At the airport, Samantha was an angel! She never strayed too far and loved to watch the planes from the window. She also picked her seat on both flights, oddly, the same section that I like: right side, right behind the wing. Again, not so interested in what we were flying over, but loved the clouds. Sam visited the cockpit and the pilot let her "fly" the plane!
After a good nap we visited the Baumers and Abigail and Uncle Brian, too. It wound up getting to be late and Grandma Ria didn't want to drive, so we stayed at Uncle Brian's.
*Note: First order of fried catfish and shrimp plate- Yum!
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| The Baumers! |
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| Cousin Abigail! |
Since we slept in New Orleans, it was easy getting up and getting out the door. We drove around Lakeview and saw our old houses which they are rebuilding. We took the Streetcar down Canal Street to the Algiers Ferry, stopped at the Riverwalk fountain for pics and lunch-which Sam touched a lobster. Took the streetcar, then RTA bus transfer back to Lakeview, where Samantha got to walk from the bus-stop and walk (balance) a ledge that I use to love balancing on when I was little. While we waited for the bus, I made her a clover flower crown like when we were kids. Then we grabbed beignets on the way back to Grandma Ria's, where we looked for cows, turkeys and peacocks and frolicked in the country.
*Note: Second order of fried crab cakes and fried shrimp po-boy- I feel my arteries beginning to clog.
*Third order, Grandma Ria's shrimp and corn soup. YUM!
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| "Penny for my wish, please, Grandma Ria." |
Friday, May 10, 2013
Samantha and I quickly visited a New Orleans gift shop for some "souvenirs" and headed over to Jenn's to get a few minutes of alone time with her and Baby Lena and do a gift exchange before heading over to Teresa's to play with everybody. It was so nice hanging with my friends that I miss so much and meeting their kids. I was funny how the kids referred to each other, "That one in the yellow shirt", "The one in the green shirt", "That little girl", etc. And of course, the kids were super silly and couldn't keep still.
*Note: More shrimp! It never gets old ;)
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| Sweet Baby Lena |
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| Dominic (4 1/2), Noah (3), Sam (2 1/2), Andrew (2), Elle (1 1/2) |
Daddy came in late last night (after a stormy and long 12hr+ drive) and although Samantha fell asleep in the car back to Grandma Ria's, Daddy got her out, she said Hello, then snuggled in his arms and passed out again for the night.
Once we were all refreshed, we met Clint for an awesome lunch and good laughs in mid-city, so it was back in the car for all of us. Sam was hesitant, distracted and wiggly all through lunch, but once we left she talked about Clint non-stop!
Cousin Abigail wouldn't be able to come to Grandma's for Mother's Day, but she wanted to play with Sam again, so we went to Uncle Brian's to hang out. The girls had such a great time playing horsey, coloring, playing with babies and dressing up! It was getting late, but we still had one more person to see~ Greg at his new coffee shop, Cafe Luna on Nashville. So back in the car for a drive Uptown! It was late so we fed Samantha a peanut butter bagel- dinner there, while Daddy and I got coffees for our next long drive back to the northshore.
It was a very busy 2 days, but so awesome to see our close friends that we miss so much!
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| Clint! |
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| ~cousins~ |
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| Hangin' with Uncle Brian |
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| With Greg at Cafe Luna |
Mama had planned to take Sam somewhere special, so we woke up for the first tour at Global Wildlife Center, where we fed all kinds of safari animals like Fallow deer, camels, lamas, buffalo, zebras, and giraffes; Although of 12 giraffes (which is our main reason for going) we only saw 2 and Daddy was luck enough to feed one, who was hurt and a little bloody and that's what Sam talked about most! After our morning tour was over, it was lunch/nap time and time to get ready for Russ, Donna and Kaitlynn to come over for our Mother's Day crawfish boil! Man, they were delicious. We really had our fill! Again, it was awesome to enjoy time with some special people. Samantha loved hanging with them and a cupcake never hurt ;)
Happy Mother's Day!
**pics from GW to come**
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| crawfish! |
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| Driving with Kaitlynn |
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| The Milnes |
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| Sammie art from Grandma Wells! Thank you! |
Driving back to Texas! Samantha was very whiny at first in the car, wanting all kinds of snacks and demands, but we weren't giving in until we made it to The Texas Star to get out for a walk, potty break, pictures and set up the DVD player- The long haul was about to happen! Once her movie pick was on and she had snacks, it was like she disappeared. Thaaank you! We had beautiful weather and a very smooth drive home.
Love to all our NOLA folk! <3
What a busy few days! Glad you where able to see us too. How was the drive back?
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