 kids to play with this time and was in little boy heaven. I love camping here because he can be a total boy and we don't have to worry so much. He may come in each night with dirt in every crevice of his body, but he comes in ready to do it all over again the next day.

We had a pretty smooth and easy road trip there. I always pack Mason a goodie bag for trips that are over 2 hours long. I fill it with snacks, little toys and activities to keep him busy on the way down. He hung out in the backseat and only piped in every so often to request a song.

  

  We arrived in Mason around 2 pm on Friday. Most everyone was gone doing things so we let Mason play at the park while we unloaded our stuff into the camper.

      
Everyone started coming back to the campers about an hour and a half later so we visited and hung out until supper. Mason played his little heart out at the playground and riding his bike.

   After we ate we made a split decision to go check out the bats. We have always wanted to watch the bats emerge from the cave, but have never seemed to make it over. We left pretty late, so we weren't sure what our adventure would hold. But, what an adventure we had. It was such a pretty drive to the cave...out in the middle of nowhere. We saw so much wildlife; cows, horses, turkeys, jackrabbits, deer, a tarantula and a snake. Nate got some pretty cool footage on the GoPro of the tarantula and the snake. I'm including the video at the end of this post.

    After hestitantly crossing over this river we made it to the bat cave in time. The bats didn't emerge until after 8:45 pm. And then it was almost too dark to get pictures or take video. Nate did get some footage, though. It was a neat experience, but I am not a fan of bird type things. I may have screamed a few times when they looked like they were flying right at our faces. Eeek!

Saturday a group of us went to Fredericksburg for a little shopping and ice cream before heading over to Johnson City, TX. We wanted to hike Pedernales Falls. We went last year and it was so beautiful. It was a blast, but it sure was hot on those rocks. And the hike back up is torture. But, it was worth it. I took photos and Nate took video on the GoPro.

         Sunday was spent hanging out at the campers all day, We had some whiffle ball games as well as our traditional water balloon fight. It was the best way to spend our last full day and evening at Mason, TX.

   When we got home on Monday we weren't ready to end the weekend, so we grabbed some stuff to throw on the grill. We played outside, ate some burgers and watched the Rangers.

      Such a good one!! I've attached the video below that has all of the pictures and video footage from the weekend. It's pretty long, but has some neat videos!

Memorial Day at Mason, TX from Crystal Hall on Vimeo.
Hope your Memorial Day was pretty spectacular, too!