Valentine's Weekend in Baton Rouge

Antonio, Tatum, Mateo, and I headed down to Baton Rouge to spend the weekend with my parents. We had such a great time and I have tons of pictures in this post, so bear with me.

We drove down Thursday night and it only took us 7 hours to get there. I had expected 8 hours, so anything under that was fine with me. Tatum didn't sleep at all, but she was great. She watched movies, sang, read books, and just looked around. Mateo wasn't into riding in the carseat, so we did the unspeakable and held him until he would fall asleep and then put him in his carseat but did not strap him in. He was happy, we were happy, we did what works.

We got down to Baton Rouge about 11:30pm, so we unloaded the car and jumped in bed to try and get some rest.

Friday, we went to eat lunch with my dad since he had to work. Here is a picture of us all at the table...Antonio, my mom (behind Antonio), Owen (my dad's boss), Aubrey (my cousin), my dad, Tatum (in my dad's lap) and Mateo in his carseat.


Here is another picture of us at lunch.

Can you tell Mateo enjoyed lunchtime too??

My mom got a crown at Burger King for Tatum. I didn't know this, but it has crown rules inside it. They were pretty funny, so you will have to go to your local Burger King, get a crown, and check them out. Anyway, Antonio loved the rules, so he wanted to wear the crown so that everyone would follow the rules...it didn't work.

Mateo dressed up and hanging out on the couch with us on Friday...

Our first parade was Friday night. We got there early so that we could get a good spot and set up our chairs.

Tatum was drinking her milk before the parade so she would have some energy. Thumbs up for MILK!!!

Mateo getting some milk before the parade too.

My mom was ready for the parade to start....HEY MISTER, THROW ME SOMETHING!!!

The parade started and Tatum started on Antonio's shoulders...

....and then the marching bands came....she did NOT like them at all!!!

Here is one of the many floats...

As you can see, there are people throwing stuff from the bottom AND the top....you have to be VERY careful so you don't get hit!!

Tatum tried out Antonio's shoulders again.

Mateo and my dad just sat back and enjoyed the parade from behind the crowd. However, they did manage to get several stuffed animals and beads. I can't decide who enjoyed this more.

Saturday's parade was a daytime parade. Here is Mateo dressed up for Parade #2.

Mateo posing with a few things from Friday night's parade...

Here is Tatum on Saturday waiting for the parade to begin.

I had to get a picture of these 2 ladies. They were so cute just waiting for the parade to start.

Gotta LOVE the bag pipes!!! They were really good!

Tatum definitely enjoyed Saturday's parade much better. NO MARCHING BANDS!!

Here she is waving and trying to get them to throw her something.

Tatum got this fancy hat that I just think is hilarious! I look horrible in this pic, but I only managed to be in 2 pics the whole weekend, so I decided not to cut myself out.

There was another parade Saturday night, but we opted not to go because it was quiet a task to get us all down there, parked, and get to the parade route. Instead we went to CANES to eat and it did not disappoint!!! I love love chicken and they make it up right. I guess I love it because I can't get it here.

After lunch we headed back to the apartment and my mom had some old bread and she said we could go feed the ducks...

My mom didn't know if the ducks would come up to us to eat....lol...silly us for not knowing how spoiled these ducks are.

Tatum managed to NOT throw the bread and a duck bit her finger. It didn't cut her or anything, but she cried and cried. THEN she came to tell on the duck and pointed to the duck with her other hand and the duck snipped her finger again. Even though Tatum cried, we all got a good laugh. Tatum decided to stick close to Antonio so he could protect her. Mateo found someone warm to hold him too....my dad.

A look of content when someone you love is holding you....

....and a close up...

Tatum decided to chase the ducks since we ran out of bread.

Saturday was Valentine's Day and my mom cooked up a yummy meal!! Steaks, baked potatoes, salad, and dessert. She even had ice cubes in the shape of hearts. AND we ate it all by candle light. Tatum didn't know what to think. I wish I had gotten a picture of it all.

After dinner Saturday night, Tatum got a bath and my dad volunteered to blowdry her hair. It was very cute!

After Tatum went to bed, we tried to lay out all of the stuff we got at the 2 parades. It was SO MUCH. Here are all of the stuffed animals...

...beads that Antonio and I got...

...and here are my mom's beads...

Sunday we slept in a little bit and then got up and packed up our stuff. We decided to go feed the ducks one more time since Tatum enjoyed it so much (and so did all of the adults too). So, my mom sacrificed some more of her bread, popped several bags of popcorn, and we took off.

I took a picture of us all in the car because I can remember riding in the front on the 'hump' just like Tatum is in this picture...

Mateo managed to find his favorite person again for some last minute TLC before we headed home.

We had a BLAST in Baton Rouge, but our weekend went by so fast. It only took us 6 hours to get home and I was glad about that. Tatum wasn't feeling well, and I had been running some fever since Saturday night. Antonio took Tatum to the dr this morning and she has double ear infections again!! I will be taking Mateo for his 8 week appt next week, so I may take her back and make sure her ears have cleared up and possibly talk to our dr about tubes. Anyone have any suggestions (or pros and cons) to tubes??

We were definitely spoiled by my parents. My mom had TONS of food fixed for us and we snacked way too much, but I just couldn't pass it all up. My mom also did all of our laundry, so we didnt have to come home with anything that was dirty!

On a side note, I did a HORRIBLE thing, but it was NOT on purpose. I lost my wedding rings on the way down to Baton Rouge. I keep hoping they will show up, but they have not at this point. I know I am horrible, but I am VERY upset about it and I am PRAYING they will be in one of our bags or something...

I guess that's it for now. As you can see, we had a great time and can't wait to go back next year for some more Mardi Gras parades!!