New Orleans 2014

We always try and get to New Orleans at least one time during the summer b/c the girls (and Mark and I ) really love visiting the city.  This summer we decided to do the French Market and the WWII museum.  Mark and I had been to the museum several times, but the girls had never been before.  It is an amazing place, and there were several new things there that Mark and I had never seen before.

Waiting for the street car down to the French Market:

On the streetcar:

Emma and her beer (root beer, of course) as we wait for our lunch:

Outside the French Market with our loot:

Me and my Bean in Canal Place:

The whole family, minus me, decided to get tatted up this trip with some airbrush tattoos.  Emma got the Chinese symbol for Brave, Katie for Dance and Mark got a Buzz:

We also walked through the new Riverwalk which has been completely redone as an outlet mall, and it is very nice.  We didn't do a lot of shopping ,but we did have to get some beignets for our afternoon snack.

Funny story about our room, we got to the hotel around lunch time on Monday, and so the room wasn't ready yet, so we stored our bags and headed out to the French Market.... when we headed back to the room around 4:30, the room still wasn't ready so they upgraded us to the 2 bedroom suite!  It was huge, and we all had a bed to ourselves - ha ha!  This never happens, so this picture shows how we had a kitchenette and everything for this one night stay.  Could have used all this space on a longer stay.

Cute little streetcar bench on our way to eat Monday night:

Standing outside Mannings getting ready to eat dinner:

We sat in the recliners at the front of Mannings.  It was so not busy on a Monday night, so we had our choice of seats.  It was crazy comfortable, but unfortunately they had the Tour de France on to watch - not exactly our cup of tea on a giant screen!

 Our view of the Warehouse district outside our hotel room:

Another view of our giant hotel room:

 The second day we headed to the D Day (WWII) museum.  Mark and I love this place, and I think the girls are getting old enough to appreciate some of these places.  We did get to meet a few veterans, and hear from a man who worked on making the Higgins boats used on D Day.

One exhibit that was new for Mark and I was the "train ride".  You sit in part of a train, and watch a short movie about people leaving for the War.  The train actually vibrates and shakes a little to simulate the ride.  Not exactly Disney, but pretty darn cool:

Katie posing for a War poster:

  Enjoying some of the exhibits:

After touring the museum, we ate a quick lunch at the Soda Shop on the museum grounds.  I had a great grilled pimento cheese sandwich.  Will have to visit again soon b/c they have many other exhibits opening in the next year or so.  Au revoir Nouvelle Orleans!

4th of July festivities

For the Fourth of July this year, Mark and I decided to have some family and friends over for a small gathering.  We even bought a   fancy kiddie pool (like the kind with a filter but only about 2 feet deep) for the little ones.  It ended up being kind of nice weather and we had a great time.

My patriotic cupcakes:

Yummy oreo truffles:

Katie and Emma with the Williams girls, Avery and Morgan:

Katie with Paw paw and Juju:

Emma with the grands too:

Katie and I's non cellular selfie:

Nannie Kim and Katie:

Nannie Kim, Katie and Mr. Richard:

The Weimer girls love their Ultra:

Emma in the fancy resort style pool:

Jovi sits amongst the coaches' discussion:

Aunt Denise even drove down from North La:

Late night swim to watch all the neighbors' fireworks:

I was trying to get a picture of the girls in the pool with some fireworks in the background, but it didn't quite work, oh well!

Trip to Plano to visit Nannie Jane

After Emma's Girl Scout Camp, the girls and I headed to Plano for the long weekend to see Nannie Jane and the Amersons.  It was a great trip.  The drive was long but uneventful and the girls did great.  We had a little rain on the way home, but not too much.  We can't wait to go back sometime soon.

At the Texas state line:

Most of the pictures I took were from our trip to the Perot Science Museum.  For this biology teacher it was an amazing place.  We literally spent an entire day there, including our lunch break!  Here are our photos:

Waiting to board the train to Dallas:

Acting like big city girls:

And... not so much!  (Nice Jazz hands Nannie Jane:

Arriving at the Museum playing with the cool instruments outdoors:

My girls and I outside the museum:

Nannie Jane, Katie, Emma and Emily:

Posing with the giant frogs:

One of the cool sections in the museum was the dinosaur section where Emma and Emily got to "dig for fossils:

The cool sports section where Nannie Jane and Emily tried out their tennis expertise:

And Katie also tested her reflexes:

A view of the city as we went up the escalator:

Lots and lots of amazing dinosaur displays:

We stopped for a lunch break in the cafe' there and Emma got a giant rice krispie treat:

My favorite section was the life science section that including information on cells, anatomy and evolution - AMAZING!

Emma and Emily play around with all of the discovery type exhibits:

Best section of the entire museum (in my opinion) was the biology lab part.  We actually got to do some real microscope experiment.  Katie and I made slides of her cheek cells and Emma and Emily tested cleaners and their effectiveness on germs.  Super cool!

My little scientists:

Katie swabbing for her cheek cells:

testing their variables:

Katie's cells:

Thugging science:

How cute are we?

Two more cuties!

Water cycle display in the weather section:

Emily and Emma do the weather:

So the next morning, Nannie Jane had to play tennis so the girls and I had to make the required trip to the American Girl store.  I think we are slowly outgrowing the American Girls, but the place is too cool.  Even Katie and I still enjoy it.  We just made a quick trip, got Emily's hair done (one of Emma's many dolls), and then we had a quick drink at the cafe there.  Lots of fun here too.

Posing outside the store with "Emily"

Emma waits for Emily to get her hair done:

Having a coffee and some drinks while we wait for Emily to finish her "spa treatment":