It's Carnival time

We decided to skip the extended Super Bowl/Mardi Gras celebration (a.k.a. "South Louisiana has completely lost its mind") and head up north to Shreveport to spend some time with friends and family during our mini-vacation. It was sleeting and snowing the morning before we planned to leave, so we even scored an extra snow day off! Nothing stuck to the ground down here, but Lucy sure did love trying to catch the snowflakes. And she rocked her pink cold weather ensemble quite well.

Uncle Mike and Aunt Katie came in town (from Arkansas and Texas, respectively) to love on Lucy, and we got to spend a lot of quality time with Boogie and Pop Pop, too. Lucy especially enjoyed getting to play "pajama dress-up party" in all of Boogie's jewelry. Don't we look like the height of fancy?

We took in some lunch at Superior and had a grand time at the annual Hank & Audrey birthday party/Mardi Gras bash at the Welch household. It's so nice to get the chance to hang out with so many friends our age with kids and to just let them all run a little wild! The Cate girls were nice enough to let us ride with them in their Barbie-themed float, so Lucy got to participate in the kiddie parade that rolled up and down East Kings Highway throwing candy and beads.

On Sunday, we got in a short visit with Nana and PawPaw who were visiting from Dallas and then had lunch at Imperial Cathay with Honey. Lucy's a lucky girl to be able to see all of her grandparents in one weekend! Honey had a super special Valentine's Day present waiting for Lucy at the restaurant. His name is Max and he is so huggable!

And because we completely and totally refused to nap pretty much during our entire visit, Lucy missed most of the visit I had with my wonderful high school friends Lisa and Jen. We met at the park, but it was so cold that we had to move to library to keep talking (in whispers). Lucy threw a tantrum and had to go home, but cutie Caroline Walls was an absolute perfect angel. Love that little one! I miss these ladies like crazy and it was great to catch up and learn about all the happiness in their lives right now.

Special thanks to Boogie for keeping Lucy so we could go out on a Valentine's double date with Aunt Katie and Dave at Olive Street Bistro. It was cold in the restaurant, they weren't offering their regular menu (big disappointment), and the musical entertainment was horrid, but... it was a Date Night, people!!!

There's never enough time to do everything and see everyone we want to on these visits. I wished we lived closer to everybody so these fun times could happen more often, but we so cherish the times we get to share with those we love. Laissez les bon temp rouler!