April 2007 Archives

Brianne and her college roommates came in town this past weekend for the Jazz Fest. We had a great time on Saturday- beautiful weather, good food, and good music. Katie, Kevin, David, Christina, Phil, and I opted for Rod Stewart. Brianne and her friends opted for Norah Jones. After they woke up from her snooze fest they decided to go see something a little more upbeat. They went to see Ludacris and loved it. My sister and Joey and I took the girls out to party on Bourbon street that night. It was a fun night but we got in very late and I'm exhausted! Yesterday Joey and I hosted a crawfish boil for the family. Elizabeth and Scott took the girls to the French Quarter early in the day and then brought them to our house for crawfish. After the crawfish boil everybody went for the requisite snoball- ice cream with condensed milk for me! It was a very full weekend and the girls are topping it off with a trip to Cafe du Monde on their way out this morning. We enjoyed having them here. Joey loves playing tour guide and entertainment planner. He was trying to convince them to go to a school fair last night to hear some live music. They were not interested at all and neither was I, but he would have gone in an instant. Once he's awake and out of bed Joey has boundless energy, but getting up for work this morning... well let's just say his alarm clock took a beating!

Happy Birthday, Patrick

My gift to you will be a big, fat snowball every day next weekend. Any flavor. Condensed Milk if you want it.

Today would be Sam's 76th birthday. The first birthday I celebrated with him was his 24th. My gift was a shirt and pair of slacks which I bought during an Easter visit to Minneapolis. Neither fit because the fellow who waited on me was someone I had dated -- a big burly boy -- and I didn't want him to know my boyfriend wore a "small." I agree. Childish.

My mother thought clothing was an inappropriate gift. Proper young ladies would buy shaving lotion (no men's cologne in 1955), gloves, handkerchiefs, etc. I knew this, but I also knew that he needed something other than his Marine uniform to wear when he went out. So.

I started to go to the cemetery today but once I was on the road I got cold feet. I didn't want to go alone. Crime sometimes has the upper hand in the city's cemeteries, sad to say, and single women are easy pickings.

I miss you, Sam. Happy Birthday.

On this day.

We went to Washington, DC for Spring Break.We had a good trip. Too many things to see! You could be there a month and still not see everything! We had good weather for the most part. It started out in the 60's went to the high 70's then back down to the 50's and by the time we walked to breakfast on Friday it was 35! Only one morning of misty rain, which worked out ok 'cause it was when we took a bus to Georgetown for breakfast at a French restaurant/cafe/bakery. YUM! Us girls all had Crepes Romanauff and it was sooooo good with the fresh strawberries! We saw....The National Gallery of Art, The Natural History Museum, The Air and Space Museum (thought of Brandon a lot there), The National Museum of Women Artists, The Renway Art Gallery (my favorite), Mount Vernon via boat/cruise, The White House (from the outside), The Capitol (outside), Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, National Monument, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, WWII Memorial, Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, Various outdoor sculpture gardens and I'm sure there's some I'm forgetting right now. Nicole and I took the Metro to visit her friend (she moved there in 2nd grade and they've/we've kept in contact on and off) that lives just outside of DC in Virginia. That turned out to be one of the nicest/funnest things. I wasn't sure we'd even see them, but I'm really glad we did. We took the Metro everywhere and that was a new and fun experience for the girls and an easy way to get around. We just bought a week pass and off we went. The only problem we had was that the girls weren't into wandering the way Dan likes to do. I'm more used to it now and with a big breakfast I don't need a big lunch and a big dinner. They want food on a more regular schedule and a few times that became a major stumbling block 'cause they wanted food NOW and Dan was sure that there'd be something just down the block or two....or three or four. Anyway, we finally figured that out and tried not to delay feeding the restless natives :). The cherry blossoms were indeed in full bloom and they were very pretty. I was surprised to see they look a lot like a flowering crab tree or apple blossoms, but, pretty nonetheless. We walked a ton and all had tired/sore feet by nightfall. So glad I brought my walking shoes and gave up looking fashionable for the week. Nicole had a little trouble with the definition of good walking shoes....she's not used to the amount of walking we did and even my good walking tennies weren't always comfy after a day of walking on hard concrete. I think she'll be better prepared when she goes to Scotland in July. Ashley and Nicole got along famously, often leaving Dan and I in the dust. It was great that they paired up and ignored us at times. They both devoured the Art Museums each with their own favorites, Nicole loves French Impressionists (ie:Monet) and Ashley loves the "Renaissance" era. Needless to say they had a great time and would love to go back! So that's our trip in a nutshell, minus small details that

Happy Birthday, Sue

Have a day!

April 14 Fun Facts

This is something I wanted to talk about yesterday. I tried twice, but my computer balked. Thank goodness I have a connection. Thanks, Rob.

April 13th was my brother Mark's 80th birthday. Can you imagine that? One of my memories was a day of shopping; my mother and I shopped and ate lunch downtown every Friday before I started school. We were at the tie counter and she was trying to decide on a new tie for his birthday. (Everyone will agree that gift-giving has reached heights unimaginable to people who lived through the Great Depression.) She didn't mention his age to the clerk and I thought that was important, so I stood on tiptoes (this is my mother's recounting) and told the clerk, "And the boy is twelve years old." For some reason, she thought that was funny and she told it again and again. So anyway, the boy was twelve years old on that day of memory. Happy Birthday, Mark.

Here are some recent pics of the boys. I haven't posted any in a while so thought it was time. We went to the zoo today. It was a beautiful day- absolutely perfect in the shade, a little warm in the sun. We generally see the same animals every time; the elephants, monkeys, giraffes, and the anteater. Then we ride the carousel and play on the slides and eat a picnic lunch. We have been getting together with my friend, Tania, and her little girl, Maggie, who is 3 weeks younger than Samuel. The children pretty much ignore each other, but it's fun for Tania and me. Today was very crowded and we did not appreciate the masses of people clogging up our beautiful park which we usually have to ourselves. We saw a peacock today and he put on a show for us. The peacocks are my most vivid memory of the zoo from when I was little. I remember them being all over the park but in the last 10-15 years I haven't seen even one. I went a few weeks ago with Lizzy and Polina and we saw one for the first time in years. We're headed to Phil's Grill tonight for dinner with Joey's mom and dad. Looking forward to my specialty burger!

Luke Samuel and Luke Luke

The Steamboat Natchez features a calliope and our performer entertained us with a medley of songs like Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey and The Association's Windy. He also knocked off a few that only locals would know. At the beach, at the beach, at the Pontchartrain Beach...

The Jesse Moore Band playing Swamp Water, LA. - French Quarter Festival - April 13, 2007

More below the jump

French Quarter Festival gets underway today. Of the many, many festivals in New Orleans and Louisiana, this is our favorite. We’ll surely be there one day this weekend, maybe even today.

Ate lunch in City Park Wednesday. Always a treat.

Not sure what this is but it got the best parking spot. Click here for a better view.

This is a scan of Jacob's homework for tonight. His assignment was to review his sight words, choose a word to write a sentence with and then illustrate it. I sent him to his room with his instructions & sight word list. This is his finished product, job was his sight word. I was on the phone with my mom when he came to show me his work and I cracked up. This reminds me of the story from when Stephen was little. Sue & Scott had been in Atlanta for about a year, I think, and Sue was trying to find a job. One morning Stephen woke up and Sue greeted him, with shoes on, and Stephen responded "Mom, you got a job?!" All because she had shoes on, and not her uniform of slippers.

Jackson’s essay- Click here for a better view.

This picture and essay was part of an assignment that Jackson did in school. He had to write about his favorite person. As you can see, he chose his cousin Joe. Jackson & Joe have had a magical relationship since they were about 4 & 5 years old (they're now almost 9 & 10 years old). When they're together, it's a closed society. They are in their own little world, neither can do any wrong in each other's eyes. I don't think I've ever heard them bicker or argue. Jackson is more often a guest at Joe's house, so I don't get to see them interact as much as Elizabeth does. It should be said, however, that she doesn't see them much either as they are often unattended due to their good nature and self sufficiency!!

Anyone going to see Grindhouse? I'm dying to see it but I know I'll never talk Patsy into it. It's another Tarantino/Rodriguez flick.

Happy Birthday, Brianne

Have a day!

I'll start.

Q) What did Tennessee?

David's Senior Prom was March 24, 2007. I tried to post the pictures last week but I had technical difficulties. Still having them, but Scott figured out how to send Robbie the pictures as attachments vs. straight from his picture program. He needs to figure out why it's not working anymore since we switched back to Charter. Charter people were at my house on Saturday trying to find the problem in my phone line. So darn aggravating!

Anyway, the photo op lasted around two hours. It was held in Kasey's beautiful backyard. Scott's camera is in the shop so Stephen took all the pictures - all 200 plus. He and Scott both exclaim, "I love digital!"

The prom was held at the Fox Theater on Peachtree Street in Atlanta. They had dinner at the Sun Dial which is at the top of a hotel downtown and has a rotating floor with a beautiful view of the city. There were 9 couples so they got split up. That was upsetting to the group because they would have preferred to go to another restaurant, but that restaurant said they could not seat that large of a party together. The Sun Dial apparently told them their restaurant could. They complained and got 5% knocked off the bill. It was a preset Prom menu and cost $50 a person so it didn't hurt the restaurant too much to offer a gesture of goodwill.

After the prom they all went back to Kasey's where they had a bonfire and stayed up until 5:00 AM watching movies. I made a large pan of Special K bars to contribute to the after prom party and Bunk said every last one had been eaten.

On another note - I am out of school this week for spring break. Brianne had her spring break last week. She spent the week visiting friends and doing homework.

Stephen and Kellie are in Biloxi at a casino hotel. We talked to them last night. Kellie had won $100 on a nickel slot machine. Stephen got a crash course in how to play blackjack from the 3 other couples that they're with. He won $100 his first time playing and the others in his group won nothing!

Bunk is on a ski trip with his girlfriend's family. They flew out on Friday morning. He called Friday night to say he had spent the day and was spending the night in Boston. He hadn't known that that was part of the agenda. They went sightseeing all day and had dinner at the oldest restaurant in America.

Patrick leaves tomorrow to meet up with David, Matthew and Shelby in Orlando. David won an all expense paid vacation from his job and he chose Disney World. He invited Patrick to join them. They will be staying on site at Fort Wilderness for four days. They are going to have a great time and Patrick is very excited about it.

Scott and I are going to Lake Hartwell for two nights. Scott has to work on Thursday and Friday and he took Saturday off for Brianne's birthday dinner. We are looking forward to just relaxing for a couple of days. It will feel very weird to have no children home for a few days!