Rooms With a View

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT MY HEADACHES WERE GONE..

Charlie goes and buys Mitchell a set of these....

 

Mitchell has always wanted to learn how to play the drums. He is constantly playing with drum sticks on either the furniture, the floor or his legs. When we were in New Orleans and he had the opportunity to play on a real set of drums, we realized that the kid actually has potential. So, Charlie started to check Craig's List and finally found a great set at an incredible price. Here they are setting them up...

 

 

Here is a very short video of his first attempt at playing his new drums...

And his second attempt...

And here he is today after downloading some Drum Tabs off of the internet and teaching himself how to play them.

Not bad if I do say so myself. Now I just need to find myself some good ear plugs.

HOME SWEET HOME

Tuesday morning came too quickly. I was not ready to go home yet and leave family behind. I was also not looking forward to the 16 hour train ride. Here are a few photos of our day which started at 6:00am.

 

 

 

 

 

Once on the train we took a few more photos...

 

 

The kids were fascinated by the cemeteries in New Orleans. Since the city is below sea level the graves are all above ground.

 

Patrick took this photo of a house being remodeled and the debris still left behind from Katrina. The words READ on the wall caught his attention.

The best photo of them all...

 

Charlie's childhood home. It is the light green one with the boarded up windows. If you click on the photo you can see it larger and you will notice the water line and mold still left from Katrina. We tried to see the house on the way in to the city but missed it. I am so happy that we were able to see it on our way out.

This is finally the last post on our trip. Thanks for taking the journey with me. You will be happy to know that we are not going anywhere else this summer so no more two week posts, just the everyday stuff.

Have a groovy Wednesday!

OUR LAST DAY IN NOLA

Some photos from our last day in New Orleans...

We started our day by being picked up by an old friend from my Prentice Hall days. Angela picked us up and took us to Loyola University so that we could find a plaque dedicating a Music room to Charlie's father. We were unable to find the plaque but we were able to find a photo of his father for the scholarship in his name...

 

Angela, thank you for taking us to Loyola!

During this visit, Patrick decided that he would like to go to Loyola. He will audition in December and then when he gets accepted we just have to come up with the $30, 000 a year to pay for it.

Angela then dropped us off near Cafe Du Monde so that we could have our last beignets.

 

Erin and Miss Vivian met us for a little shopping and a quick photo shoot...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vinny & Erin.

We went back to our hotel and played with Miss Vivian until Erin had to leave to pick Danny up from work. We rested for a bit then took the street car to Danny and Erin's house to have pizza with Christy and Joel. Erin and Danny were going out with some friends. I did not take any photos at Erin's but here are a few from the street car...

 

 

 

 

While on the street car I met a very talented young photographer who had just sold some of her prints to the Cafe Du Monde, some note cards to a local store and chosen to have a showing of her work in a local gallery. I asked to see her work and fell in love with it on the spot. I asked her if I could buy one and if so how much. She was thrilled as was I when she told me the price was only $30. Here name is Natalie Root and you can get to her website by clicking on her name. She is also a Loyola graduate. Here is what I purchased...

 

My photo is not the best because I don't want to take it out the protective covering until I have it framed. This will go in our kitchen when I take down the ugly wallpaper and paint the walls. The photo is of a plate of Beignets and a coffee cup. I just LOVE it! She is very talented and I highly recommend you visit her website.

After we got back to the hotel we finished packing and the kids went for their last swim in the hotel pool. It is not much of a pool, in fact, I am surprised they even call it a pool.

 

Not only can Patrick touch both sides at the same time, so can Vinny...

 

That is all for our last day. Tomorrow will be my last post on our New Orleans trip. Thanks for stopping by!

NAPPERS, DRUMMERS, GIGGLES, A FLYING BABY & A RIVER

A few shots from after the baptism. First the nappers...

 

Donna is not asleep, she is looking down at my computer. Anna, however, is sound asleep.

 

The cat who's name I cannot remember.

 

Vinny curled up like a cat.

Now, on to the drummers...

 

Okay, there is only one drummer and a guitarist. Mitchell is on the drums and Erin's Uncle Roy is playing the guitar.

Now, I think I will jump ahead and show you a river and a few photos not listed in my title. After the Baptism party Charlie, Vinny, Mitchell, Patrick, Anna, Donna and I went to the French Quarter to have more Beignets and walk around.

 

Vinny and her Aunt Anna.

 

Mitchell with his cousin Donna.

 

Patrick and Charlie.

 

Mitchell and his mom.

 

Donna, Patrick, Vinny, Mitchell and Aunt Anna along the Mississippi River.

Now fora flying baby...

Patrick trying not to drop the flying baby while he is getting a licking from the puppy.

 

She is now dancing but that would not fit into my title.

 

And now a few giggles and cuteness...

 

 

 

 

I think this might be one of my favorite photos of Miss Vivian.

This finishes 4th day in New Orleans. One day to go. As always, thanks for stopping by. I hope you all had a great 4th of July !

 

THE BAPTISM!

I have gotten the Baptism photos down to the smallest amount possible. I hope you enjoy them...

 

The lovely family prior to the Baptism.

 

Patrick took this photo with his camera. The lady on the right in the blue dress is Charlie's sister Christy who was standing in for the Godmother. The gentleman next to Christy is Danny's brother and the Godfather.

 

 

How cute is this? One shoe on and one shoe off and she reached out and the priest held her hand.

A close-up of the hand holding and the cute feet.

 

Her first jewelry.

 

Too cute!

 

Danny forgot to turn her over so she went in head first. I think she was probably less scared this way.

 

 

She never made a peep even when he wiped her face off. These next three are my favorites...

 

 

 

I am not sure what she was doing here. Perhaps waving off the priest or giving him a high five?

 

Danny, Erin, Christy, Joel, and a laughing Vivian.

 

The proud Grandparents.

 

 

Charlie, with his two sisters Christy and Anna with Vivian.

 

Charlie's sister Anna, her daughter Donna and Vivian.

 

Vivian first notices Mitchell's necklace.

 

She gets a hold of it.

 

Success, it is in her mouth.

Okay, that is all for the Baptism. Thanks for stopping by! I hope your 4th of July is a big bang!

BECOMING CATHOLIC MAKES YOU A BETTER READER!

I took so many photos of Vivian's Baptism that I decided to attempt to cut them down to a more reasonable amount. There are a few that I have to share just because they are so adorable. So, while I make some tough decisions I will share these...

 

Danny (the proud daddy) is holding Vivian and she decided she wanted to see what Mommy was reading.

 

Hey, this is some good stuff.

 

There are some really big words that I don't quite understand.

 

Hey Mom, have you read this? It is pretty interesting.

She was the cutest thing I have seen in a long time. We were all trying so hard not to crack up laughing. Seeing her makes me miss our little Catherine Siena and Isabella and Anna Maria. The latter two babies I have never met before. Catherine is now living in Wisconsin and boy do I miss her and her brothers. Sorry, I digress.

 

I will end with a photo of my prince and my beautiful princess. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a fun and safe 4th of July.

STREET CARS AND MASS

On Sunday we decided to take the street car to church for Vivian's Baptism. Patrick is the only one who has ever been on a street car and he was too young to remember. I tried to take a few photos even though the car was pretty crowded and I did not dare stand up...

 

 

 

The Church where the Baptism was held Mater Dolorosa Church.  Patrick snapped this beautiful photo with his phone...

 

We took a couple of photos of Vivian before Mass started...

 

 

Before the Gospel the priest invited all of the children to come sit around him. They stayed there for the Homily as well. Danny took Vivian up who had a blast chatting away as if she was answering the questions the priest asked the children...

 

 

 

This is the priest reading the Gospel.

After Mass Miss Vivian was Baptized. I will post those photos tomorrow. Have a groovy day!

SHOPPING, MUFFULETTAS, AND SILVER COWBOYS

On our third day in New Orleans, we spent the morning shopping with Anna and Donna while Erin and Christy ran some errands for the Baptism. Vinny and I needed shoes and a lite weight top to go over our dresses for the baptism. We hit a few shops on Canal Street and found just what we needed except for a top for me. Then we met Danny, Erin, Christy, Joel, and sweet Vivian in the French Quarter for Muffulettas from Central Grocery. A Muffuletta is a round sandwich with Olive Salad, Salami, Prosciutto, Provolone and perhaps one more cheese and meat. They are not my choice so I always opt for something else from a street vendor. Here is a photo from Central Grocery...

 

This is only a half.

Next we did a little shopping at the flea market. Mitchell found some bracelets and a scarf, Vinny found some sunglasses, I found a new Baptism gift, and Patrick found a cool hat. 

 

Mitchell, Vinny and Patrick in front of a Christmas shop. Don't you love Patrick's new hat?

We decided to walk along some of the streets to find an ice-cream shop. There are numerous street performers in the French Quarter. We ran into this guy...

 

That's Mitchell putting some money in the cowboy's bucket. He is pointing at something or someone...

 

Yes, he was pointing at me.

 

Miss Vivian didn't quite know what to think of the silver cowboy.

After the French Quarter we went to Canal Place to find my top which we finally found on sale at Banana Republic. I drove home with Anna in the Vet while the kids and Charlie walked back. I snapped a few shots on the way to the hotel...

 

I took the next two photos from the parking garage. The building in the bottom right corner is the Aquarium. The Mississippi River is in the background.

If you look closely or click on the photo to enlarge it you will see a tug boat pushing a barge up the river.

 

A beautiful old building on Canal Street.

I just fell in love with this window which is across from our hotel.

We had subway sandwiches for dinner then the kids went for a quick swim in the hotel's toilet, I mean pool. I will explain more about the pool in a later post.

 

Vinny.

 

Mitchell.

 

And last but not least Patrick. He was not swimming, just hanging out with me. We went to bed early since the next day was the Baptism.

Thanks for stopping by!

KING CAKE & FUNKY MONKEY

Our first full day in New Orleans started off with a King Cake compliments of Charlie's sister Christi. If you do not know what a King Cake is then you are seriously missing out. During Mardi Gras, people hold King Cake parties. Inside of the King Cake is a plastic baby doll. Whoever gets the baby in their piece of cake gets to have the next King Cake party. King Cake is a brioche covered in icing and colored sugar. I was too busy eating to take a photo of ours so I found one on the internet.

 

No one got the baby this time. When Charlie cut the cake it simply fell out. We also spent a little time playing with Miss Vivian...

 

 

Gotta love those thighs and that cute belly.

 

After breakfast we went to Magazine Street. Magazine Street is full of fun stores and restaurants. Christi, Joel, Patrick, Anna, Donna, and Erin were still hungry so they stopped for a little bite to eat. Charlie, Vinny, Mitchell and I hit the stores. Our first stop was this cool Antique Mall where we made some amazing scores. My favorite purchase was a beautiful sculpture of a Madonna holding a baby. It was Italian ceramic and I thought it would be a perfect baptism gift. Unfortunately, later that night when Charlie opened the back of Erin's car it rolled out and smashed into a few hundred pieces.

Our next stop was the Funky Monkey. They had the coolest clothes, hats and accessories. Vinny scored a pair of Lime Green tight jeans.

When we finished our shopping we went to Erin's house to rest up a bit before dinner. Here are a few photos of us resting...

 

Okay, I lied. We did not rest, we just sat around and watched Vivian play.

 

 

She is this happy all of the time. I did catch Mitchell climbing through the fireplace...

 

I did end up taking a nap and then instead of joining the group for dinner I went back to the hotel to rest. I know that I must pace myself if I am going to enjoy the trip. After dinner, Charlie and his sister Anna took Mitchell, Patrick, and Donna into the French Quarter for Beignets and a little site seeing. I was not real sure I wanted them to see some of the 'sites' that one can see at night in the French Quarter but I had to trust Charlie to keep it as clean as possible. They had a blast! Vinny and I stuck around the hotel and watched TV.

That is all for our first full day in New Orleans. Stop by tomorrow for day 2!

 

OUR 16 HOUR JOURNEY COMES TO AN END...

As we slowly pulled into New Orleans I noticed that Charlie's mood got a little somber. Charlie was born and raised in New Orleans and this was his first time back since Katrina. As we got closer we started to see some of the devastation still left behind after almost 5 years. We saw cars flipped over, huge piles of debris and numerous houses with boards covering their windows. Charlie recognized many of the neighborhoods that we went by. We looked for his old house which was right along the train tracks but did not find it. Here are a few photos from our entrance into the city...

 

Charlie looking out at the lake.

 

These pilings used to have fishing shacks and docks on them.

 

Patrick's reflection in the window.

 

You can see the front of our train in this photo. Below the curve of the train you can see some debris still left over from Katrina.

 

The Superdome with the Basketball arena in front on the right side of the photo.

 

This is Charlie's sister Anna. She drove from Texas with her daughter in the 'VET' to surprise the boys. All three kids took turns riding in the Vet. I even took a turn.

 

Patrick in the Vet! He took this photo with his phone. Sorry for the poor quality.

 

Patrick taking a photo of himself in the rear view mirror.

 

Our hotel.

As soon as we arrived and dropped our luggage off in our rooms, we headed for the French Quarter to have Coffee and Donuts. These are not your normal donuts, they are Beignets. They are similar to a scone and covered in powdered sugar. The kids were instantly in love.

 

Mitchell ate 3...

 

Vinny also ate 6...

 

And Patrick ate 8!

And here is the cutest things we found in New Orleans...

 

Meet Miss Vivian Adele. Is she not the cutest little thing? Not only is she adorable, she is also the happiest baby. She never cries or fusses, just smiles and giggles and sometimes looks serious as if she is trying to figure things out. She did not get any Beignets, instead she had some breast milk...

 

That is it for our first night in New Orleans. Check in tomorrow for what we did on our first full day in the city.

Some MS news; I had my Tsyabri on Friday with the iv of Benadryl and it worked again. Even though I am still quite tired I only had a slight headache which was pretty much gone by Sunday night. Yippee!!!