Visitors

My grandma and mom came for a short visit.  We had such a good time.

Here's what happened.

Four generations.  

We drove to the mountains and stopped at The Old Apple Barn.  Great place for photo shoots.

Hubby (being hubby) and my mom.

Family shot.

Grandma was nervous to go all of the way out on the look out.  Hubby convinced her to go and she wasn't disappointed.

Hubby is such to jokester acting like they are falling.

The Zoo with my Brother

 You may or may not know that my brother and his family are missionaries in America Samoa.  We haven't seen them for 2 1/2 years.  We had a very nice (short 2 days) visit with them.  We took them to the zoo.

 Here's our son narrating  for you all.

 There was a pigeon with a stump leg.  Our daughter really felt for it.

 Our son seeing how far he could jump.  Not too bad
.

 My awesome brother and his family.  Miss them tons.

 I think I got everyone, except me.  We were all looking at the bears.

My brother was really into these birds.

The Food

Okay, so the food has to be one our favorite parts of the trip to New Orleans.  We did eat at Bubba Gumps...okay.  One of our favorites was N'awlins Cafe and Spice Emporium.  It is right in the French Market.  Good 'ole southern/cajun food.  So good we went there twice, and would've gone there daily had we stayed longer.  That poor fellow had no idea I was taken a photo.  The waitress was right up there with some of the best.  It was a cold, cold day when we took the photo.  The red beans and rice which we mixed with our mixed greens was perfect on the cold day.  If you ever go to New Orleans, you've got to go here.

On one of our first days we had a muffuletta at the Central Grocery.  People line up for this sandwich!  Hubby bought a jar of the fixin's before we left.  That is half of the sandwich below.

I can't write about food without mentioning Cafe du Monde.  Beignets and Coffee.  Personally, I thought it was a bit over rated, but still yummy.  I do love that this cafe has been such a success with selling just two main items.  Note, make sure you aren't wearing black and it's not windy when you eat there.  The beignets are COVERED in powdered sugar.  I used the extra sugar for my coffee.  We actually got coffee from a different coffee shop.

This was another fave.  We ate there twice.  The pizza is awesome; the kids loved it.  The red beans and rice are thee best!  You can get a wide variety of food here. 

 See the brick building?  It is an US Mint which is also right across the street from our hotel.

Our last night there, we had Krystals, which you can skip.  Though Hubby liked it...he likes almost everything food.  Then we met up at MIL's place and some of the fam went to get oysters and came back with a small buffet. 

Overall, the food is AWESOME in New Orleans.  Something for everyone and most at a good price.

The French Market

 The place we frequented the most was the French Market.  It was like a block from our hotel and on the way to everything.  We shopped, we ate, we walked through it again and again.  It reminded me of a California swap meet only smaller and much more condensed.  You could buy just about anything you wanted here.  Jewelry, art, clothes, African soap, gators in all forms, etc.  You name it they probably have it.

Fresh produce as well.  One of the things that stood out to me was the diverse amount of cultures there selling their goods.  Africans, Jamaicans, Middle Easterners, Asians, Orientals, Italians, etc.  Some were very pushy. 

 The photos don't show the number of people there.  Don't know how I missed the people in my photos.

 The market at night.  Totally empty, except for a homeless here and there.

Hubby actually stopped traffic for this one.  Well, two kind ladies stopped to let him take the photo.  Right when he was about to snap the shot the market lights went out then came right back on for him!

Christmas Eve

So glad to have my old blogger back.  In case you'd like to catch up what we were up to while I couldn't blog here go here.

Hubby's mom turned 80 this year and while in New Orleans we celebrated at a fancy restaurant on Christmas Eve..
Here, hubby and I are waiting to leave (walk) to the restaurant.

Ms. Hubby's Mom in her festive hat from my SIL.  Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the food (four course meal).  The pecan pie was really, really good. 

 

 MIL with our niece.

 All of us (excluding Jim).  The funny story...Nancy (SIL #1) wanted to get a photo all of us in front of this certain Christmas Tree.  It was a small walk from the restaurant to a hotel none of us were staying at.

None of the photos (from phones & point and shoots) turned out just right and Nancy wanted to get a photo of all of us in front of a Christmas tree the next night too.  It soon became the joke of the trip.

On our walk back to our hotel a great deal of fog came rolling in off of the Mississippi.  It was so thick you could see the moisture in the lights.  One of my favorite parts of the trip was the solo saxophonist playing O Holy Night under a light in the fog.  It was really moving and stood out above the other noises of the night.  I regret not stopping and video tapping him.

Jackson Square

 Jackson Square is in the French Quarter.  In the day there are artists, balloon artists, people dressed up in all sorts of costumes.  At night the palm readers, taro cards readers, etc. come out.

 This building is a Catholic church that still holds mass.

 Many horse drawn carriages line the outside of Jackson Square.  To the left of this photo would performances throughout the day, with theater style seating.  The smell of cigarettes, coffee and horses fill the area.  The sound of people, carriage drivers calling for riders, dance music, horses breathing, and various styles of music are heard here.

 (from internet) Here you can get an idea of how the artists set up along Jackson Square.

The French Quarter in gold/tan.  Our hotel was at the very bottom the the gold.  Most of everything you'd want to go to is in the gold box.

Road Time Funnies

Some funnies from our trip:

Me: Is that corn? (Looking at short corn stalks.)
Hubby: Yes.
Me: It's really small, maybe it's baby corn.

Son: (upon seeing a covered speed limit sign.) Look no speed limit.

The kids and hubby noticed me taking out my little notebook and noting things.  They started making stuff up.  Like:
Day 3...I have gas.

I travel with my pillow everywhere.  So, as the road was endless, the stories started flowing.
One I wrote down was about me jumping out of a plane with my pillow strapped to the backpack.

Daughter got chocolate on her pants...right there...oh the drama!

Then as we drove through Yuma, AZ.  My jukebox of a hubby started singing the Numa Numa song.  Video follows!  (Oh not of hubby, but of the numa numa guy.)

One more for you.

After leaving AZ/CA checkpoint someone says...

You'll have to step out, this car smells like bananas.

Fall Flashback

Found these photos while going through our stack (and I mean stack) of photos.

Nothing says autumn like apple picking in New England.

I was actually a few months pregnant with our son here.

This one was taken locally probably in 1997.

Monday

Almost done, I promise.

On the way to my mom's in AZ. we stopped in Cabazon, CA.  The same dinos in PeeWee Herman's Big adventure movie.

Please don't make me do it, I promise I will be good.

One, two, three...ahhhhh!

Then off to Az. to sleep at my mom's and drive back home Tuesday.   LONG, LONG trip.

But WELL worth it.

Sunday Night

Sunday night we remembered that our mom wanted a group shot.  The kids were mostly in their pj's.  The adults were very sleep deprived.  Throw in two very funny guys, and a dog who went from person to person and you have the makings for a funny photo shoot.

This is the one we sent to my mom.