But Nana . . .

I'm enjoying the time I'm having with my grandson these days. The last couple of months I've been watching him while my daughter works, and it's been so much fun. He's such a little firecracker. At nap time, I prefer him to sleep in our room since our curtains are heavier which makes our room darker in the daylight than the curtains in his room. When he naps in his room it takes a good hour for him to go to sleep with all the playing he does. Lately he's been coming up with excuses not to sleep in my room. This was his excuse today.

Me: "Come on, Jayden, it's time to take a nap."

Jayden: "Nana, I want to sleep uppa da stairs!"

Me: "No, you're sleeping in Nana's room."

Jayden: "But Nana, I don't want to fart in your bed!"

I love that little boy to death. He can fart all he wants in my bed!

Merry Christmas!

This is my first Christmas with my grandson, Jayden. I am beyond excited he and my daughter will be spending it with us this year. I only wish my oldest son can make the trip as well. May be next year.

Three and a half years I’ve waited for this! Decorating the tree, wrapping presents, running around with Jayden getting ready for the holidays. Two weeks ago we decorated our Christmas tree and Jayden was ready to dig in. I opened a box of Nutcracker ornaments and he was ready to hang.

He was so excited over the different colors, the bells, the lights. Such a sweet feeling to see his face light up with joy.


He was even kissing the ornaments before he hung them, then clapping when he finally got it to hang.

He loves Thomas the Train. We found one at the Hallmark store and couldn’t wait to hang it on the tree. I just LOVE his little hands!

He didn’t last very long.

But that’s ok. I got to decorate the tree with Jayden.

This is going to be my best Christmas ever being able to experience the joy and excitement of seeing a little one’s face light up Christmas morning. Camera will be ready, believe me!

Merry Christmas to all of you.

From all of us!

And from Lukas,

And from Nell,

And from Kali.

May the spirit of this Holiday Season brighten your home and your hearts!

Whooooo Dat!

Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?

I love New Orleans and I am a Saints fan. I didn’t become a Saints fan because they were the best playing football team, as a matter of fact, they were lovingly known as the ‘Aints. I became a fan of the Saints when my husband bought season tickets and we went to the first Monday night game held at the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina.

I’ve never been to a professional football game and this was my first time. Not only was I awed at being in the stadium, I was impressed with how the fans loved their Saints. For years, win or lose and lose again, the fans loved their Saints. The energy, the excitement, the love, the passion and the brass bands that walk around and play for the fans in the stand is what I fell in love with.

I also loved the fact that, even if the Saints lost a game time and time again, the fans still celebrated the Saints. I don’t recall any other fan of any other team celebrating their team over a loss. Other fans love the winning aspect. The Saints fans love the Saints, win or lose.

When we moved to Texas in January 2009, we gave up our season tickets. We’re still kicking ourselves in the royal hiney over that decision. Yes, it’s a 5 hour drive to New Orleans from Houston and a well worth 5 hour drive to see the Saints. We’re now on a mission to get those season tickets back.

This past year our Saints kicked some butt. They kicked butt 13 times in a row. I can only imagine the excitement and the energy surrounding New Orleans and wanted to be a part of it. So when the Cowboys were coming to play the Saints, we went. We got up at the crack of dawn and headed to New Orleans, smiling all the way.

Walking around the French Quarter and feeling the hype before the game was priceless.

Cowboy fans were few and far between. I believe most of them were at the Superdome enjoying the festivities being held there.




We stopped by our favorite bar, The Opera House, where our favorite Zydeco band, The Bonoffs, play often. Ray grabbed a picture with the keyboard player, Janson, one of the founders of the band.

Not only do they sound great, they have one of the best washboard players and she kicks butt on that washboard!

If you're ever in New Orleans, please check them out. You won't be disappointed!

There were several Cowboy fans hamming it up with the band and had quite a bit of drink in them. They were enjoying themselves so much that they tipped the band $100.00. And after the 'wife' realized what her husband did, she was upset to say the least.

We stayed about an hour enjoying the Bonoffs and the time was creeping up on us to get to the Superdome. So off we went.

I couldn’t resist stopping for a quick shot with some Cowboy fans.

Getting into the Superdome was a slow process. The last time I saw this many fans was the first game after Katrina. It was massive, fun, and full of happy energy. Inside the Saints were hype also.


And then the Cowgirls come in.

Oh, did I say Cowgirls? Pardon me! I am so sorry! I believe they are called the Cowboys.

Back when we had our season tickets, our fan group was rather boring. Majority of them were there for the food and were constantly getting up and down. I literally felt like I was at the gym and had quite a workout standing and sitting, standing and sitting, standing and sitting. But the section we sat in for the Saints/Cowboy game was awesome. Those fans were there for the game. They could care less about the food. The entire section was one of the happiest bunch of fans I’ve seen. It was fantastic!

The game begins and the energy starts.

The Cowboys played a fantastic game. They played like they needed that win. Hard and strong. And we felt so bad for those Cowboys that we gave them the win. We want them to be in the playoffs. We want to see them get their butts kicked in the playoffs and lose that last hope for the Superbowl. hee hee hee. Sorry Cowboys . . .

So the final score? 24 to 17.

When it was all over and everyone was having a great time – win or lose as always – we all ended up on Bourbon Street to party with all the fans, listen to great music and grab some Beignets and Café au lait at Café Du Monde! MMMmmm good!

We may have lost the game to the Cowboys, but we're heading to Black & Gold Superbowl. I feel it in my bones!

And a HUGE thank you to Judy and Bayton for letting us crash at your place. Your hospitality is forever grateful! We'll be back, guarantee it!

BFFs

I had a wonderful photo shoot over the weekend with 2 girls who are BFFs. It’s great to watch them ham it up for the camera! Each one giving the other encouragement on a pose, or a smile, or a friendly “you look pretty”.



Both 8th graders, Lexi and Hannah are absolutely adorable. Lexi enjoys hanging out with her friends, doing gymnastics, wants to become a Nurse and her favorite colors

Make My Cake! November 13, 2009

Harlem. We visited Harlem last year, and fell in love with a little bakery called Make My Cake. It has the best cupcakes I’ve ever tasted. Today, we were heading in that direction.

Ray and I love to walk when we visit places. We see more that way. We’ll walk for hours until we can’t walk no more. It’s usually me that suggests getting in something with wheels.

I wanted to walk up to Central Park and catch the subway there, instead of the subway right outside our Hotel. We’re on 8th and West 34th Streets, Central Park is along 5th Avenue and begins at Central Park South Street (aka 59th Street). It’s a hike, but I enjoy it.

As you walk around Manhattan, you catch a whiff of roasting Chestnuts. Man, they smell sooo good! We pick up some nuts before we head up to

Statue of Liberty - November 12, 2009

Today Ray and I went to see the Statue of Liberty. Last year we never got around to seeing her and knew we’d be back this year.

It was cool and a light rain from time to time. We jumped on the subway to the New York Harbor at the tip of Manhattan.

Great architect on this subway station.

Once we got out tickets, we headed to our ferry, named the Statue of Liberty. The ferry ride to Liberty Island is about 15 minutes. The view of

The City That Never Sleeps! - November 10-11, 2009

New York. Huge. Crowded. New York.

This was my second trip to New York. Ray and I went last year. He attends a seminar there each November and I follow along. Great way to vacation, for me.

We arrived late afternoon on November 10. We never rent a car in New York. What’s the point? There’s no parking to speak of. And you’d never get anywhere with all the traffic. The choice of transportation around New York City – a yellow cab. And believe me, in a sea of yellow, you’re gonna get one. As we drove to our hotel, I grabbed a few shots of the city viewed from the cab.

We stayed at the New Yorker Hotel on 8th and West 34th streets. A midtown Manhattan Hotel. Has quite the history. It was built in 1929 was considered one of the largest hotels in it’s hey day. The New Yorker is designed in

We're Off to New York

We heading out of here in the morning to New York for 5 days.

I'll be back soon with some cool shots of the Big Apple!

Trick or Treat

Carving pumpkins. For years I've carved pumpkins for my kids. They seemed to enjoy me doing all the dirty work of cleaning them out. And they seemed to enjoy the faces I come up with.

Since they have grown up and left me all alone (except for my youngest who's 22 now, for some reason he hasn't found the front door yet) I still carve pumpkins. I do it every year, and every year I try to make the scarest looking face I can, from scratch. I don't like using those templates you buy in a booklet that comes with your carving equipment you buy at the store. I like to use the ol' knives and gadgets I can find in my drawer. I like to make a couple 'scary' looking

Ellen’s Gift to Jayden and Kylene

What a busy 3 days we had in Los Angeles!

We arrived on Sunday October 25 to Burbank and picked up our rental car that the Ellen Show provided for us, including a GPS and a car seat for Jayden. Checked into the Sheraton Universal Hotel at Universal City, next to Universal Studios.

We spent Sunday evening visiting friends of Kylene and their family out in Lancaster, CA and Jayden played ‘baby football’ with 2-year-old twins and a 3-year old. What fun that was to watch! He had a blast.

Monday morning we headed to Disneyland and spent the day between Disneyland and California

Ellen Degeneres!

Ellen Degeneres is an awesome human being!

My daughter, Kylene, was watching an Ellen Degeneres show about 3 months ago when Ellen announced her Stimulus package giveway. She said if anyone needed money, to email her.

Kylene emailed Ellen. She didn't email her asking for money, instead she emailed her stating "In this economy everyone is in need of money and there are others who need it more than me. All I'd like is do is to be able to take my son to Disneyland. Being a single mother, working 40 hours a week and now getting ready to go to nursing school at night, I hardly have time with my 3 year old son. I've tried several times to save for a vacation with my son, but something always comes up and the trip gets

Plumeria In Bloom

I love orchids. I have 15 of them in my home. I started out with 4 in California and these traveled across the US with me, in a car. Over the years I've added 11 more. They're happy, healthy little characters. I'm always searching for new colors to add.

This past spring while I was out and about buying up all kinds of flowers to add to my courtyard, I discovered Plumeria. I've seen Plumeria in Hawaii and fell in love with them then but forgot all about the wonderful scent they give off until I was stopped in my tracks one afternoon at a Nursery with a cart full of flowers.

I picked up 4 of them and put a few other flowers I had in my cart back. Plumeria has

A Child At Play

I’ve been spending my days with my grandson, Jayden while my daughter works. Spending my days with a 3 year-old can be quite the challenge. It can be filled with so much fun and laughter and Jayden is quite the character.

Jayden, like any other 3-year-old, loves Thomas the Train. He has several, all having different names; Thomas, Percy, James, Gordon, Neville, the list goes on and on. I get scolded when I say the wrong name. “No Nana! That’s not James, that’s Percy!” Ok, Percy it is.

Last week while we were eating breakfast, Jayden says:

“Nana, I need to go to the fun store today!”

“You do? Why?”

“Because I need to play with Thomas.”

The fun store is Toys R Us. At Toys R Us they have a section with Thomas the Train set up on a play table for all 3-year-olds to fight over because there’s only 1 train to play with. I mean, if they’re going to have this table out, they need several

Day Fourteen – Anchorage - September 14, 2009

I wanted to get up and out at the crack of dawn to catch some sunrise shots. Of course, as usual, I’m a little late. That bed felt so good, especially spending 7 nights in a Cruise Ship’s bed! It’s ok, but not like home. When the alarm went off, I did look out the window and saw this.

And was hoping we will be able to see Denali one more time. That would make it 3 times during our trip. We loaded up our car and headed out. Anchorage is approximately 200 miles from Denali. A long, but beautiful drive. We had periods of thick fog then clear skies and it was crisp and fresh

Day Thirteen – A Drive to Fairbanks - September 13, 2009

Sunday morning we woke up around 9:00am, the latest since we left Houston on September 1! I wanted to just lie around all day and do absolutely nothing! I was tired, worn out, beat, and just exhausted! It was raining outside, none of the mountains were visible, so why not!

11:00am, Ray was getting hungry. We looked at the menu of the local Grill. Nothing exciting there, just your basic hamburger joint. We got dressed and headed out searching for something to eat. At the fork in the road, one way leads back to Denali NP, the other to Fairbanks. Knowing there wasn’t much towards Denali, we headed towards Fairbanks. Searched around the little town of

Day Twelve –Denali National Park – September 12, 2009

I have been to several National Parks: Bryce Canyon, Crater Lake, Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Great Smokey Mountains, Joshua Tree, Kings Canyon, Lassen, Redwood National, Sequoia, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion. Each one absolutely gorgeous in its own way. But Denali is the most beautiful by far because of its unspoiled beauty. To drive through a National Park with hundreds of other people enjoying its beauty is one thing, fun, exciting and can be disrupted by voices all around unless you hike deep into the backcountry. Going through a National Park and not seeing another soul, only the vast unspoiled tundra and wildlife, the strange stillness and peacefulness is another. It’s what a National Park should be like. No

Day Eleven –Seward to Anchorage to Denali, NP – September 10, 2009

We pulled to Seward at 3:00am, and our scheduled time to disembark was at 7:00am. We met at our location on the ship, received our transfer tickets for the train, which we took to Anchorage Airport, and headed towards the exit. Once we stepped outside the doorway, it was a beautiful scene.

We walked through customs where bags, upon bags were waiting to load on the train. I hope ours is in there somewhere!

And walked to the train.


On the train we were pretty impressed with the seating area. I’ve never been on a train like this before that I can remember. All open, you can see everything. Our Steward, Mike, was quite the crack up with his story telling