The Big Easy Ya'll...And then Some!

So the once a week blogging thing didn't happen but two posts in a month is a record for 2014! Baby steps!

Since my last entry, a few quick pic recaps.

Grace started t-ball. She loves it!

Charlotte isn't quite old enough yet but she thinks she is!

Grace and Charlotte had their ballet recital. They are almost unrecognizable with their hair! They were so cute all dolled up and Charlotte loved everything about it - especially the makeup! Grace wanted nothing to do with the fru-fru.

We had a father's day celebration celebrating Court's dad post-recital but I didn't take any pictures. The following day, we drove to Boise, for another father's day celebration. I didn't take any pictures of the fathers, but I did catch some great shots of a very important uncle!







This was taken about two minutes before Grace tripped and almost face planted into a tree. Tears ensued. So did wine. Probably why I didn't get too many pictures of the evening! We had a fabulous dinner - all of us together. The only thing missing was Molly and Kevin. The next morning, we all felt like how Charlotte looked upon wakeup!



Then it was off to Sun Valley for a few more days of family fun!

Cousins! All wearing swimsuits with mermaid tail coverups that I made because they all LOVE swimming and mine especially are enthralled with mermaids!!

After just two quick sleeps it was back to Boise for the last night before an adult only trip to New Orleans! Yes, that's right! Court and I were able to sneak away for a few days without the girls! We've been looking forward to a getaway for a long, long, looong time! All the pieces of the puzzle finally came together.

Well almost.

Our flight through Minneapolis on our way to NOLA was delayed - by several hours due to severe storms - so we in turn missed our connecting flight to the Big Easy. Our first night was spent in Minneapolis, quickly putting together hotel and dinner reservations - not to mention re-booking flights - all on our little phones. Yes, it was one less night in New Orleans but it was an adventure and it all worked out BEAUTIFULLY!

We hit up three bars in one night under one roof! We didn't have to go outside at all which was great because of the storm!

We also managed to get a last minute reservation because of a cancellation at the best steakhouse in the city - Manny's! It was like we were meant to be there!

The next day we made it to our intended destination! This was my first time in the south - other than Texas - and it was delicious! We ate nothing but good food and wine. NOTHING!

Of course, we walked Bourbon street. You see the pictures - like these…

but nothing prepares you. Bourbon street is like nothing else. It's crowded and dirty. Seedy and energizing. Music of every kind and it puts any other people-watching-place on Earth to shame! Honestly, it is probably nothing I need to do again at this point in my life, (I wonder how I would have felt about it ten years ago?) - but soo glad we did it! Now I know what to prepare myself for when Grace and Charlotte go there someday.

The next day we had a much calmer walk through the French Quarter. We did as much browsing and walking as one can do when both the temperature and the humidity rise into the 90s. I did manage to find a Christmas store open for business on the first official day of summer! Boom!

My first time seeing the Mississippi!

Then, it was off to eat more food on our last night without the kids.

Not sure Grace and Charlotte would have enjoyed this guy on their plates. 

I am not experienced with eating crawfish and to any true southerners in the restaurant watching me  eating this, I am sure I was quite entertaining. 

Another first - beignets. Everyone kept talking them up so much! I mean what's not to love? Fried dough with powder sugar heaped on top. Sounds like my kind of treat! After my crawfish dinner, we raced across town to Cafe du Monde - THE place for beignets. And folks, I have to be honest. I did NOT enjoy the beignets. In fact, I think I had two bites and called it quits. Perhaps, it was the ambiance. Think gigantic tourist trap. Perhaps it was the end-of-the-trip-blues. Perhaps, it was the amazing desserts I'd had the two nights prior. 

Um yeah. Might've been this that ruined the beignets for me! hahah

Court stayed on for a few more days for a meeting while I flew home (flights all on time! Phew!) to get the girls! Oh it was so great to see them! It really felt like they had grown so much in just three short sleeps! I don't know how anyone leaves theirs kids for more than a few days. Not only do you miss them, but at this age, they seem to change overnight!

Speaking of changes, Grandma and Auntie Molly took the girls to a "real" salon for a day of beauty (aka much needed haircuts)!

It is so great sneaking away. Court and I much prefer to bring the girls with us an spend time together as a family. Traveling without the girls is bittersweet, but returning home to happy girls makes it sooo much easier! Thank you Mom, Dad, Molly and Johnny-roo! You all pitched in to make those three days a success! Now onto the vacation from the "vacation"…I wish!

Hey Baby Let's Go to Vegas!

That's the song they opened the show up to!

Hey, baby let's go to Vegas.

Kiss the single life good bye!

Awesome!

They fooled us because as the music started there was a silhouette of them up on stage so you thought the screen was going to lift and there they'd be.

(BTW Faith's silhouette looks EXACTLY like Barbie's. Except maybe in one area.)

So as I am anxiously waiting for the screen to lift, they entered from the rear (it was a small venue - 1,800 people) and then walked down the aisles to get on stage! Court must have gotten word about this because he cleverly sat me on the aisle where I got to shake both Faith and Tim's hands!

Side note: I absolutely love seeing celebrities in real life! I don't know why. This last time in Sun Valley I saw Cameron Diaz, Christy Turlington (a for real super model!!) and Edward Burns.

(She has braces ya'll and he is a skinny man! A little too skinny if you ask me. I've seen him 3 times before this (never this close) and he's never been this skinny.)

Anyway, the show lasted for an hour and a half and they sang almost the entire time. They stopped to talk only once or twice and they just seem like lovely people. I knew every word to every song so I was  THAT annoying fan. 

Even though it was the second show of the evening, Faith looked a little nervous at first...like she had a little stage fright. It was endearing. Tim, in my opinion, has never looked so comfortable on stage, even in a tight fitting three piece suit. He is funny and seems down to earth. He told us how his dad drove 18 wheelers and that is where he heard and learned about music. (His biological father was Tug McGraw - the baseball player - as we all know.)

(Crazy how he looks like a demon from the dark side without that hat, no?)

Someone in the audience had a sign saying she was from his hometown. After one of his songs, he called her up to the stage. He squatted down and talked to her for awhile and kept doing something to his guitar - but we couldn't see what he was doing.

Turns out, he was autographing his guitar and gave it to the woman in the audience who of course started screaming in excitement! That was cool!

Faith, on the other hand, grew up Baptist in Mississippi. So her first memories of music were at church and of gospel. To which she started belting out gospel tunes - a cappella - like she was Aretha Franklin. 

It was breathtaking. She lacks his stage presence but I am telling you, she. can. sing. 

In fact, I don't think a lot of her songs demonstrate really how good she can sing but to me. It literally blows my mind.

As long as Tim and Faith perform, I will always want to go and see them. 

While the show wasn't exactly what I was expecting - I thought it would be more of them singing together and bantering with the audience and maybe a bit more rowdy after all it was set in Las Vegas - it was a great show and I am so glad we got to go!  

We had our picture taken before the show. Other than that, I really didn't take any pictures while we were in Vegas! 

I did take this picture of their stage before the show but they told us not to take pictures of any kind during the performance. The rule follower that I am followed orders from headquarters - while all around me, people were firing off their camera phones. I REALLY should have broken the rules!

And I did consider purchasing these Tim and Faith Barbie dolls from the gift shop...for our Barbie lover Grace, of course - but at $100 I couldn't justify pulling the trigger!

(See I do have some self-control!)

Meanwhile, Grace and Charlotte were in Boise with my parents. Charlotte was as good as gold and would talk and talk on the phone about all the fun she was having. Grace, on the other hand, came down with a NASTY cold and cried - to put it mildly - a lot. 

She missed me and she made that known. Every phone call was filled with sobs.

I sent my mom some pictures so that Grace could be assured that I was indeed still alive and hopefully put her mind at ease.

But looking at the photos now, good God! I can see why the poor thing was in hiccuping sobs for two days! 

I sent her pictures of scary mommy!

But the two days went by fast, like-click-your-heels-and-your-home-fast and we were home before we knew it!

Back to reality.

Back to a sick kid and another on the way.

Back to two sicks kids and Mommy close behind.

Back to two sick kids and two sick parents!

I really should have slept more in Vegas!!

Speaking of not sleeping, we finally watched the latest James Bond movie in our hotel room.

I LOVED Casino Royale. Thought it was the best Bond movie of all time. The second Bond movie with Daniel Craig as Bond was horrible. Probably the worst Bond movie of all time. So I was very excited about Skyfall because it had gotten SOOOOO much praise.

I thought it absolutely stunk! Anyone else agree?