I Wanna Be a Rock Star!

We (Jake and I) were riding in the car last night...destination Kroger. He says "Mama, look at me." I turn around to see him wearing 2 pairs of sunglasses, one Spiderman, the other HotWheels. He says "do I look like a rock star with these two sunglasses on?" As a matter of fact you do my dear!! I love that little guy!!

Sleepy Guy

This is what happens when you don't get to take a nap at school...This picture was taken at about 7 p.m. The poor child is absolutely worn out when he gets home from school now!! He can hardly hold his head up at the dinner table and often winds up asleep on the couch before bathtime!! One plus is that he is now sleeping longer on the weekends!! I really think he will adjust to the napless days pretty soon...we all had to do it, right? Please tell me that I'm not the only one who doesn't get to take a nap at work!!

I Know, I Know!

Our Hotel Room

Yes I am still alive! We've been incredibly busy lately and tonight is the first time I've been able to "force" myself to sit down and write....so....where to start. I think I shall start with our 6 year anniversary...that's right...6 wonderful years!! I have known Mark for just about all of my life and I have always...ALWAYS...had a crush on him. I never dreamed that we would get married, have a beautiful child and such a beautiful life together. I love that man with all that I am. He is a wonderful friend, husband and father. I couldn't ask for more! To celebrate our anniversary, we headed off to New Orleans on Saturday June 7th. We stopped for lunch at Middendorf's and had some wonderful fried catfish and softshell crab...that place brings back so many wonderful memories from my childhood. See, my grandparents lived to eat. It was nothing for them to come down to my parent's house, that trip alone took them an hour, and then drive us all the way to Middendorf's to eat lunch on a Saturday...that's almost 2 and a half more hours. The restaurant hasn't changed a bit over the years that I have been going there and the food is still every bit as delicious!! We finished our lunch and headed on into the big city. We stayed at the JW Marriott which comes highly recommended by me. They were super nice and the room was beautiful. We ate dinner that night at Acme Oyster House which is another one of my favorites! I had the oh so delicious chargrilled oysters!! YUMMY!! We spent the rest of the evening wandering Bourbon Street and ducking in and out of all of the local dives. Our drinking of adult beverages ended when we went to the bar in Razoo and ordered one Bud Light and a double Malibu and Diet Coke...the bartender says "$17.50"... I thought Mark was going to pass out!! I tried to tell him that the double that I ordered was like $12 or $13 and his beer was $5! Next time we think we'll bring our own cooler on wheels and drink out of that! Only problem is that my White Russian daiquiris won't keep in a cooler!

We woke on Sunday and exchanged our anniversary cards before heading off to eat beignets for breakfast. We wandered the French Market for some souvenirs and headed out of town at about 1 p.m. It was a wonderful weekend! It doesn't hurt that I absolutely LOVE New Orleans!! I don't know why I'm fascinated by the people in New Orleans (locals, not tourists). I find myself looking at people and wondering what their story is, how did they end up there...what was it like to grow up in New Orleans...what did you do during Katrina...did you stay, did you leave...did you have to suffer with the masses waiting for rescue? Most people would never want to live there but I would love it....I think.

A Morning at the Museum

Studying an exhibit

Jake with a Triceratops family...complete with babies hatching out of eggs!

We took Jake to the Natural Science Museum on Saturday morning. They are always running some sort of special exhibit. The feature now through January is dinosaurs. Anyone who knows Jake has probably heard him go on and on about every kind of dinosaur there ever was. He even knows the scientific names of many of them and can pronounce them better than I can. He loves the museum anyway but the dinosaurs were just an added bonus. They are life sized dinosaurs that move and make noise. Jake was expecting dinosaur bones...which are fascinating to him too...but got a big (scary) surprise when he walked into the exhibit room and saw the T-Rex! We had a great time exploring and talking about all of the animals at the museum. Of course, we had to stop by the gift shop on the way out....UGH....I wish they would hide museum gift shops so that we parents aren't forced to try and explain to our children why we don't want to pay $15 for a toy we could get at Wal-Mart for $5. We made it through with a $3 purchase of dinosaur "goo".