NOLA in pictures

{with some narration of course}

Brother David turned the big 3-0 last Thursday and we pulled a little surprise on him.

He thought there was going to be a cookout for him on Saturday at my parents' house.

I had avoided his phone calls for 2 weeks so he did not know if Lee and I were going to be there at all.

Well of course we showed up Friday night for the "cookout" that was going to be on Saturday.

All the guys were going "golfing" during the day on Saturday before the "cookout".

So they drove to "play golf" Saturday morning and when Lee conveniently missed the exit for the golf course Stuart shouted at Dave, "Bro, we are going to New Orleans!"

{from my parents' house New Orleans is less than 2 hours}

Surprise, surprise!

At this point David, Stuart, Lee and Michael {friend} are all headed to New Orleans & are being closely followed by me and Joy {Stuart's girlfriend...sorry ladies}.

One last surprise was on its way though.

Randy {David's best friend} flew in from TN and Ginny {a good friend} were both meeting us at the hotel.

So this is how it went down.

Stuart: "Hey, before we check in let's get a drink at the bar."

David: "OK whatever."

And they proceed to walk around the bar and stand directly in front of where Ginny and Randy are sitting.
David notices nothing.

{maybe it is because he is wearing sunglasses inside!}

David turns around to see me poised & ready with a camera.

{yes, like all good scrapbookers would do!}

So he turns back around to see who the heck I am taking a picture of.
And he finally sees his friends.

David might be the easiest person in the world to pull a surprise on!

Now that everybody is accounted for, the fun can begin!

{me and Dave}

{Ginny, me, and Joy}

We did alot of walking around the French Quarter.
And down by the river.

Stu practically forced us to ride the ferry.

So we did.

All the way to the west bank and back.

:)

{Randy, David, Lee, Ginny, Joy, Stuart, Michael}

We decided to try out the casino for a bit so we had to get some moola.

{We lost it all}

We celebrated with a nice birthday dinner for the old man!

{happy birthday Dave!}

Like good tourists, we took a carriage ride around the French Quarter.

And checked out some other attractions in the area.

{Pat O'Brien's}

And before we left Sunday morning, we made sure to eat some beignets and have coffee at Cafe de Monde!

And good times were had by all!
{but sleep was not}
:)

gretchen

{I am really impressed if you made it all the way to the end!}