A Weekend in New Orleans

Last Friday I attended Lady Tiger Football Camp with Pam, a friend whose daughter is also attending LSU this fall with Meg. With Brittany at Texas A&M for the past four years, I have always considered myself an Aggie so it was a little weird to be in Baton Rouge at a football camp with somewhat fanatical Tiger moms. However, I put aside my loyalty to A&M for a day and had some fun!  Besides, Meg will soon be a LSU Tiger so I am going to have to be a fan of them too!

After a day of meeting coaches, players and some new friends we headed to New Orleans with our husbands to spend the night at their oldest daughter's condo in the Garden District.

The Garden District of New Orleans is one of the most beautiful places I have been.

The streets are lined with huge, gorgeous trees and stunning homes.

It's pretty standard to find homes with large front porches, gorgeous pillars, and decorative rod iron.

The friends we were with built a house in Texas that is a perfect replica of the above home.

After a little tour of the area we had a delicious dinner at Jacques- Imo's. A two hour wait but well worth it.

This truck sits in front of the restaurant and apparently you can actually dine at the table in the back!

New Orleans truly is a city that doesn't sleep so after dinner we headed to the French Quarter and ended up at the dueling piano bar at Pat O’Brien’s.

You can't go and not have a hurricane.  So we had one, or two. 

After an evening of fun that lasted longer than a normal night out, we all woke feeling tired and a little queasy. A muffaletta from Magazine Po-Boy Sandwich shop was just what I needed.

We also visited later that day a little English pub called the Bulldog for a drink before heading to the Quarter.

 Beignets at Cafe du Monde is a definite must in New Orleans.

We also did a little window shopping on Royal Street.

Before having dinner at the Acme Oyster House.

We had the best grilled oysters ever here that were buttery and topped with Parmesan cheese, yummy!

We headed home on Sunday after a great time in the Big Easy.  I think Richard and I will need to go back next month after we drop Meg off at LSU to either celebrate or drown our sorrows...

Small Town Texas

On our way home from a business trip to San Antonio with my hubby we went a little out of the way to visit Luling, Texas.  Right upon entering the town is a beautiful park right on the San Marcos River.

So I made Richard pull over and took a look around. 

There's a historic mill right as you cross the bridge. 

Across from the mill is an old scale house.

I found a little shady spot to relax that overlooks the river.

Right next to this little spot is the Zedler Mill Pavilion.

A barn and a couple other little buildings reside behind the pavilion.

While I was walking around Richard drove down a little dirt road and found another view of the mill.

I joined him and snapped a few more pictures.

Then we headed in town for some lunch.  It was Sunday and there are all kinds of open air markets selling fruits, vegetables and flowers. This one was right next door to where we had lunch.

These would look pretty in a pot on my patio.

Richard wanted to buy one of these little pepper plants.

I wanted to take home this poor little stray and give her a home.

He didn't get a pepper plant and the kitty stayed too, but we did get some good Texas grub at Luling Bar-B-Q.

I let Richard take care of ordering.  My only request was an order of the homemade mac and cheese.

As you can see I got my mac and cheese along with some great barbecue before heading home.

Mickey Mouse Nutcracker

While strolling through the shops in Germany at Epcot my mom found the most adorable Mickey Mouse Nutcracker.  Since I collect nutcrackers, she bought it to add to the display this Christmas.  We paid for it to be shipped from Orlando and six days later it arrived!

Our Mickey Mouse Nutcracker was made in Germany by Steinbach.

Mickey arrived securely packed.

He looked just as he did in the little shop he once resided in.

Isn't he adorable!

Well, for now he's back in his box but will be back this Christmas!

Disney World

We just got home last Saturday from our trip to Disney World.  We had a great time.  Although we we're sad to leave we we're ready due to pure exhaustion.  We were on the go almost nonstop and rarely had more than six hours of sleep.  Even so, we all had fun and tolerated each other, for the most part. 

We arrived in Orlando last Tuesday. 

We took the Disney Express shuttle to our cabin at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground.

Our cabin was located right next to a bus stop, which was really nice.  We took buses to all the parks except Magic Kingdom.  To get there we took a boat from our resort.

We had hopper passes and enjoyed extra magic hours at the various parks each day and night.  Below are some pictures we snapped throughout our stay at Disney World.

 

Day 1:  We went to Hollywood Studios on the first day and caught the Fantasmic show.

Meg and Kyle

Meg and My Mom

Meg and Kyle caught one of the parades at Hollywood Studios.

Believe it or not, we all rode Tower of Terror.

Then headed over to the Muppet 3D show.

 

Our dinner was at Pizza Plaza.

Then we headed over to the Fastasmic show.

 

It was a great show and worth the hour wait!

Day 2:  The second morning we had early entry to Animal Kingdom. 

We headed first to Africa upon arriving.

                

There is a cool little bar called "Dawas Bar" in Africa.  Richard and I enjoyed a couple of refreshing drinks here on our second visit while everyone else attended the Nemo show.

The first thing we did in Africa was to get in line for the popular safari ride.

We saw plenty of beautiful animals that normally roam the African savanna.

Then we headed to the Mt. Everest ride...so fun!

 

 

After that we rode the Kali River Rapids....

 

The cute couple before getting wet head to toe.

Like the sign warns, we all got completely soaked!

 

With wet shirts and pants we headed to the air conditioned Dinosaur ride, burrrr......

That night we headed to Magic Kingdom to see the fireworks.

A boat that services our resort took it to the Magic Kingdom.  There was a bit a rain that hit soon after Meg and Kyle left.  Rain didn't stop them, however. It did us for just a while. We stayed at the cabin with my mom until the storm blew over.

We did show up in time to ride a couple of favorites and meet Meg and Kyle before the fireworks.  We are so glad we caught them, it was amazing!

Great show and wonderful way to end the evening.

Day 3:  We woke to blue skies and headed back at Magic Kingdom early. 

We headed first to Tomorrowland and rode Space Mountain.

The goofs posing before we all rode Space Mountain.

After exiting the ride Meg saw Stitch and had to get her picture taken with him.  Kyle was a little less enthusiastic, but he was a good sport and smiled for the camera.

We saw the Monsters Inc. comedy show.  It's interactive and if you sit in a seat on the aisle you might get selected to be part of the show, which happened to me!  A little embarrassing but I played along.  Of course my family got a kick out of it and had enjoyed poking fun at me and my "spectacular" performance.

 I snapped this cute picture as we crossed the bridge and headed to Adventureland.

We rode one of my favorite rides, Pirates of the Caribbean.

Then another favorite, the Haunted Mansion.

We also rode my mom's favorite, It's a Small World.

After a full morning at Magic Kingdom we headed to the cabin for lunch and a nap before going back to Epcot that evening.

The funny thing about Florida's weather, much like the weather in Texas, it can be beautiful in the morning and then stormy in the afternoon. 

Since it was raining when we got to Epcot we took advantage of the indoor rides.  Our favorite was Soarin, a 30 minute wait but worth it.

  Then we headed to the Illuminations show.  It was sprinkling when it started but was pouring by the end.  Wet and hungry we found shelter and food at the Rose and Crown Pub right after the show. 

We stayed long enough for the rain to stop. The park was open until midnight for Disney resort guests so we had two extra hours.  The park was not crowded at all, I think the rain scared away most. We got to ride everything without waiting in one line.

 We were tired at the end of the day. Meg got a little assistance from Kyle walking back to the bus.

Our last full day at Disney World began back at Hollywood Studios for early entry.  We were able to ride the Rock and Roll Rollercoaster not once, but twice!

The afternoon was spent exploring the the World Showcase at Epcot.

Mexico

Norway

China

Germany

France

Our last stop was back to our favorite pub in England.

Then it was off to Magic Kingdom for our last evening.

Dinner was with Pooh and friends at the Crystal Palace.

We ended our night by watching the Electric Light Parade.

Saturday morning we stopped back at Animal Kingdom and rode our favorite ride again, Mt. Everest.  Then Meg, Kyle and my mom caught the Nemo show while Richard and I relaxed and had some "us" time.  We left Orlando around 3:00 and were home by 6:00.  Meg had a great graduation trip that she will always remember, as will we!