Goodnight NOLA!

New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) is very special city to me.  In fact, I claim that I grew up there.  My family lived there when I was 10-17 years old.  It is still the longest I've ever lived anywhere.

Here is my house.  

The current owners apparently don't know how to trim bushes though.

My best friend, Whitney, has family in NOLA, too (which is how, where, and why we met).  A few years ago, Whitney got Joel the "Goodnight NOLA" children's book for his birthday.  We all love this book.  So, we decided to use it as our guide to introduce Joel and Kirstin to the Big Easy. :-)  We attempted to see,  experience, or taste as many things from the book as possible!  Since we were in NOLA, it was only fitting that we plan our time around eating.  We had plans with different people for every meal that we were in town.  What a blessing to see so many dear friends in a short time.

We had lunch on St. Charles Ave. with Pattie and Kathy from my former church.  

When then rode the streetcar from Uptown to Downtown.

Joel loves all things transportation!

Kirstin was trying to figure out why her hair was blowing (and she wasn't taking a nap yet).

Joel looking out the window enjoying the scenes of the city!

It was about this time that we realized that we only had enough cash on us to get one person back to our car on the streetcar (it's only $1.25, but you have to pay in cash with exact change...we didn't plan well).  We could have just stayed on until it looped back around, but that was going to take way longer than what our parking meter and Kirstin's sleep needs was going to allow.  So, welcome to the Marriott family NOLA adventure. We exited the streetcar and split up.  Jim and Kirstin (who rode for free) found their way across the street to wait for a streetcar to take them back Uptown to our car.  Joel and I started walking towards where we thought the Louisiana Children's Museum was located.  Fortunately, my mom answered her phone and was able to look up the address for us.  We were only about 6 blocks away.  Since we have an Association of Children's Museums annual membership (which I highly recommend if you have a local museum and/or travel with your kids) we just showed our card and walked in.  Yeah for a free bathroom in New Orleans (super rare)!!

Joel played in the "Port of New Orleans"

Shopping in Winn Dixie 

We explored the entire museum (which could use some TLC) and reconnected with Jim who had gotten to our van and drove around for a while for Kirstin to nap just in time to drive to our dinner location.  We met my friends Julie (a bridesmaid in our wedding) and Kerri (along with her family) for dinner a Deanie's in Bucktown.  It was wonderful to spend time with these ladies and catch up on their lives.  Julie is now a doctor and starting her residency and Kerri has 2 beautiful children as well as being a teacher.  Deanie's was also a fabulous choice to give us our fix of New Orleans seafood.  This is the place that easily has a 2 hour or more wait any night of the week.  We, however, met for an early dinner and had no wait...but it was hard to get out when we left.

Typically, our family would stop for ice cream, but I said we had to go to Sonny's to get snowballs.  Jim was skeptical.

Here it is... my mouth watering Strawberry Snowball with Condensed Milk!!!

Jim is now a believer.  In fact after one bite of his pina colada snowball he said, "why don't they have these more places, this is amazing."

Joel, too, enjoyed his snowball.  

We then headed "home" to my dear friends Ann and Bryant's house.  Our families lived life together when we were there.  We've remained close, even though we don't have the constant communication.  It's really neat the way God works though.  I walked in and it was as if I had never left, except I did wait for them to answer the door (for maybe the first time ever!)

Bryant took Joel for a ride on his 3 wheel motorcycle.  

Clearly, I trust this man dearly since I let him drive off with my precious, Joel.

Then it was Jim's turn.

Since the boys each had a ride, it was my turn.  I have red lips from my snowball and my teeth were clinched with anticipation.  It was actually a pretty stable and smooth ride.

We all made it back safe for a great night's rest.  The next morning we headed to the French Quarter to experience some more things on Joel's list from his book.

First stop: Cafe du Monde for beignets! 

I'm pretty sure Joel is threatening to blow the powdered sugar, but he didn't.

Kirstin didn't want to share her beignet with Daddy.  She is trying to take it back out of his mouth.  The joys of wearing her in the Ergo carrier.

St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square

Here's Joel walking around with St. Louis cathedral in the background (just to prove that I took the pictures instead of scanning a postcard).  It was a beautiful day!

We had lunch at New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood just before leaving town.  I was proud when the waiter asked me if we were locals because I ordered like I knew what I was talking about. :-)  

Kirstin is sampling some of seafood.  We like for our kids to try the foods that we are eating.  You can get grilled cheese anywhere, but when in New Orleans you will eat shrimp and crawfish. :-)

We also drove past the Superdome, Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain, the Causeway, Lucky Dog vendors, ate a praline, and saw many Mardi Gras beads hanging from the streetcar and telephone lines to cover the tour of NOLA in a day and a half.

With that we had to say Goodnight NOLA

Fisshhhh, fisshhh

Our little peach has decided that watching fish in an aquarium is a fun activity.  Aunt MeMe and Uncle Tim have a small aquarium that Kirstin will point at and say "fsshh, fsssh".  Since there is an aquarium in the mall just a few miles from their house we thought that'd be a fun activity.

I started this post while on vacation, but gave up writing in order to relax play Euchre and Catan with Tim (my brother), Melanie (SIL), and Jim.  Now that I'm home from our wonderful three week vacation, it is time for me to blog about all of the fun.  I'll attempt to do it all justice, but we truly had an awesome time together as a family.

Here are a few pictures from Sea Life Aquarium.

Joel admiring a large hermit crab.

Kelsie and Joel are inside a bubble in the middle of this tank.  Joel was watching the fish and didn't know I was taking a picture.  I love how sweet and serious he gets when he is experiencing something for the first time.

My camera sometimes takes blurry pictures in the dark without flash (flash bothers the sea creatures so it was off).  However, I love Kirstin's little index finger pointing at the fish, while she is saying "fssshhh".

We all touched a sea star (and then washed our hands and used hand sanitizer).

Joel loves "mascots" as long as you call them a "mascot"...such a college football fan! :-)

Evidence of one of the many Catan games.

More posts to come about our other adventures...

Mother of Ring Bearer and Flower Girl

I debated about putting this all in one long post or breaking it up into several smaller ones...it's all in one long post...you've been warned. :-)


When it comes to weddings it seems like everybody has a title.  For Sam and Sarah's wedding on June 15, 2012, I had many titles: mother of ring bearer, mother of honorary flower girl, wife of organist, and sister-in-law of groom.  All of these titles led to a fun and busy wedding week! 

We arrived in Texas on Tuesday night.  We are so grateful that my brother and his family lives in the area.  We were blessed to stay with them, where each child and us could have wonderful sleeping accommodations for all the week's festivities!  (Thank you Uncle Tim and Aunt MeMe!!)

Wednesday evening, I hosted a bridal shower for Sarah.  My SIL, Melanie, was a wonderful co-host, opening up her house and cooking all day for people she mostly did not know.  We had great fun coordinating the shower around the wedding colors and nature inspired theme.  It also works that both of my SILs are veggie eaters (as in they don't eat animals!)

Here are all the ladies from my MIL's side of the family at the shower (and some of the yummy food!)

My lovely niece, Kelsie helped with hosting duties (we were at her house!), me, and my MIL, Kris

Then Thursday evening was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  

My amazing husband at the organ to play his baby brother's wedding.

Waiting for the rehearsal to start... Notice Joel wiping up the floor because he poured a water bottle on the floor.  This was his only mishap the whole weekend, which was amazing considering most events occurred post typical bedtime!

A cute, but tired flower girl and her momma!

Mom, Sarah, and Sam

Then Friday was the big day (or really night since the wedding started at 7:30 p.m.).

This was an attempt at a lovely family photo... there were many attempts.

My hair for the wedding.  Thank you, Kelsie!!

Just look at my kids... this is before we even left to go to the church.  At this point I was thinking, "Oh , this is going to be a LOOONG night!"

Our family with Jim's dad and his wife.

Sweet Peach playing with the flower petals in her basket while awaiting her turn down the aisle.

Brothers!

Boys and their Mom

The cutest Ring Bearer ever!!!

The most adorable honorary flower girl!!

Cousins!

My brother, Tim, and SIL, Melanie!  They had Joel using my camera as pre-wedding entertainment...so grateful for their help all week!

My nephew, Trevor, and niece, Kelsie...love them!

Jim at the organ!

Joel standing next to Uncle Ben (the best man)

Kirstin processing in (and being carried by me)

Kirstin during the ceremony

Sarah and Sam saying their vows

Joel recessing

Kirstin recessing... She clapped her hands and kicked her feet up and down the aisle! :-)

Marriott Family Picture

Would be a cute family picture, but Kirstin is hidden.

The wedding party!

 On to the reception...

The reception was at a very unique venue in the Nature Building of the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.  The exhibits were all open for us to explore during the reception, too!  This was great for Joel.

The cakes... My MIL made the red velvet groom's cake with the Alabama "A" on top.

The happily married couple... Congratulations Sarah and Sam!

Sarah with a bunch of the Albrecht family (MIL's side of family)

Kirstin and her Daddy partying... she was so tired, but didn't want to miss anything.

Our family dancing together

I'm with my BIL, Ben... he caught the garter!  Kelsie caught the bouquet.

What a fun time with two barefoot and tired kiddos!

Apparently, the fun continued for many hours into the night (morning), but we left so our sweet kids could go to bed.  They both fell asleep in the car before we were out of the parking lot!