Our Summer

I don’t even want to know how long it has been since I blogged. I have a general idea, but I don’t know for sure, and I’m not looking. It’s kind of the “IN” think to do this summer, though, from what I can tell from all my friend’s blogs. That makes it okay, right? Like, it just means that we have been having tons of fun and spending lots of time together. Sure, we will go with that. One thing I have found is helpful is not a lot of text, but just a buttload of photos. So, without further adieu…

Our trip To New Orleans

We went over the 4th of July weekend to see John before he left for Afghanistan.  It was fabulous to be together. Here are some highlights (roll over photos for more details):

The holiday was a Sunday, so we spent it with my Aunt Kathy and her awesome family. Louisiana is no joke, man. I don’t know how you southerners deal with the humidity and the mosquitoes and the hurricanes and the weird mold that grows on your soil that makes it hard to garden. It’s pretty…if you don’t get out of the car. Travelling with three kids across the country has got to be the hardest thing I’ve done since John left. If you ever have the pleasure of being seated close to a family on a plane, please keep your snide comments and sneering looks to yourselves. The children are just as tired and cranky as you are, but they don’t know how to deal with it. And neither do the parents, usually. The bitter woman behind us kind of ruined my vacation. This TOTALLY made up for it. We got to see the beach before oil came and ruined it.  it was amusing for all of 15 minutes before we got sick of trying to keep Shawn out of the nasty water and we left. We went to Jackson Square and toured the museums there. Awesome place! I even went in a Catholic Cathedral. Different. Took the kids to get a Beignet at Cafe Du Monde, since I had loved it on our solo vacation over memorial day ( I did mention this before, right? I went down, and then a month later, took the kids?). Sarah remembers that the tables were all sticky and there was powdered sugar everywhere. We shelled out the dough for a mule drawn carriage ride through the French Quarter. It was actually pretty good. I learned a ton about the city I wouldn’t have if I was just walking around. The city has a definite feel to it. I’m not sure it’s for me, but it’s for a lot of other people. We had the pleasure of going to the insectarium and seeing the butterfly house. I was really inspired there. It was so nice to have my children behaving well, and to have my husband by my side. Shawn, however, got a fever that day. He had one on the first vacation we took, so I am thinking it’s just something that happens when he travels. poor guy. He was fine by that evening, though. We went to the aquarium, which was also amazing. The girls got to touch a ray! by that time Shawn was totally wiped out and I was getting lots of sleepy snuggles. We also saw an IMX movie. Shawn HATED the Imax movie. There were huge fish, right in front of his face. Once I stood at the back of the theater where he could see other people and not feel like he was falling into the ocean, he was okay. While we were waiting for the IMAX movie, we went to the edge of the pier to look at the mighty deep and muddy Mississippi River. Sarah felt the need to get a closer look. I’m glad John was there to help because when I saw that she had her head stuck in the railing, I could not help her. I was laughing too hard. We got her out, though, without too many tears. The zoo was…wet. it was fine when we first showed up. We saw the elephants and flamingos. And then it started to POUR. Umbrella? What’s that? We live in a desert (actually, a steppe plateau, but who cares?) We continued on our trek to see the lions, tigers, and whatever else was hiding from the rain. Saw a monkey or two. maybe a gorilla. The girls pet a black mamba. That was really cool. Ultimately, we had to leave. We were soaked to the core. All the animals were hiding and the puddles were more interesting than anything else. We stayed at the hotel the rest of the day to dry off. As long as we were together, we didn’t care. John left the country three days later.