Wednesday, June 26, 2013

New Orleans-10 year Wedding Anniversary Trip

Since we drove out so early we got to see the sunrise! 
Our Gondola Ride

 Our Gondolier


The Soul Rebels.  The amazing club we went to that started at MIDNIGHT!!

Looking out our front yard.
 The house we stayed in.
 So many crazy fun colors there!
 The very edge of French Quarter (the oldest established neighborhood in the country?) Behind me is the Mississippi River we put our feet in :)
Our cooking class was entertaining, informative and DELICIOUS!!! (This was the shrimp and artichoke soup...YUM!)

The guy singing, strummin' and tappin' the bell with his foot was fun to watch!
So much music everywhere! This is Louis Armstrong Park where I tried the alligator sausage on a stick!
The swamp tour was so much fun too!
Jump for it!
BIG AL!
Not even 2 full days.  We drove home after the tour Friday and got home around 2am! But we did/saw so much, and have some amazing memories! We know how to pack in a party! :) We couldn't have done it without you Shenna! Thanks so much!

Friday, April 05, 2013

Spring Break- Zoo

Friday we headed to the Zoo.  Same exit and parking lot as the park from yesterday, but we came early in the morning, so that made ALL the difference.  The last time we came to the zoo we headed down the elephants, monkey, and mountain cats side.  So this time we headed over to the birds.  
Yes that is just one bird.  The yellow beak is its mouth.  the orange one just a decoration! Maybe a defense to make it look bigger?  The boys stared and stared.  Trying to convince themselves that it really was just one bird.
These kookaburras were awesome!  I remember learning a song in preschool about them laughing, but figured it was just a silly song.  We were lucky enough to hear them "laugh".  I SO wish I could have gotten a video.  It was so cool.  Sounded more like monkeys, than birds.  No 2 trips to the zoo are ever the same!
Jaden and Kyler loved looking at the pictures in front of the cages and then trying to spot them/ matching them up with the ones in real life.  Here's Beckam playing along pointing out birds he sees too!
Those are some of the cutest animals I've ever seen in the zoo! :)

I just had to get a picture of the giraffes for my sister Jennie, since it's her favorite animal!

We've never been around the sea lions during their "show time" so we decided to check it out this time.

This was pretty funny!  WARNING: That song will sure stay in your head though!
They love the fish tube.  Beckam was too nervous to crawl through this time.  I think there were just too many kids!


While there we got a text that Natalie had her baby! (Charly)

Such troopers!  They had a great time, but we did need to get Beckam home for a nap.
While Beckam napped the boys played in the pool.
And when they were done with that we made banana ice cream, a new family favorite!
Recipe: 3 frozen bananas, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 TBLS cocoa powder, 1/2-1 C milk blended up in your blender.  The consistency is more like a frosty from Wendy's than ice cream.  But we all love it, and ALWAYS have frozen bananas so it's an easy treat!  (TIP I break into thirds or so the 3 bananas into an old large yogurt container. Then stick that into the freezer.  Each time we wanna make banana ice cream we just get out a yogurt bin and we're ready in minutes!)
Yes, I was going for the best mom of spring break award! :)  Great week, but I'm exhausted!  Back to school boys!

Spring Break- Feeding the Ducks

Tuesday we hung around the house.  Ian and Gavin hung out with us all day too.  The boys loved having them here all day.  Beckam had his first experience with sidewalk chalk.
Wednesday we went to playgroup.  Susannah had a cute treasure hunt put together at the park for the kids to find the pot of gold. (St. Patricks themed playgroup)  The boys all loved it.
Thursday we headed downtown to feed the ducks at Hermann Park.  We decided to go after lunch.  Normally from the exit we are in the parking lot in about 5 minutes.  We didn't realize that everyone on spring break had a similar idea and it took us 45 minutes! :) Jaden kept saying how boring it was.  Yeah, sitting in a car IS boring.  But we eventually got there!  Then it was FUN FUN FUN!
They all had a great time.  No matter how much bread you bring...it's never enough!
We even spotted something that wasn't a duck! Can you see it?  I thought it was a beaver at first.  But it's tail was so weird.  It looked like an overgrown rat with a different face.  Some kids there said it was a swamp rat and the girl by us said it was a Nutria, and told us all about them!

Beckam was so good about coming back for little pieces of bread I had put on by his stroller.  No one fell, so I'd say it was a pretty great afternoon! :)
A paddle boat went through and scared the ducks away.
There is a train that goes around the park.  Beckam loved hearing it blow its whistle.
Slowly the ducks and the Nutria came back for more bread!

See...weird looking huh!?
It was even trying to steal the bread from the ducks.  Right out of their mouth!

Seriously, they could have thrown bread all day long!
Jaden got a little nervous when this duck showed up.  He said it was creepy.  It looked kind of like a dinosaur!

But eventually our bread was gone and so we headed to the playground.
My big monkeys!


Someday Beckam.  Don't worry, you'll do all that someday!
He was loving going down the stairs holding the railing.  He did it so many times.
The boys have some great balance and walked all the way across this unstable beam.

I helped Beckam go across, which he hated!  He like this one closer to the ground!

And he walked down and back for quite some time!  We've all been loving all this time together.
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