Growing up an hour's drive from New Orleans was like having Auntie Mame in my family -- a colorful, eccentric presence who was endlessly generous with the gift of good fun. My love for the city made its destruction by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 all the more poignant, and that love has made me all the more joyful as New Orleans gradually regains its place among the nation's top tourist destinations.

If I can mention New Orleans and family in the same breath, perhaps it's because the Crescent City, for all its vaunted mischief and nightlife, is a great place for parents and young children to visit too. Or so I was reminded on a recent weekend visit to the city with my wife, Catherine, 12-year-old daughter Eve, 7-year-old son Will, and Asher, our 2-year-old nephew. Together, we discovered what's new -- and what's been renewed -- as this one-of-a-kind town remakes itself on its journey toward full recovery.

FRIDAY: A BUG MUSEUM AND A CAJUN BAND

Heading into the fabled French Quarter, we stop at the Audubon Insectarium, the largest freestanding insect museum in North America, and the first new attraction to open in the city since Katrina. "Can I have one of these for my bedroom?" Will asks as his eyes widen at a wall-size model of a termite invasion. Asher shrieks at the spook-house thrill of the Underground exhibit, which features oversize props that give visitors a bug's-eye perspective. Meanwhile, Catherine and I marvel at the exquisite vaulted ceilings of the old U.S. Custom House, the quaint building that's now the Insectarium's home ($15 for adults, $10 for kids ages 2 to 12; 800-774-7394; Audubon Nature Institute).

No visit to New Orleans is complete without music, so we dine that night at Mulate's, a restaurant known for family-friendly Cajun bands and hearty regional cuisine. Between bowls of seafood gumbo and servings of grilled alligator and frogs' legs in the Cajun sampler (there's a tamer kids' menu too), Eve and I waltz to a French-inflected ballad. Later we're joined by Catherine, Will, and Asher, who dance ring-around-the-rosy-style to a fast-paced two-step (entrees from $15; 504-522-1492; Mulate's). At evening's end, we head, tired but happy, to our hotel (see our lodging recommendations).