Hiking in the Park

They have been expanding the trails at City Park so we went to check out all the progress and make sure the swing was still in place. Chance asked us to read every sign along the path. So we learned all about the trees in the forest as well as the animals and birds that live in this area.



Chance has been working really hard on swinging by himself and is starting to get the hang of pumping his legs. No only was the swing still there someone had put up a brand new swing. Chance had a good time practicing his swinging. I think I will put this on the calendar and bring our playgroup back for a hike and picnic.

Planting Flowers Playdate

Every year around Earth Day we have a playdate in which we let all the little ones plant some type of plant. This year we did marigolds in one pot and a few seeds in another. I am horrible at keeping plants alive and so have already killed off all of the things we planted but it was fun getting dirty at the time.


Chance did a great job following direction and was proud of his flower.

French Quarter Fest Day 3

Day three was our shortest day at French Quarter Fest. The Zydepunks were playing at the stage closest to our house and although we were all pretty tired from the two days before this is a band we all really like and usually they play bars and clubs late at night that Chance can't get in to so this was our opportunity to catch them live as a family. We all walked over and again got to sit right by the stage. This band is so unique as their name suggests they play Zydeco mixed with punk also mixed with klezmer and polka and fais-do-do it's really interesting to listen to. They have two accordions and a fiddle player which Chance just loves. He is so into violin. As a matter of fact today there was a violin player in the park and he came over to me specially to tell me that was the instrument he wanted to learn to play.
After about one song Chance was already asleep on my lap and he stayed that way till it was time to walk back to the house. It was a great show though and I would greatly enjoy seeing them again sometime.

This was taken before they started to play, you can see he's already tired.

French Quarter Fest Day 2

Playing catch up again, sorry about that but here we go...
The second day of French Quarter fest was pretty awesome, Scott was able to come with us so we spent the whole day together as a family seeing some great bands and just having fun. The day started at the US Mint where there were two stages and the closest ones to our house.


We all sat on the grass right in front of the stage. Chance was in the groove today and just laid down on the ground and put his head on my lap to listen to the music. We had never heard the band before but they were pretty good and a great start to the day.


After that we walked all around the place. Down the riverwalk and past a few other stages just enjoying the festival. After grabbing some nachos at a really tasty little Mexican restaurant we stopped to listen for a while at another stage and found a another great local band we had never heard before but which we all really liked. These two pictures are Scott and Chance hanging out listening to John Lisi and the Delta Funk.


The one performer (Alex McMurray) we had been looking forward to seeing all day didn't start till 5:30pm but we were still out and about so we found ourselves a spot right by the stage and had a seat. Chance had been having fun all day (you can tell by how dirty his face is in the picture below) so after a couple songs he crawled up in my lap, lay down and went to sleep. The show was very good however and well worth the wait. After the show Chance woke up, the little nap having given him the energy to walk all the way back to the house.

French Quarter Fest Day 1

This weekend is French Quarter Fest which as you know means the whole festival happens just blocks from our house. FQF is the largest free local music festival in the world (that's what the website says anyway) they have 9 or 10 stages dedicated to local music and it's all free. We have gone to the festival every year as a matter of fact I think FQF was the first live music (other than Scott at home) Chance ever heard. Chance is old enough this year to really stay all day and enjoy himself so this year we are hitting the festival every day.



It started Friday with just Chance and myself since Scott was working. We were on a mission to make it down the riverwalk to the Louis-Louis stage by 11:00am as a friend of mine's restaurant was sponsoring the group playing at that time. We stopped for a while to watch the river before heading on down to hear Marc Stone. They were a lively way to start off the festival and although I didn't feel compelled to buy their album I will definitely look into heading to J'anitas (friend's restaurant) to check them out again.


Chance watching the band



Chance wearing beads a guy gave him at the concert.

After we listened to some more music we took off looking for something to eat, although all the festival food is amazing! Honestly this is not hotdogs and hamburgers people we are talking crawfish etouffee and fried shrimp po' boys that is exactly what backfired on me with a four year old who I forgot to warn about the food choices and so I felt bad that there was nothing he would normally eat there. So we went on a mission to find more Chance friendly food and ended up at the Clover Grill. With only four tables and a bar I wasn't sure there would be space but turns out it's just far enough all the beaten festival path that there was plenty of room for us. We sat at the bar so as not to take up too much of their precious space and ate a super tasty hamburger and hotdog. It was soooo good after all that walking around that food really hit the spot.
After lunch we walked on down to our mailbox where we picked up the mail and then walked on home to rest and wait for Daddy to get home.
We left the house at 10:30 in the morning and arrived back at the house at about 4:30 in the afternoon. It was a long day but tons of fun!

Crepes Playdate

From the pictures it doesn't look like Crepes have anything to do with this playdate, but in fact crepes are what brought us to this location. One of the members of our playgroup owns Crepes A La Cart in town, a little place that sells nothing but crepes, coffee and juice drinks right next to Tulane university. She gave a discount to the group so we met at the restaurant got some crepes and coffee and walked across the street to picnic on the Tulane campus.
It was a great playdate! The crepes were amazing, as a matter of fact I would go back right now and eat another one if it wasn't on the other side of town the one I had was full of salmon, cream cheese and red onions, my mouth is watering right now...anyway the field had plenty of trees and was totally fenced in so the little ones couldn't easily escape. Two thumbs up all around!


Chance playing fetch with a dog who was walking in the area with his owner.


Chance and Elissa rolling down the hill.

awesome smiley face

Chance's awesome smiley face while riding on the flat cart at Lowe's when we went to pick up some new mulch for the yard.

New Refrigerator!

We have needed a new refrigerator for a while. The fridge that came with the house was very small like you would find in a rental apartment because that is exactly what our house was before we moved into it, the fridge did it's job but it was impossible to buy things up and store them in the freezer, there just wasn't enough room. Scott received an unexpected bonus from his job and so we used a portion of it to buy a new refrigerator as soon as we got home.
It is so nice to have be able to get everything in there and still have room for all the things I want to store. I am going to start visiting farmers markets and freezing all sorts of local vegies and fruits. I've already picked out the canning book I want to buy so I can learn what how to can other things, I especially want to start storing up tomatoes and making my own tomato sauce from local ingredients and start canning that as well. So exciting to finally have the space to do these things I've been thinking about doing for a long time.


Chance demonstrating how the water/ice dispenser will work (the plumber will be coming soon to hook it up)


Chance showing you how the light comes on in the fridge. It is called "ramp up lighting" which is just fancy talk for the light comes on slowly (like a dimmer switch) instead of all fully on as soon as you open the door.

Riding the Train

Earlier in our trip to Florida we went to Lakes Park to hang out with a friend of mine and let Chance play. While there we noticed they have a train that takes you on a tour of the park. We hadn't planned to take the train that day and so didn't really have time but I promised Chance we would come back to ride it before we left to come back to New Orleans.
So, the last day we were in Florida we all went to the park to ride the train. It was a fun little ride around the park, you can tell Chance enjoyed it by the look on his face.

Visiting in Orlando

A few days before we left Florida, Chance and I made a trip up to Orlando to see some friends, drop off beads and visit for a while. Peter and Chellee have been friends of mine for a long time, almost 16 years now (that is crazy!) and they have three wonderful kids. I procrastinated too long with our day trip to Orlando and so we weren't able to stay very long, next time we are in Florida maybe we can go up and spend a night with them.
Chance had a great time playing with Javan and Abbi we were sorry we missed Brea (she wasn't feeling well). Chellee took a few pictures of the kids playing you can check one of them out on her their family blog here.

Joy Riding

Chance loves to ride on the lawn mower in Florida but the first couple weeks we were there it was off being repaired. Fortunately it returned in time for a little joy riding (and lawn mowing). Scott and Chance rode all around the five acres. You can't really tell but they are both laughing and yelling "wooooohooooooo" the whole time during this ride around. The lawn mower sound drowns out their voices so you will just have to use your imagination with these two photos.

Here they come:




There they go:

Sleeping Chance Pictures

These are just a couple sleeping Chance pictures. The first one was taken at naptime when we were staying in the hotel with Scott in Florida. Chance is a lucky little guy when we stay at hotels he gets the whole fold out sofa bed to himself, evidently that's still not enough room since his leg is falling off the side.


I took this second picture when we were driving back to Ikea in Tampa from Ft. Myers. We were just getting our day started but he was already ready for a nap.