Meet The Who Dats

Weekend Recap of bringing Matt home to Louisiana to meet the family.

Friday-
I don't even know where to begin. Matt and I headed home to Louisiana after work - yes, after 6:00PM. If you've ever traveled with me, you know how antsy and impatient I get. I calm my nerves and will take a chill pill, but not until I'm cruising on the interstate. On the other hand, Matt's motto is "when we get there, we get there". Like oil and water, these two travelers don't mix well. We finally got on the road after showering, eating and stopping to get a drink.....not a happy camper. I finally cooled off once we hit the road. We listened to my iPod that hasn't been updated since college. Can I just say it's crazy how many memories that little electronic device can bring back? It wasn't until 1:00AM when we arrived and my mom greeted us in the driveway in her PJs having stayed up awaiting our arrival.

Saturday-
One of my dad's greatest joys is making a BIG breakfast - I mean the whole shebang. He enjoys it and so does my belly. After breakfast we headed to Abita Brewery to do the tour. They're completely renovated since I've been there and it ROCKS! How can you go wrong with a wall of free beer taps??? The actual tour lasts about 5 minutes, but you can drink for the other 55 minutes.

After our alcohol binge, we drove along the riverfront in Madisonville where Matt whipped out his photography skills and took some amazing photos. We also went to Friends Restaurant where we had appetizers, drinks and met Mrs. Beth (a second mom to me).

Afterwards, we headed home to eat dinner. This would be when Matt asked my parents if "Who Dat" was ever going to get old. You should have seen the look on my parents faces. This became the joke for the weekend and we'd laugh everytime we saw anything "Who Dat", which, in Louisiana is quite frequent.

Following dinner, Matt and I went to Barley Oak where we met my friends from high school and a few others. Matt was like a kid in a candy store - just for grown-ups. He was trying all kinds of new beer....some good, some bad, some that even came with charms. Maybe we should have had better self control that night, but you only live once, right?

Sunday-
After taking a few Tylenol, we headed to church. While leaving the sanctuary, my parents friends were awkwardly staring at me and I asked why. Their response, "C'mon Leighanne! We want to meet him (signaling with their eyes towards Matt)." Apparently, my parents told their entire Sunday School class we were coming to town.

The four of us then headed to Rips for brunch, before heading into NOLA to the aquarium. We sat on the patio and enjoyed the amazing weather. After Matt mentioned how much he loved the area and could live there, I had to point out to him this wasn't norm weather-wise for Louisiana. We certainly enjoyed it while it lasted though!

Matt's one request was to visit the aquarium because he has never been to one. The last time I went to the Aquarium, I was probably thirteen years old.

*Side note: last time my mom went she was a chaperon on a field trip with me. There were two adults for every three children. Needless to say, she lost one. We were worried going back to the aquarium would send panic through her, but she survived.

I wish I'd captured Matt's excitement, but he had my camera the entire time. He was standing in front of all of the tanks taking pictures, while small children tried maneuver their way around him and squeeze their way in between him and the tank. It was rather humorous. The little kid came out of him. After the aquarium, we walked around the French Quarter and enjoyed the amazing day and then headed home to eat again.

Monday-
Sad to leave, we woke up and got dressed. On our way out of town we had to stop and get more Louisiana food. My trunk was filled with three ice chests - it was 2/3 full of food and alcohol with only two bags of clothes. Anyways, we made a pit stop in Hattiesburg to have lunch with my brother and his girlfriend and visit with Mamaw. Then we were on the road again.

All-in-all, I love going home and especially this time. It was a GREAT weekend. It couldn't have gone any better. As always, it was too short, but it was great seeing everyone. My family loved Matt just as much as he loved them. As his mom said, "You've both met each others families and still like each other. This is good!"