It's a wrap!

I just realized I haven't posted since December 17th! Well, makes sense. My brother arrived on the 18th as my first holiday visitor. My mom left yesterday as my last holiday visitor! Phew!

So here is my holiday wrap up in random as it comes to me order!

- Severe fog on bridge the night brother arrived. Had to go through Slidell since we couldn't cross causeway bridge. We were 45 minutes late. Bridge was open on way home but had to go 35mph. Was a long night . . .

- When my parents tried to get here they got stuck in Atlanta cuz their first flight was late and they missed their connection. Got in VERY late after much running around the ATL airport trying to get on other flights out.

- My Girl sat on Santa's lap this year! Finally . . . Boy did too, but he did last year. He is not afraid. We attended a Santa party at a friends house and it was perfect. She just watched all the other kids first and then got up the nerve and up she went!

- My Girl got her ears pierced. It was her big idea and she begged a lot! I wanted to wait till her 6th birthday (feb) but daddy gave in (surprise to me!) and said ok a little earlier. She was brave and scared at the same time. Cried a little. Nana was there to see this big life moment for her. She picked heart shaped light pink stones for her first earrings. So cute.

- Went to New Orleans Art Museum for first time while family was here. We were fortunate to accidentlly happen upon Prospect 1 exhibits which were way cool. We all agreed our favorite exhibit was Willie Birch's drawings in the entrance. We also enjoyed the Paul Villinski's Emergency Response Studio. He makes a FEMA trailer green! I hope to be able to get to the Prospect 1 locations throughout the city before it is over. . .

- Took my brother and mom into the 9th ward to see Brad Pitt's Make It Right project.

- Ate at Deanie's, Dragos, Felix's Oyster Bar (hated it).

- Met Chef Leah Chase of Dooky Chase's restaurant. Wanted to eat there but the day we showed up they were closed for a wedding rehearsal. Dang. Did you know she is from Madisonville?

- Visited the Covington Farmer's Market and bought a great pepper jelly, banana pepper mustard, northern white bean salad and some incredible salsa! All homemade and cheap!

- My mom cleaned my house completely twice while here. She even mopped all my floors! Did all our laundry while here. Can she stay forever or at least visit once a week? Ohio is really cold in the winter mom. Just a thought . . .

- Kid's got their swing set that Uncle Greg bought them set up and love it. Nana spent many hours with the kids swinging and sliding.

- Uncle Greg taught my son how to shake his booty to music and now he does it all the time at home and in public. He looks ridiculous!

- My family time was low key compared to last year but nice. We laughed a lot and for some odd reason danced a lot. There was always music coming out of our computer and very loudly. Daddy played DJ and we all danced together. Everything from Christmas to Frank Sinatra to Doo Wop.

- My brother's pipes froze back at his house in Ohio while here. His furnace pilot went out for some reason. He went home to water damage all over his house. His neighbor saw water coming down his driveway from his garage and called him. He told him the code to his garage door and sure enough he had a problem. Luckily he was able to deal with some of it via phone from here. Lots of floors and ceilings to rip out now . . .

- We saw the movie Marley & Me. Made me cry.

- A friend passed away.

If you see a hermit crab. . .

. . . it probably belongs to my son.

See, we hit the beach again yesterday in Gulfport. Did Lynn Meadow's Discovery Center first and then had to do the beach again. The kids wanted to get shells this time. Well, not only did they get shells, but they caught a shrimp, blue crab, minnows, jellyfish and, well, 3 hermit crabs.

The hermit crabs, however, were not discovered until this morning. I sent the girls outside to their buckets of shells to wash them off so my niece could take them home with her today. While my daughter had hers in a pile on the ground she suddenly noticed one shell was making a run for it. She screamed, "It's a crab!"

And that is when the excitement went to full throttle . . .

You have to understand. My daughter and niece spent two days at the beach doing very little swimming and more critter hunting. Anything living was good for them. So to unknowingly bring home 3 (nice size!) hermit crabs was like discovering gold to them! They immediately assigned one to each of them - including my son. And of course named them. Then, they filled up the sand and water table and let the crabs romp around.

When it started to rain, they insisted we go back out and get the crabs and bring them in to shelter. So I took some old plastic bowls with lids and made temporary homes for them. But! When we went out to get them there were only two left. My son's (the original runner) made another break for it and we couldn't find him anywhere. Fast little booger! My SIL and I were stumped as he was only left alone outside for a few minutes. Apparently, he hoisted himself over the edge of the water table and took off. We searched through the sand side thinking maybe he buried himself or something. No such luck.

So if you find a hermit crab in your yard shoot me an email. He belongs to my son!

Oh, and my niece's crab? Well, he is on a plane to Dallas. I hope he made it through security in Gigi's purse!

Waveland Beach Day

Today, I took the family for a day at the beach in Waveland. First of all, Kudos to the residents of Waveland. It seems progress is being made on recovering. We noted lots of new houses, many businesses open and life slowly getting back to normal.

We found a nice spot to swim with a little pool of water where the kids spent a lot of time trying to catch minnows with their buckets - no luck though!

The water was relatively clear and shallow as usual so even the littlest had a blast!

The breeze was great and the heat wasn't too bad so it made for a nice day. We stayed until 6pm. Then we had dinner at Los Tres Amigos. After dinner we crossed the new bridge over Bay St. Louis and took a drive along the ocean to Gulfport where we hit the Dairy Queen before the drive home.

Arrived home after 9pm. Baths all around! Can you say Sand?

Visiting Family, Visited New Orleans

Yesterday my MIL, SIL and niece arrived from Dallas for a visit. We took them into New Orleans today after a big breakfast was cooked by hubby.

We caught the St. Charles Streetcar at St Charles and LowerLine. Parked for free on street. Rode it all the way to canal. Nice cool breeze and great view! Got off at Canal and walked to Palace Cafe for lunch. Service sucked today but the Crab Cheesecake I ordered way oh so yummy!

After lunch we walked down to the new Audubon Insectarium. Had three kids ages 2, 5, and 8. All three had a great time. Very well done exhibit. If you go make sure you do the Immersion Theater show (it is short and worth it!) and hit the butterfly exhibit at the end. Both were our favs!

We hopped on the streetcar for another breezy ride back to our car. Drove back home, grilled some pork chops, baked beans and potato salad. Ended dinner with Bananas Foster prepared by hubby with apple pie and vanilla ice cream!

Baths all around and settled down to watch "The Game Plan" with the kids.

Now I must get to work!