daddy days

We planned my mommy-cation to coincide with a trip back to Louisiana for Bill and Caroline and Winnie. When I left for Charleston on Tuesday, the 3 of them struck out at 4:30 am for a drive over to Bill's parents in Mandeville. I'm proud to say I had absolutely no worries about leaving the baby in daddy's hands for several days. He is such an involved, hands-on daddy that he knows her routines and nuances almost as well as I do. I know plenty of moms who would balk at the thought of leaving the kids with daddy for several days (jelly beans for dinner! teeth not brushed! Baby Einstein videos on repeat-play for hours at a time!) but I am not one of them. I kissed them goodbye and left them to their own devices.

They had a good time in Mandeville, and I was particularly glad that Caroline got to spend lots of time with Granny and PawPaw since they aren't able to stay at our house when they visit Houston. Bill said the 5 hour drive to Mandeville was no trouble at all, since Caroline slept most of the way. They made a pit stop in Baton Rouge at my mom's house to feed her breakfast. She walked in the house and made a beeline for her giant teddy bear! So happy to see her old friend!

On Wednesday they headed down to New Orleans to visit the aquarium. As much as she loves fish, this was a real treat for her. Houston has a great zoo with a nice fish selection, but no true free-standing aquarium. (I've heard there is supposedly something akin to an aquarium downtown but it's very small and a waste of money, so we haven't tried it.) The only problem was that she had NO interest in riding in her stroller...she wanted to run free among the fish!

The rest of the week was more low-key since she developed a cold and wasn't feeling 100%. They made several trips to the lakefront park, where both she and Winnie could run free to their hearts' content. (In Winnie's case, that meant he was able to freely run away from her.) In addition to unrestrained sprinting and strolling, she also thoroughly enjoyed swinging on the swings.

She had her first taste of beignets during her visit, and not surprisingly it was a hit!

Wish I had more pictures with Granny and PawPaw to post but I'm afraid Daddy must've had his hands full chasing sweet Petunia all around their house. He admitted to me after the trip was over how 'exhausted' he was at the end of each day with her. I guess being a stay-at-home dad for the week was just as tiring as a week at the office (although with an admittedly-cuter colleague!)