Sorry its been a while

I haven't had time to blog in a while and thought Id jump on real quick to catch everyone up. Not a whole lot of excitement going on right now.

Mychael has been playing football. It is so fun to watch but COLD! I definitely wouldn't mind if this started a couple of months earlier so we aren't out there freezing at the games but there aren't that many of them so I guess we can manage. They have only lost one game so far (yesterdays game). He was disappointed but I think he understands that there is going to be times that you lose. We had his parent/teacher conferences the other day. All four of us (me, Dave, Tommy, and Tracey) got to be there. I always like seeing the teachers face when we come in. I'm happy though that we are all friends and that we all love Mychael so much. He is doing great in school. He had two B's and the rest A's. His teacher said he is a joy to have in class which is what I'm always proud of. I know hes smart and is going to be okay grade wise but you never know what kind of attitude an 8 year old boy might give off so I always wonder about that. She said he is courteous and sweet and always eager to please so that made me proud of him. Hes such a good kid. He has his moments of course like all kids will but I think that he saves them for home (lucky us) instead of letting them out on other people.

Brayden has been sick for a couple of weeks and is finally starting to feel better. It was a rough time in the beginning just because he couldn't take his pacifier because he couldn't breathe with it and that made for some really LONG nights. Luckily now though its just a runny nose left and he is in much better moods. Hes getting so big now. I think when he started crawling around it hit me just how big he is getting. He always manages to find anything and everything that he shouldn't be into and that is what he goes for. Its never the hundred toys we have in the floor for him. Luckily he hasn't learned to venture further then the living room so we haven't had to block the house off with gates yet. The only time he ventured was one time and it was because he was after Harley. Anytime I put him in the opening of the kitchen though (like if I'm cooking or something) he usually wont come all the way in. He just sits there feeling the floor. I don't think he likes that it isn't carpet. Its funny to watch him test it though by rubbing it and then hitting it. I had him there this morning while I was making his bottle and he fell over onto the kitchen floor and hit the back of his head on the tile so if he didn't like it before I'm sure he HATES it now and will stay away from it.

There just isn't much to tell at this point. Everyone has been sick and so we have pretty much stayed around the house doing nothing. Tomorrow Dave has to have an endoscopy done. Hes been having horrible heartburn for a long time now and I finally threatened him to go to the doctor. The past history is there to where he shouldn't mess around with it. So he went to see his doctor and they are going to do this procedure to make sure everything is looking okay. He has to be put out for it so that's always fun. For those of you that haven't heard the stories he is NOT pleasant after he comes out of it. Most of you know Dave and know that he is the nicest person ever and always looks on the positive side (which can be aggravating when you are trying to vent about something lol) and I think he saves up any meanness he might have and then takes it out on the nurses when he comes to LOL. Its sometimes humorous and sometimes embarrassing but always entertaining. So I'm sure Ill write tomorrow and let everyone know how that went.

See ya,
Christy

Brayden wanted Grandma Marlene to see...

Brayden started crawling the other day and his new obsession is poor Harley. As soon as Harley walks in the room Brayden is after him. It is really funny to watch and we managed to get it on my camera phone the other night so today I wanted to see if I could transfer it and get it posted so everyone could see it. Hopefully it works for everyone. It worked for me when I tested it so we will see.

Hes getting too big too quick :(

Just a recap of why we went to New Orleans

So just to recap how we ended up on this trip to New Orleans for everyone... Dave was born in Louisiana but moved when he was 6 years old and hasn't been back in 22 years. Even though he didn't remember much about living there one thing he stuck with his whole life is the New Orleans Saints. He has always been a HUGE fan and has always wanted to see a game at the actual Superdome. So for his birthday I got him tickets to see them play the Raiders on October12 and decided to make a long weekend of it for us once we have never really gotten away together. It was VERY hard to leave the kids but off we went. So I am going to blog about every day we were there and put a slide show for that day up with that days blog. That way you all can see all the interesting things we got to do and see. Now that we are home we both agreed that seeing the game was definitely our favorite thing we got to do but the city itself is such an interesting place to see. Its a completely different atmosphere. Everyone is very friendly and relaxed. There are the crazy ones that walk around talking to themselves and acting weird but we tried to stay clear of them even though you will see in the blog that a few caught us LOL. So I hope you enjoy reading about our vacation. I highly recommend anyone wanting to get away for a few days go to New Orleans and if you are a football fan (even if it isnt the Saints you like) go to the Superdome and see a game. The crowd is very entertaining. Its so much fun to get wrapped up in their excitement. Its also unbelievable to be INSIDE the Superdome and think about everything that has happened there. Ill write more about that in Sundays blog. I'm going to post all of the days at the same time so if you are starting on day 4 you need to backtrack and find day 1 or go to the archives on the right hand side at the bottom and start at day 1. Sorry it took so long to get this up. My slideshows were not working and I could not figure it out until just now. Hope you enjoy the book I wrote for ya!

See ya,
Christy

Day 1 New Orleans

We arrived in New Orleans today and couldn't check into out hotel for a long time so we decided to walk around the city a little bit and find something to eat. We started down Canal St which is a main street there and started looking in all the little shops. It is so neat to see the interesting things they sell but a lot of the little stores along this street all sold the same things so we decided to head further down and go down some side streets. Along the way we passed a hotel and noticed that the police had closed down the street for a fancy black bus. We figured maybe it was someone important or famous so of course we had to pull ourselves over and wait and see. Finally two girls ran out of the hotel and onto the bus. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side and so all we could see was their backs but from behind it looked just like the Kardashian sisters. For weeks now I kept talking about how cool it would be to see Kim Kardashian there (she dates Reggie Bush who plays for the New Orleans Saints) once I watch the show and of course when I'm pretty sure I did I was on the wrong side of the doorway and seen her back instead of her face! I'm not 100% positive that it was her but she was in town for the Saints game (I found out AFTER we got home tonight). If it WAS her she is so tiny and I'm jealous! So that was exciting. As we were eating we talked about what we each would do if someone famous (like her or Reggie Bush) would walk in the restaurant we were at and we both agreed that we would think it was super cool that we got to see them but we'd have to leave them alone. They are normal people who probably just want a meal LOL. I think Id have to make an exception for Reggie Bush though and try to get Dave an autograph...maybe after he had eaten :)


After all that excitement we went further into the French Quarter and hit Bourbon St. to see if there were any good places to eat. To be honest we were very much lost in this city. It seems like we were walking in circles a lot so although Bourbon St. might not have been where we were heading it was the first familiar looking street name we came across so we hit it. We looked around there for a while and then walked down a couple of more streets (sadly because we were lost!) and eventually ran across a McDonalds and said screw it and ate there. We were starving and it was something we knew lol. After we ate we were so tired and wanted to go check in, change shoes (I had evil shoes on the whole weekend), and kinda settle in before heading back out. The hotel still couldn't check us in so we waited there for what turned out to be 2 hours and then finally got into our room. It was not what I was expecting at all. It was so cute and nice! Don't get me wrong. I wasn't expecting anything nasty but in the reviews it had said that it was an older "boutique" hotel and so I was expecting something outdated. Not at all! It was kind of a mix of new/old. Perfect for the town we were staying in. Plus we were within walking distance of everywhere you would want to go. So if you ever go ask me for the information!


So after settling in and taking a nap we ordered pizza from a little pizza dive down the street (I swear we branched out our food choices over the days)and headed to Bourbon St. Along the way on one of the side streets we noticed that they were filming a movie in a little cafe. We stood and watched that for a little bit but couldn't really see in the cafe so we continued on our way. It was kinda cool to see how everything was set up and how much seemed to go into it even outside while they were filming inside. That story continues later in the night. So on to Bourbon St we went. We had both said that we were not going to drink that much because we wanted to do so much the next day. So if you have never been to New Orleans or Bourbon St then you don't know how easy it is for the atmosphere to take over you. Walking around the French Market and Jackson Square I felt this relaxed feeling take over me. Just strolling along without a care. On Bourbon St the same thing happens and you get caught up in the atmosphere so our plan to not drink a lot went straight out the window. Actually we didn't drink a lot its just neither of us drink hardly at all and so it didn't take much for me to have a buzz. I wasn't drunk but I definitely was caught up in the atmosphere. We danced a LOT which was my favorite thing to do the whole weekend. There was a bar called Razzoo that had the best band and so we would go in there and dance. It was so much fun. The cops down there are very relaxed and basically just sit on their horses and watch out for everyone. At one point while we were watching the band and dancing the cop guided the horse in through a huge window in the front of the bar. Scared the hell out of some people but it was definitely something Id never seen before. As we were walking down the street I stopped to ask the cop some questions and asked if I could take a picture so there should be one floating around in Day 1's slide show.


Around 2:30am we stopped long enough for me to realize that the shoes I had on were HORRIBLE and were really hurting my feet so we decided to walk back to the hotel and grab my sandals. Dave does not understand the concept of cute over comfortable when it comes to shoes and it was a constant source of conversation every time we were about to go out. Finally on the last day I had to agree that he was right. Id show you a picture of my feet but I hate my feet so I wont do it but I had to wear bandages pretty much covering my whole foot on each one. I have about 2 blisters on each toe and on the tops of my feet.I am thinking of burning the shoes I wore just so I never pick those over comfort again. ANYWAY... so we left the hotel to head back to Bourbon St. (funny how at the beginning of the night I was saying how crazy it was that people could party into the morning and here were were heading back out at 3am). As we were walking back we passed the movie that was being made again. They had moved everything outside and were now filming a scene outside. It was really interesting to see how many people were working behind the scenes and how much work went in to filming even one scene. The main star that was filming was James Gandolfini aka Tony Soprano! Unlike a lot of the crazies walking the street at 3am we behaved ourselves and kinda started talking to the behind the scene people and so when they closed down the street to film the scene they let us stay and watch. It was amazing how a dark unlit street all the sudden looked like it was daylight outside. Also how they layed a track all the way down the street so the camera and camera guy could roll down the street for a smooth shot. It actually made me feel bad for actors because he did the same scene over and over and over again. Each one (except the one where he goofed his lines and started laughing and one where the people pushing the cameraman weren't paying attention and let him fall off the track) seemed perfect so I felt bad he had to do it so many times with so much time in between each take. I thought it took forever so I'm sure he did too. Guess hes used to it. We watched this until 5am and then decided to call it a night. They said that they film around 15 hrs a day and there was no way I could handle that lol. James wife was with him and I couldn't believe she was out there with him while filming once it was 5am. That's dedication :). We didn't want to push our luck on being able to watch by introducing ourselves to James Gandolfini but Dave did sneak in some pictures with his camera phone (again we didn't want to push it) so you can see in the Day 1 slide show some of the shots that Dave got of the set and of James. When you see a movie in 2009 called "Welcome to the Rileys" make sure to see it and know that after they walk out of Menas Palace that Dave and I are right there in that scene. Very crazy.


So this started out to be a very interesting trip! I'm going to have one post for each day of the trip and a slide show for that day. That way its a little easier for everyone to get through.


See ya,

Christy

Day 2 New Orleans

Of course we slept in a little this day once we had stayed out late/early the night before. We lounged around the hotel until around 2pm and then headed out.We decided to go down to the river and hit the Riverwalk and see what that was all about. There was also supposed to be a cool shopping center there. So we walked down there and looked around. I guess when you come from Chester where you live on the Mississippi River its all the same even in another state LOL. I just wasn't that impressed. It did have bigger boats and ships on the water that were neat to look at but that was about it. We went into the shopping center which wasn't that impressive either. Maybe if we had loads and loads of money it would have been a lot better. It did have some great places to eat in it though so we stopped and ate lunch. I had a PoBoy and Dave had fried shrimp (see I told you we branched off of Mcds eventually). We had the option of sitting outside on the river to eat but it was so windy I didn't want to fight it so we sat by the window as we ate. After that we stopped by Cafe du Monde to try some famous Beignets that we had been hearing so much about. Everyone had raved about them so we decided to stop in and try it ourselves. We did like them but we were a little confused on all the hype with it. To us it tasted exactly like funnel cake so we weren't really sure why it was so popular and people talked like you couldn't get them just anywhere. Next time the carnival comes to town go grab a funnel cake and sit down at the river to eat it and that was pretty much exactly what it was for us LOL :)

After that we decided to walk down to Jackson Square where we had heard that there was a lot of local entertainers, artists, etc that set up during the day.I thought that I remembered something like this from when I had went to New Orleans with Mandy so I really wanted Dave to see it cause I thought it was really neat. By the time we made out way down there though it was dark and the only thing left was a few artists and a bunch of palm readers and card readers.That was a little disappointing but we got over it quickly and headed back into the French Quarter. We shopped a little on the way back looking for a Saints shirt for me to wear to the game. I had bought fake tattoos to wear and we had black and gold beads but I had to have a shirt. We found a real cute one in one of the little shops. It was unbelievable how many Raiders fans came into town for the game. At one point I heard a lady saying that there were over 10,000 that had came in and they were everywhere! Of course all of them decked out all weekend in Raiders gear so there was a lot of shit talking between the two teams fans everywhere you went. I kept wondering on Bourbon St if a fight would break out once everyone was so drunk but everyone had such fun talkin crap to each other and drinking together. It was kinda nice that no one got stupid with it and everyone was just out to have a good time. After making our way back to the French Quarter we decided to head back, take a short nap (I NEVER take naps and we did this every day! us oldies had to try to keep up this weekend lol) and then go back to Bourbon St where again I swore I was not drinking a lot.

So we headed back to Bourbon St for the night. As we came up on the corner of Bourbon and Canal St there was a big jazz band of young musicians playing. We had to stand and watch that for a while. I just love stuff like that! There was a bunch of people dancing in the streets to it and having fun. It was really neat. We went on down Bourbon St to the more crowded area. It was pretty packed this night. We grabbed some drinks and started the night. So we drank and danced and had so much fun. We went back to the bar with the great band and hung out there for a long time. We discovered that when you went further into the bar that it actually opens up in back to a great courtyard with a big fire fountain and several bars back there. Bartenders were up on the bars dancin and pouring shots down everyone. I guess that put me in the mood cause I ended up taking three (i think that's all I took) and the bartenders always found interesting ways to give it to you. We continued dancing until we were pretty wore out and both of us were burning up so we headed outside to cool off. We walked around for a while and eventually (around 1 or 2am) decided to grab a piece of pizza once we had skipped supper. So we sat in a little margarita bar and ate a slice of pizza. Big mistake because then with a full belly it was bed time! We decided to call it a night once we had the game the next day and didn't want to feel anything but perfect for that. Unfortunately I decided after we got back that I needed skittles. Dave and I both agree that I was not drunk that night but the skittles hit the wrong way and later that night/next morning those came back up LOL. I think its because my old ass doesn't ever drink anymore and here I was trying to go two nights in a row. My body was laughing at me. So that was the end of day two. I cant wait to share day 3 because that was the day of the GAME!!

See ya,

Christy

Day 3 New Orleans

So on this day we woke up and got ready for the game!! My stomach was still kinda hating those skittles but so far nothing else had came back up. I decided though that because I didn't want anything going crappy for the game that I would skip eating/drinking (soda!) until I was sure it was safe. We got decked out in our Saints gear, put the Saints tattoos all over us and we were off. We decided to take a taxi down to the Superdome. It was walkable but a far walk after what my feet had been through with the evil sandals. So we figured a taxi was better. It would take me a whole other post to talk about the taxi drivers around this city so I wont go into it but lets just say they are a little nutty! The one we had going to the Superdome was interesting. He asked where we were going, he agreed to take us, and then was very mad when there was traffic around the Superdome. Ummm hellooooo. Its a big game day what do you expect. He even asked if we would want to get out and walk because of the traffic being bad. We told him NO and made him go all the way. If you didn't want traffic then don't say you will take us to a big football arena on game day! So he sat and yelled about it the whole way. ANYWAY! After we got there and walked up the outside was set up with bands and food stands that had all kinds of cajun style food. Dave got a bowl of jambalaya but I stayed away. As good as it smelled I was scared to death of putting something on my stomach. We got into the stadium just in time and they started announcing the players coming in. We didn't make it to our seats in time so you will notice that the pictures of the opening of the game are taken in some window looking thing.

When we made it to our seats we were really excited to see that they were awesome seats. You could see everything very clearly. I started taking pictures right away because I wanted to capture everything. We had been to Rams games before but this crowd was different. When the Saints would score a touchdown the Zydeco music would kick on and everyone would jump up and start dancing. A lot of people had little umbrellas that they'd pop open and start pumping in the air (easier to picture if you have seen a celebration of any kind down there because they do this thing with umbrellas and pieces of cloth). It was hard not to get into the excitement of it. I finally got something to eat and drink and started feeling good again so the rest of the game went great. The Saints ended up winning34-3. I was really excited that I had finally gotten Dave to a game and to top it off they played awesome and won. Even though we had great seats when the crowd started to clear out we went to the very bottom and sat for the rest of the game. Afterwards we took pictures and looked around.

It was very emotional being in the Superdome. Right away after sitting down I started thinking of the victims of Katrina being in there after the hurricane hit.We started talking about how bad it must have been to have no electricity or running water or sewer. I held back tears every time this would hit me thoughout the game. We didn't get to see a lot of the devastation around the city of what had been but it was very clear that the people are still feeling it. At one point during the game a weatherman came on the big screen and said "hey! have you heard? we've decided we aren't going to have any more hurricanes" and the whole crowd went wild. I wondered how many people I was sitting around (a lot of them being season ticket holders) had been affected by Katrina. At different times in the trip I wanted to ask people who we came across and talked to if they had been affected but I didn't want to bring up bad memories for people so I kept my curiosity to myself. Its clear by a lot of the stuff you see around the city that they have given up on the government helping them and are trying to do it themselves. So many peoples lives changed in the very stadium I was sitting in. It was so sad to see and very hard not to become emotional when thinking about it at the Superdome. I could go on and on about this but I will move on.

After the game let out we took some pictures outside and then went back towards the main part of town. We grabbed something to eat and then of course went and took a nap LOL. When we got up we went walking around for a while and then went to eat at a place off of Bourbon St. called DeJaVoo. It was great food. After that we walked back to Bourbon St to see what was going on. It wasn't nearly as crowded as it had been Friday and Saturday. I had called it quits on drinking. Dave decided to get a hand grenade and try to drink that but after a while we decided that we were going to call it an early night (like 12 or 1am)and headed back to the hotel. The poor hand grenade went down the drain. We had drank enough for the weekend. We had a nice time hanging out at the hotel together and just relaxing. There was a lot to do and see around the city but the moments we had to just relax and hang out together in the room were great too. Its amazing how much more you appreciate those moments after you have kids.

See ya,Christy

Day 4 New Orleans

So we woke up today and started packing to go home. We had to check out at noon but our flight wasn't leaving until early evening so we decided to walk around some more and see some stuff we hadn't seen. We took a cab to Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville to eat lunch. It was a very cool place to see. Very colorful with lots to look at in the restaurant. After we had stuffed ourselves (awesome food I highly recommend) we walked across the street to the French Market. We hadn't run across that yet and wanted to check it out. It was probably a good thing that we hadn't found that until the last day when we had to watch the money we spent because I could have went wild in there. There was a lot of very interesting vendors set up and it was really cool just to walk around and look. Afterwards we ended up back up by Jackson Square. It was getting close to the time we needed to head back to the hotel to grab our bags so we just hung out for a while at the river taking pictures. The weather was kinda crappy so a lot of the shots are darker in the slide show. We went back to the hotel and grabbed our bags and got a taxi to the airport.

Our flight was good and we landed in St.Louis around 7ish. We couldn't decide if we were ready to be home or if we wanted to be back in New Orleans but reality had to come back sometime. Of course we came home to a trashed house (we can never pack for a trip without destroying the house in the process) but we were so tired we left it and flopped down on the couch and stayed there. The next morning we headed to Chester to get the kids.I was so excited to see them. We had missed them so much while we were gone so it was good to have them back in my arms and I think they felt the same way.It sounds like they had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend and Mychael got to stay with my sister a couple nights so he got to hang out with his cousins which he always loves. Thanks again to mom and dad for taking them while we got away!!! You are the best! I think next time we are going to say we are going out of town and leave the kids with them and then we are going to come home and just sit in the recliners for a week in silence LOL.

So that was the trip. I know I wrote a book but I wanted to share it with our family and friends that I don't talk to on the phone a lot. This is easier then repeating the trip 50 times to people also. If anyone ever gets a chance to go to New Orleans I definitely recommend it! There is so much to see and do that we are already talking about going back so we can see more. It'll be a while but we will get there eventually...and of course we will have to make it when the Saints are playing! I also recommend going around this time of year when it is not uncomfortably hot. The weather stayed in the 70-80s during the day and at night it was usually in the low 70s and perfect. So that's it! I will post more about regular life sometime soon.

See ya,

Christy