Clay and LL: November 2011

My brother Chris and his gal Laura got married on 11/12/11! The wedding was in New Orleans, which provided a perfect reason for us to take Henry to meet my grandparents in Ponchatoula. He's about six months old, so such a visit was long overdue (just ask my grandparents). We would love to take Henry to Louisiana more often of course, but 9-hour trips in the car with a little kid are not easy. Our strategy on the way there was to leave Austin at his 8pm bedtime, drive 5 hours to Lake Charles while he slept, stay in a cheap hotel with scary 80's bed spreads of questionable cleanliness, and drive the last three hours to Ponchatoula the next morning. Success on all accounts! The drive there was pretty easy.

Oh, one thing to note. Maggie did not come on this trip. She got to stay a few days at her daycare and play with all her little friends. Hopefully she missed us dearly.

Here is Henry with his dad's mom's dad. I called him Paw-paw Poche growing up, so probably Henry will just do the same. Paw-paw's real name, I was surprised to learn when I was probably 5 or 6, is Hollis; so now you know where Henry Hollis got his middle name. Henry, by the way, is HEAVY. Shockingly heavy to people who pick him up. Turns out you cannot just chunk him into the arms of a great grandparent without warning. No children were harmed in the making of these photographs.

Here is Henry with Maw-maw Betty. Her real name, I was surprised to learn when I was probably 30, is Elizabeth. We elected not to name Henry after Maw-maw Betty, Johnny Cash parenting tactics notwithstanding.

My mom also stopped by Maw-maw and Paw-paw's house to see Henry. My mom's real name is Joanne and Henry will call her MoJo. When he is older, we will tell him that her real name is Janet.

After leaving my grandparent's house, we drove out to the country -- Ponchatoula is a city, you see -- to my dad's house. He and Ms. Bonnie had a nice dinner waiting for us. Mostly they had crab cakes that Laura Lee likes. A lot.

This is a photo of Henry, my dad, and his cousin Halia. Henry always smiles at Halia.

Here are Henry and my dad hanging out. I think my dad will be called Paw-paw by Henry. Which means I'll have to start calling him that too. Then when I'm older I'll go back to calling him Dad, which will make Henry realize that everyone had spent the previous 20 years calling everyone else by made-up names. Among the many reasons Henry will resent his parents in 20 years, I think this one will be low on the list.

Here is Henry will Ms. Bonnie. I believe she will go by Maw-maw. Henry really had fun with her. She's great with kids!

Henry hanging out with cousin Carson. Henry has gotten to see Carson quite a bit in the last few months (Carson lives in Houston, which means Carson lives an hour from Houston). He's interested in what Carson is doing. Also, Carson is the first person in his life that might have a legitimate reason to be playing with a toy that supersedes Henry's right to play with said toy. I think this is good for Henry.

After spending two days in Ponchatoula, we drove down to New Orleans for the rehearsal and wedding. It's a pretty quick trip. In fact, if New Orleans were Houston, then we would say that Ponchatoula was in New Orleans. Getting to the hotel only took maybe 45 minutes, although valet parking at the hotel took 30 minutes. Welcome to the Big Easy!

We felt like it was important for Henry to see Bourbon Street. He likes flashing lights and smiling people. Honestly, to a 6-month-old, is Bourbon Street really that different from The Wiggles?

Here are Chris and Laura at the rehearsal dinner. It seemed like they were handling the enormous stress of getting married with relative ease. In reality, Laura is probably visualizing a 200-item checklist, while Chris is hoping he doesn't screw up one of his four items. In any case, they made everyone else feel relaxed and happy. We had a great time.

We had a few hours for sightseeing around the French Quarter, so we took Henry to the usual photo spots. Here he is in front of the St. Louis Cathedral. He sits up really well! My theory is that he's ballasted by his impressive thighs. Sortof like a punch-me clown.

Here is Chris getting a few photos done right before the wedding! He decided to sport a top-hat and cane, which really let him get his strut on during the Second Line we did down Bourbon Street after the wedding. Chris and Laura had a great jazz band that marched in front.

A comment on Second Lining: It's awesome. Seriously, if you ever have a reason to be in a second line, then do it! First of all, it's just fun to get out and walk down the street behind a jazz band waving napkins and dancing around. Second, Bourbon Street is full of tourists, and they will eat this stuff up! The crowd parts. People turn to look. And once they recognize what's going on, which admittedly can take second in their current condition, it's like you are Vincent Chase flanked by a roving party. The crowd cheers. They take photos, probably because they think it really might be someone famous. DJ's inside in bars that Henry must never visit take a second to shout congratulatory remarks that carry out into the street.

Here's Laura Lee and I at the wedding. The man-colors were purple and silver (sometimes women rename the colors to trick us..."that's not purple, that's lavender" or whatever. My gut instinct is that the percentage of people who can tell one not-purple from another is about the same as the percentage of people who can tell a Malbec from a Cab in a blind taste test).

Henry sitting in a big chair in his awesome outfit. Laura Lee is the one that buys his outfits and thinks about what size to get so that it fits at the time of the wedding and all that. I really do like this one. Adorable, right?

Henry sleeping while my Aunt Paulette carries him around.

Henry the next morning at the hotel! Let it be known that these beads were obtained through completely innocent channels.

Our last stop before leaving New Orleans was a lunch with LL's brother Lawson. Lawson's middle name is Henry, btw! Here are Lawson and Henry out in front of the restaurant where we ate. The restaurant is called Luke, and his a John Besh creation. Lawson works at August, another Besh restaurant, so he helps us navigate the menu. Lunch was awesome, especially the rillettes, which are probably still sludging through my arteries.

Anyway, all in all it was a great trip. We can't wait to go back!