radionoggin

Listening to....

They made me happy today with an early release.
Now the car ride to Safford will be a bit more tolerable.

Lil Skater Boy

Once There Was a Christmas

I promise we did celebrate this holiday. We went to Safford to spend Christmas Eve with my family. We opened presents at my parents house before going to my Aunt Lisa's for a delicious dinner. Christmas is so much fun now that there are kids to enjoy it with.

Afton was spoiled, as were Nippon and I.

My parents gave Afton a tricycle. He looks so cute on it!
He finally mastered the pedaling and goes all over the house, though he still needs to get the steering down. Practice, practice!

My niece received this pony. You can feed it, brush it, sit on it, ect. and it responds.


This is the kids reaction to Scott bringing it in.


Adyson loved it.

Afton, not so much.

NOLA

Back in December we flew to New Orleans with Nippon's parents to help his sister move back to AZ. She just finished getting her masters at Tulane. Congrats Sushriya!!!
Here are some pics of the fun we had.

We had just walked back from Cafe du Monde, finished eating our beignets, and were waiting to take a cruise up the Ol' Miss.

We took the Steamboat Natchez up the Mississippi. This is the last authentic steamboat on the river. They take you up the river pass a lot of industrial parts of New Orleans and give a little history on the area. They also let you tour the engine room which was interesting and all steampunkish. Before we set sail a guy entertained us by playing a steam-powered calliope. How cool is that!?

Domino sugar refinery.

Industry or Mars?

Sriya took us on a tour of the Tulane School of Public Health.

The Bloody Marys in that town are da best! They are spicy and have okra, green beans, and green olives to garnish. They had me at okra.

We also went on a Cajun Encounters swamp tour. Afton liked the gator until Sra tried to feed him to it. Actually, he didn't mind that part either.

They said that it was very unlikely that we would see an alligator since the weather was chilly. Guess who spotted one though!?!? Yup, ME! Here is a shot of the little guy. Can you see him?

These herons were pretty much the only wildlife we saw (other than the baby gator).
That's okay, they are beautiful.




The Big Easy was more than fabulous. We made it to Bourbon Street (forgot to take pictures) and had some drinks. Hurricanes of course! Maybe that's why I forgot to take pictures. Nippon had to go back the next night and get something called a Grenade because there was an airplane flying around advertising them. He didn't want to miss out. The food was outstanding. I can't decide if Deanie's, Drago's, or Mulate's was my favorite. It must be a tie. Oh, and we also went to the Audubon Insectarium where we ate chocolate covered grasshoppers, scared Afton with a hissing cockroach, and wandered through an Asian inspired butterfly garden.

Can't wait to go back!