Japanese/Chinese gardens

Catching up from San Antonio. We got home Wednesday evening and are still unpacking and getting the house back in order.



Today Chance and I got the car while Scott was at work so we headed to a park we weren't able to go without a car. This park is really big with lots of different areas to explore. Today we visited the Japanese Tea Gardens which for a while during WWII was called the Chinese Sunken Gardens hence the title for this post.



The area was originally a rock quarry, then when the company moved to another area in the late 1800's and a Japanese family turned the area into the tea gardens where people came from all around to visit them. In turn the family was given land and stone to build houses. They lived on the land till WWII which hit the family hard and after the family slowly moved to California when the land was given to the city.




The gardens are more inspired by Japanese gardens than a replica and that makes it even more cool. There are bridges and water and lots of koi, which Chance really liked pointing out.



It was a great place to relax and let Chance run around.

San Antonio Aug 2009 video

San Antonio Aug 2009
Originally uploaded by qemorio

here is a video of Chance telling me he wants to go in the swimming pool he also says Sure which is one of his new things to say. Sorry you will have to turn your head to the side again

Alamo Garden

We are hanging out in the gardens behind the Alamo. It's really a pretty place and with all the trees it's a cool and calm place. It seems that most people just come to go through the building then skip the gardens, that is a big mistake. They are peaceful with tons of exploring potential especially for a two year old.




Even on the ceiling. It reminds me a lot of the Asian garden we went to in Portland. Not really in style but in the way it's a little piece of tranquility right in the middle of the city.

Swimming

That is our main goal for the day and here are a few pictures I have taken today so far. This first one is what I got when I asked for a smile this morning.







And this one is at the pool.




We had a great weekend hanging out with Scott too but those pictures are on a different camera, will be able to share them soon.

Friday at the Children's Museum

Here are some photos from the children's museum. It is not very far from the hotel actually it is right next to the walgreens we had been walking to all last week so we already knew how to get there when we started out. This children's museum has lots of new things to explore and a whole extra floor of exhibits compared to the one in NOLA so we both had lots of fun seeing and experiencing the San Antonio Children's Museum.



Chance driving what he calls Streetcar Buses. They have them all around here as your buses. They look like streetcars but have wheels like a bus. This is a mini streetcar bus in the museum.




In the fish tank room, there were tanks on three sides and a mirror on the other. It was like we were inside the tank.




This was one of Chance's favorite parts. The water continuously flowed and you could build different paths with the multiple-colored dividers and the send your ship floating down your path. He let his ship sail multiple times.




Here is Chance milking a cow. They have a life size cow with rubber udders that automatically fill with water. So, you can sit on a stool and "milk" the cow into a bucket.




Here is Chance sitting in an airplane. He piloted for a while too but I could never get a good picture of him, he was to busy pushing buttons and pulling levers to look at the camera. They also have a control tower, which Chance liked and check in desk, which he didn't care too much about.




Here he is waiting in line for the front end loader. This was Chance's other favorite part of the museum. I don't have any better pictures because we actually got to drive it and so I was busy helping Chance drive. We buckled ourselves in and then the attedant closes the gate and the lights turn on telling you what to do. Chance actually did a pretty good job driving us forward dumping some rocks then driving us back. We drove it twice, two thumbs up.




This last picture is Chance driving a totally different kind of machine this one doesn't require Mommy's help.

I'll try to get the rest of the pictures I took up on Flickr today. Sorry for any typos, I'm posting from my phone.

Down time

We are taking some down time this morning since we have walked around so much in the last couple days. We are watching a little PBS which is cool because we don't get PBS at home so it's nice to see the different shows.



Now let's go back to yesterday after Scott got off work we went to the WITTE museum which is free on Tuesdays from 3pm - 8pm. The museum is a natural science musum with lots of info on Texas wildlife and a great big kids discovery area. We have found one thing about Texas, they love their taxidermide animals. There was a restaurant on Monday we saw that was covered in stuffed animals of all kinds and this museum had an entire floor of displays for stuffed native animals of Texas. As adults we got a little creeped out after the third room of these animals but Chance lived it




He ran from display to display pointing out all the animals. We watched a movie about the aquifers in Texas, which Chance found pretty exciting then with a bit of coaxing we went outside to see the cabins and old art studio they have on the grounds.




At this point Chance was already starting to get a little overwhelmed. We didn't last very long in the discovery area with all the other kids running around but we were able to climb down through the treehouse and play with a waterwheel on our way to the exit.



Before we got back in the car I lowered Chance into these spaces that had been built around the trees so he could run around the tree.



After the museum we drove around to see more of the city. San Antonio is a strange mix of Southern and Western styles. Neither Scott or I really like the dusty desertness but it is neat that there are foundations of old buildings all over and lots of old missions not just the Alamo. San Antonio has one of the things I really like about New Orleans too, there are really old buildings all around where people live and work, they aren't just forgotten and lost to time. There is some really great architecture here.

San Antonio

We arrived at our hotel in San Antonio on Sunday night. Scott will be working at a local television station for the next 2 1/2 weeks and thanks to a very nice woman we found through craigslist who is watching Deedle for us Chance and I get to join him. We have been wondering around the city while Scott works during the day. Our hotel is right downtown so there is plenty for us to see and do within walking distance. Here are some pictures of our adventures so far.



This is a cool player piano, we watched it play four about 5 songs yesterday.



Us sitting in a gazebo across from the Alamo yesterday on our adventure to the walgreens to buy milk and juice.







These two were taken as we walked and sat down at the riverwalk. It is very pretty there, a place that would be great to sit with a notebook and write.


This one was when we were on our way back to the hotel after our mornings exploration.

KY day 2

Day 2 in Kentucky was the day of the reunion. So after messing around at the cabin for a little while and getting everything we needed to take with us together we drove down the hill to Natural Bridge State Park where the reunion is held. Uncle Junior, my grandmother's brother was in the hospital this year so there were a few less people but we still had plenty of good things to eat and people to catch up with. And this year Chance was go go go. Directly across the parking lot from the pavilion is a hill with a cemetery on it so Scott and Chance went up to explore.
There is also a swing set nearby so Chance took advantage not just of the swings but of all the people to push him getting help from Mommy, Daddy and Grammy at different times through the day.
There is a creek that runs through the park and right by our pavilion so Scott and Chance climbed down the embankment to see what they could see. The only picture I have of them down there right now is this one that has been embellished by Scott. He actually made it into a postcard and sent it to me with this cool new iphone app that we have been trying out. I climbed down to the creek too and we all had a great time skipping rocks which was pretty easy because the water was moving fast. Chance cleared off a 6 foot section of the creek by throwing all the rocks large and small into the water.
Then after we climbed back up and after eating a little bit our cousin Shawna let us borrow a pair of shorts and a couple water guns and off we went to a different area of the creek to get wet. I'm not a big fan of toys guns of any kind but once I showed Chance how to use them he was laughing and having a great time squirting his cousins Bryce and Caynon. The water felt good on that warm day, no matter how warm it got the lack of humidity made it of so nice.
After spending some more time visiting with family we collected our things and lots of people in our little car and drove across the park to the chair lift. We ride this chair lift every year one way or the other, when I was little we rode it both ways and as I got old enough to hike some trails we would usually take it one way or the other and walk to other way. I imagine that is what we will do with Chance too. He loves hiking trails but the shortest trail is half a mile and that is the steepest one so I am pretty sure he isn't quite ready for these kinds of trails yet but as soon as he is I am ready. For now we take the chair lift up and back down, this year though we walked down a trail and through the fat man's squeeze, a narrow walkway cut out of the mountain. Chance liked that a lot he said he was in the mountain which of course he was. From the top of the bridge we could look out and see lots of mountains. After we reached the bottom of the chair lift again we headed back to the cabin to rest before the hoedown that night. Scott and Grandma (my grandma) stayed at the cabin while the rest of us went to the hoedown. There was dancing and music as always but before we sat down we took a walk across another suspension bridge just for fun, once back at our seats Chance wanted to dance, when the music would start and he would see other people out dancing he would ask to go "down there" he said so we hit the dance floor for the electric slide and the hokie pokie. Chance actually danced to the hokie pokie clapping and turning around he got most of his body parts in and out too. After a few dances and the sun went down we hugged everyone bye and headed back to the cabin where we rested and then went to bed. The next day we pretty much just got ready and left, back on the road to New Orleans. It is between 11 - 13 hour drive so it takes all day but we made it back home safe and sound. The first few pictures are explained in the story the one of me and Chance we are riding the chairlift Scott is taking the picture, then the individual ones of Scott and Chance were taken at the bottom of the trail through the mountain.

This is the actual trail through the mountain.

Chance crossing the bridge

Sam, Kristy and Chance on the bridge.

Chance and Grammy watching the dancers.

locked out

I had planned to update today with wonderful family reunion recap things but instead this happened:


I was just locked out of my house, ok wait I was actually just let back into my house by a wonderful man from Star Lock and Key who left the job he was on to come open my door when he heard that Chance was still inside. That's right we got home from a playdate and he had fallen asleep in the car so I carried him in and put him in his bed. Then because I was hungry I took my keys, walked out the front door, locked it and went around the house to the backdoor. I usually hang my keys on my belt loop but because Chance was asleep and my walking around the kitchen was making noise I took them off and hung them by the door. I made my lunch then went back outside shutting the door behind me and walked around to the front of the house. It was only then that I realized I didn't have my keys to get in and only when I walked through the gate and saw the back door did I fully comprehend what I had just done.
Even though I knew he couldn't help me the first person I called was Scott to bounce ideas off of him, then when I noticed that one of our neighbors was home I asked him if he knew a good locksmith. He recommended Star Lock and Key so I called, they told me they would try to get here earlier but the soonest they could promise was 4 hours. Well, that is too long, Chance naps between 1 and 2 hours in the afternoon so I was looking at a 2 hour maximum and counting. So I went back over to borrow a screwdriver from the same neighbor, pulled a ladder out form under the house and started unscrewing the bars from the kitchen window since that is the one most likely to me unlocked. I was working on the fourth and final screw when my phone rang. It was the locksmith. In about 2 minutes he had the front door unlocked. It cost $81.75 which we had no intention of spending on a locksmith but I am so grateful that he came so fast. Chance is still sleeping and of course has no idea. I am just happy that I got back in one way or the other before he woke up and got scared.

If you need a locksmith you want Star Lock and Key!!!!!

KY Day 1 - Friday

We arrived in Kentucky Thursday night around 8pm. We were all staying in a new place this year. We usually just stay in the cabins at Natural Bridge State Park where the reunion is held but this year we rented a cabin just a couple miles down the road. It didn't have as many things included like housekeeping but the quality of the cabin itself was well worth it as far as I am concerned. I didn't take a photo tour of the cabin but you will see plenty of it in the photos I did take I think. Thursday night we didn't do much except get settled and visit with everyone. Friday we didn't have anything pressing on our agenda but Chance got us up bright and early then ran in and got in bed with Grammy, he did this every morning and although he slept well through the night my Mom said his feet and hands were cold and since his cot was near the ground and the cabin had vents in the floor I think he was getting cold because he was getting up earlier than he usually does at home. After our early wake up call we messed around at the cabin for a while and then went for a walk. The cabin is way up on a hillountain (that's hill and mountain) the road goes up in a way that I can't imagine people getting up in the winter and at the bottom of this hillountain is a gift shop which was our destination. Let me tell you going down was easier than going up. Chance walked the whole way though and even started racing us on the way up, he won and we didn't even let him, he won fair and square.

Then it was nap time for the little guy so while he was sleeping Kristy, Samara (Kristy's friend) and I went geocaching. There aren't too many around there especially that we haven't already picked up in recent years but we did find one, we made it more complicated than it was but finally Kristy spotted it. It was located in a camp ground that was just beautiful and a place that we would never have visited if not for geocaching. On our way to the cache we passed through Nada Tunnel which is only one way so you have to stop to take turns with oncoming traffic. The tunnel is long and very narrow it was originally a railroad tunnel build to get logs to the mill. After the tunnel we traveled on down the road into Red River Gorge to a trail and suspension bridge for foot traffic. After figuring out which trail to take we walked about 10 minutes down the trail to the bridge. The bridge spanned the Red River, it was very pretty, when you are out in the middle of it you can feel every move that is made. After the bridge we drove back to the cabin, where Chance was already awake and a little freaked out because when he was told that "mommy would be home soon" meaning the cabin he thought Mommy went home as in our house in New Orleans. But we were back to the cabin soon after he woke up and set his mind at ease. After we rested for a little while, Scott, Chance and I got in the car and drove down to the rest area that was at the same exit as the reunion and cabin because they have something we knew Chance would love, a caboose. This year it was open so we were able to not only walk around it but go inside too. They have turned it into a little information center it is filled with pamphlets and even a guy who is there to answer any questions you might have, so while Chance inspected the train car I asked why it was there. Turns out the whole area was owned by the railroad companies and a main passenger line went right where the current mountain parkway is, since they owned the Natural Bridge their was an side trip you could buy that would take you over to the bridge for the day. Then at some point the railroad gave the land to the state who turned it into the Natural Bridge State Park that it is today. All of that was news to me, it was great to learn something new about the area. We drove around for a while after the train car just to look around, Chance liked the mountains and he would tell us if we were going up or down the mountain. Then we returned to the cabin where we had big plans to build a fire. This cabin had a wrap around porch that Chance loved running around and around you could hear his little feet so you always knew where he was plus there were lots of windows in the cabin so you could see him a lot of the time too. In the back there was a hot tub and stairs leading down to a fire pit. We cooked hamburgers and roasted marshmallows. Chance did a good job helping to collect wood and hand it to Aunt Kristy and Sam. This was Chance's first outdoor fire like this, we had to go over fire safety things in the beginning but after he understood what he could and could not do he was very good. He had a good time roasting the mellows, but he didn't want to eat one they were too icky which was fine with me. By the time we were roasting mellows we already had our swimming suits on for hottubbing. Chance stood on the stair and splashed us while we enjoyed the awesome hot tub. Hot tubs get two thumbs way up!! It was the perfect combo with the cool mountain air. Stay tuned for day two coming soon. Can you believe we did all this stuff in just one day?

Rocking out

We are driving to Kentucky today to go to my family reunion. Here is a picture of Chance rocking out while we drove through TN with the windows down and the music loud. He loved it. Also we might not be able to make a lot of posts this weekend but I will do my best to tweet when I can so check out my twitter feed by looking at the right side of this screen.

Playing Music Video

A video of Chance and Scott playing music together. Chance doesn't play for very long once I turn the camera on but before this he was playing up a storm.

saying hi to the kitty

Metroblogging post

This is a post about our day that I placed on Metroblogging.

Our Day Part 1

Ok part 1 of this day is actually part 2 or the part we like to call post-nap and the part that came before this part what we like to call pre-nap will come in a post later deceivingly titled part 2. With me still? just to clarify this post is about things that happened post-nap.
Let's begin, today was the last day of Satchmo Summerfest so after Chance woke from his nap we got ready and started walking. The whole festival takes place within ten blocks for our house with a few different venues and stages with bands playing and lots of food and arts booths all around. At first we walked to the U.S. Mint where there were two stages and lots of people. Although we really wanted to hear music we decided there were a few too many people packed into that space and lots of other booths to explore so we moved on along the French Market till we came to this fountain where we took a moment to rest in the shade and snap these first two pictures.
Then we walked on toward Jackson Square until we reached a crosswalk to get us into Riverwalk Park where we sat by the river and watched the ships go by in the same spot Chance and I did earlier when we came down for the Bastille Day celebrations. After resting on the banks of the Mississippi we began our leisurely walk in the direction of home. Soon we came upon Baby Boyz Brass Band playing on the street. They get two thumbs up, I had been carrying Chance and when we stopped to listen he asked to get down then after two songs at the end of each he clapped loudly he actually started making his way through the crowd to get closer and so we watched and listened to another two songs from the front lines. They were good and we were all having fun.
We walked on for a few blocks which brought us back to the Mint which was still crowded but we weren't quite ready to head for home yet so we stepped into the Balcony Music Club where we knew Dominic who was playing on stage. To say how we know Dominic is to go back a bit he lived just down and across from us when we lived on Gov Nicholls we could see each other from our balconies and he also works at the shop at the corner of Gov Nicholls and Decatur which we used to go to a lot. He is one of the city people who has known Chance since before he was born and as soon as we walked in the door he recognized us even though we haven't seen him in months. We had a great time sitting in seats right next to the stage listening to Dominic play, Chance was being very good and listening to the music when one of the bar backs came over and gave him a Sprite just for being little and cute I guess. He had never had Sprite before but it didn't take him long to fall in love with it and would barely let it go on the walk home. We waved bye to Dominic and walked on home where we mostly unwound and relaxed for the rest of the evening. This day gets two big thumbs up, way up.