Every Little Penny

For the past year and a half, we have been saving our spare change in a big jug for our next vacation. I should say that mostly Jim has been doing this as he is about the only one who carries any kind of cash and I mainly use the debit card for everything. He also would throw in dollar bills every now and then and even a $20 bill went in there.

Today was the day to cash it all into real money for our Disney trip. And the total that it came up to was over $275!!! That will be our mad money to be spent ... well madly. I even told Jack that he could have $5 each day we were in the parks to spend on whatever he wanted, which made him go get his little play wallet he has to put the money in. Of course I had to tell him he couldn't actually get the money until we got to Disney and of course, that prompted the "Buuuuttttt Mmmmmooooommmmm" complaint.

I also bought a book all about Disneyworld with all kinds of pictures. We have been studying this book like it is something sacred in this house. He will go and get the book and crawl up into my lap and we have to again go through the whole book talking about all the different rides, shows, and things to do. And I am just savoring every minute of this because I really believe that Disney at the age of four is just about the most magical thing in the world. I can not wait to see it all through his eyes.

The Week, Family, New Orleans, Plantations, Alone Time!

This has been a whirlwind few days. It started off with going to visit Aunt Ann, Uncle Bill and Grammy on the fourth. Of course, as you can see, Jack loved being there and so did Laura.

We got back home on Friday when Jim and I left for our weekend alone in New Orleans. We had a great time being all by ourselves for the first time in almost four years! I didn't even miss Jack all that much, but I have to admit that today I was happy to get home to see him. And from what I hear, he didn't have any problem with me being gone either. Not bad because that was the longest time that I had ever been away from him ever, so I think we did pretty good.

Of course Aunt Ann spoiled the kids rotten as is her way :). I did hear of one time when they decided to go to Krispy Kreme at 7:30 at night and load the boy up with sugar. HA! That will teach her. From what I hear he was bouncing off the walls for hours. Now she knows what we go through when she brings gummy worms and proceeds to give the boy the entire bag and then up and leaves us with the resulting consequence. HA! She has lived through the boy on a major sugar high now. It ain't pretty.

Making flag cookies with Aunt Ann and Sissy.

Grammy C. and Jack enjoying a chair together.

There is a nest in the corner of Aunt Ann's porch with three little baby birdies. So cute.

Mama Birdie feeding her babies.

All-American Fourth of July kids.

The kids had a blast in Aunt Ann and Uncle Bill's pool. In fact, Laura even went swimming when it was pouring down rain. She's a fish, I tell ya.

On Saturday, we went driving on River Road where the river plantations are located near New Orleans. There are absolutely beautiful and stunning plantations along the Mississippi River dating back to the early 1800's. The first one we went to was the Laura Plantation, which was run mainly by the women in the family for generations, the last being Laura, hence the name Laura Plantation. Of course, we had to buy Laura a t-shirt from there.

The front of Laura Plantation, which was a creole style plantation. I learned that the creole or French people decorated their houses in the bright colors while the American plantations were all white. I thought the history and the tour was fascinating.

We then went down the road to Oak Alley Plantation pictured above. This place was beyond breathtaking. Named after the 28 oaks that were lined up in front of the house. The oak trees were actually planted in the early 1700's, over a 100 years before the house was built.

The trees were gigantic and beautiful. Here you can see that at one point the giant tree limbs actually grew down to the ground and started to grow back up. Very beautiful trees.

View of the oak alley from the front porch.

We had a fun time in New Orleans. On Friday night we walked around the French Quarter, had a few drinks and dinner and just loved being childless. On Saturday, we spent the day touring plantations and then went out to Antoine's for dinner. Very nice and it was fun to dress up for dinner for a change. But the party animals that we are, we were back in the room and asleep by 10:00 that night. Yes, it is a fact that we are old!

We stayed in a fabulous little bed and breakfast, The Chimes. I highly recommend it for anybody who might find themselves in New Orleans.

Anyway, that is my last few days. Now it is back to normal stuff.

By Ourselves!

I Can Not Believe It! (as in the words of Quincy from Little Einsteins). Jim and I are going to get a weekend away by ourselves. As in no boy. As in just us. Nobody else. The two of us. For two whole days. Ya'll this is exciting. Big Big News. Because you see, we have not had a vacation by ourselves together in over four years! Big News I tell ya!

In three weeks, we are going to New Orleans for the weekend. Aunt Ann and Uncle "Bailey" and Grammy C. are all coming down to watch the boy and the girl while we go gallavanting to The Big Easy. Did I tell you it was by ourselves? We are staying in a Bed and Breakfast in the Garden District. We get to sleep in if we want! We get to go places and do things without having to worry about a whiney three-year-old! We get to drink! For two days. This is the first time that I will be away from Jack for that long. I don't think that I have ever been away from him for more than 8 hours in his entire life. But I figure with his Aunt, Uncle, Grammy, and Sissy, he should be fine without me for that long.

Of course, I know that on Sunday, I will be racing back home so that I can hug that whiney three-year-old! But until then, I plan to have some fun with his father! :)

Weekend Fun ... Monday Sickies

On Saturday we took a little excursion to Dauphin Island, Alabama that is right off the coast of Mobile. It was very pretty over there and we had a fun time. It was also fun looking at all the houses where the rich people get to live right on the water. But then there is the threat of hurricanes and such, so I think I will keep my 8 mile inland house, thank you very much. But it was a fun day.

Jack and Daddy playing on a boat on the island.

We went to the little aquarium on the island. Jack enjoyed looking at the fishies.

Pretty picture of the island and the bridge connecting the island to the mainland.


It was a bit chilly that day with the wind whipping around.

Because this is the south and the civil war is still very much alive around here, there is a huge civil war fort on the island. And also because my husband is THE biggest history freak ever, we had to go see the fort. Actually, I have to admit, that it was pretty interesting, despite my lack of enthusiasm.

Daddy and Jack by the cool cannon.

This was a neat tunnel going inside the fort.

But then yesterday, Jack came down with some yicky crud of some sort. He has been fighting a fever all day today and it has spiked up to 103 at times. He also has a bad cough. So no school for him today. He got to stay home and lay on the couch and watch Thomas videos over and over. I know he is sick because he is very content to just lay on the couch and not do anything. Nothing like what he normally is like. I hope it gets better in the next couple of days because he was VERY disappointed to miss school today. Hopefully he can get back to school on Wednesday. We shall see.

More Pictures ... Chef Mickeys (the day he got high on sugar)

Laura and Mickey looking cute together.

Jack did not like the characters at all. Here he is trying to concentrate on the spoon in his mouth so he can forget that there is a giant rat dressed in a dress behind him.


He was less than pleased when a giant chipmunk walked up to him.

And when the giant rat walked up to him to say hello, well let's just say Jack did NOT like it.

Laura looking cute as she always does.

He sorta warmed up to Minnie by the end to the extent that he wasn't wanting to run away. His tactic was one of ignoring and maybe she will go away.

Family Reunion Pics ... Part 2

I don't know what is going on with blogger, but it won't let me post more than 7 pics at a time before it stops. So here is the part 2 of the family reunion.

Jack and Daddy Go Fishing

Another pic of the boy and his batman car.

And More Pictures ... The Family Reunion

The boy in his batman car that Grammy bought him. And yes, he was spoiled rotten with all the attention.


Grammy's gorgeous property.


Grammy C making ice cream and yes it was yummy.



Bill Bailey on his famous grill. The amount of food there could have literally fed an entire army! Seriously! And it seemed like all we did was eat and eat and eat some more and then after that - We Ate again!


Some of the teenage cousins. As you noticed, there were no pictures of Laura. That was because we saw her all of 10 minutes while we were there. She spent all of her time with her cousins.

More Pictures - The Horses

Uncles Bill and Dan have a very nice home near Gulfport where they have a lot of acres with 5 horses. Uncle Dan was very nice to let the kids ride the horses. Thanks Uncle Dan! I have a feeling that we are going to be spending more time there with the horses after we move!

I love this picture. I will have to get this one framed.

Our little cowboy wearing Daddy's hat. He kept saying "riding horsie!"

Laura getting riding lessons from Uncle Dan. Doesn't she look good up there?

Uncle Dan and his horses.

More Pictures - Kansas

Our good friends JR & Robin abandoned us here in California a couple of years ago to buy a hotel in Kansas and run it. So we had to make a little detour to Kansas to see them and their hotel. As usual they were very gracious hosts even though we showed up a day earlier than they expected us (sorry guys). They own the Lakeway Hotel in Meade Kansas which is a beautiful old hotel. It was fun hearing their ghost stories about the ghosts that live in the hotel. Not only do they run the hotel, but they also run the restaurant in the hotel and do all the cooking, cleaning and everything. I just can not imagine the work involved. But it was very nice to see them again and hope to see them again soon.

JR & Robin

The kids slept well in the room. Despite the ghosts.

Our room in the Lakeway. Very nice.