Family Time in New Orleans

Last weekend, my sister and I took mom with us for a visit to see Lauren and the babies in New Orleans before she had to go back to work.  Let me just say, thank you all for enjoying and liking my family.  It sure makes it easy for me to share this personal family stuff on my blog when you all respond so well to it.  I don’t want to bore anyone with family pictures and all, but you all seem to enjoy it so I’ll keep on sharing.  It’s such a part of my life that I love sharing those baby girls.  They are precious to us! I wouldn’t know how to blog any other way than to share the personal sides of my life too.  I know there are many blogs that are very produced and professional and scripted to look a certain way, but I just have to continue to be me and blog the way that is comfortable for me.

It was a pretty fast trip and we were there for 4 nights, but tried to pack in as much family time as we could.  Lauren and Philip have a pool in the backyard and that comes in handy. Because, sultry summer weather in Louisiana.  The water felt like bath water but was still refreshing.  Parker is becoming a little water baby and loves the pool. They added a fence outside the back door with a gate and lock and she can’t get through, for extra protection on the pool, which is a good thing.  She doesn’t have a lot of fear in the water yet and they are teaching her how to swim. She took swim lessons last summer and will continue with them this year too.  She’s a mess!

She will jump in all the way and getting her face wet doesn’t bother her a bit.

Here she is with her Daddy jumping in the pool.

Cute baby Iris is doing well too and growing a lot.  She’s about 3 months old now and starting to coo and really pay attention to who is holding her.  She’s smiling like crazy too. So fun to see babies grow and get to know the family.

We were getting ready to go out for the day and I dressed Iris and Renee gave Parker some pigtails.  She calls them ponies and loves to wear ponies in her hair.  Parker is talking up a storm and is already a really good communicator at almost 2 1/2.  We laugh at her all the time and you never know what she is going to say.

Here’s a normal conversation with her mama:

Parker:  “Mum, what do you got to do today?” Lauren told her she had to take her for a haircut and then go to the bank and library. Parker said “that’s easy”, then said “I tired”.  She’s a hoot!

We were so glad mom came with us too and got plenty of baby holding in with Iris.  It’s so sweet seeing them together.  Iris is a good baby most of the time.  It’s so sweet that she is named after mom, the original Iris.

Lauren dearly loves my mom’s homemade meals and mom took her plenty of veggies from the garden and a box of tomatoes.  She cooked up 2 great meals while we were down there and Lauren was in heaven.

Parker, being her cute self.  She has quite the shoe and clothes wardrobe, thanks to both her grandmothers, on her mom and dad’s side.

On Saturday, we all headed to City Park. They live not far from here and it’s a great park for kids and adults as well.  There are ducks to feed and lots of playground equipment.  It was a hot day but we enjoyed the playground for about an hour.

I just love the big oak trees down here, hanging with Spanish moss.  It’s so coastal and Southern.

Lauren, Mom and baby Iris taking a break on a bench.

Parker got in plenty of swinging time too.  She loves the swings!

And so do I!  My inner little girl had fun swinging again, something I’ve always enjoyed since I was a kid.  I used to swing as high as I possibly could.

City Park has some pretty pavilions around that get used for events, I think.  Love the architecture.

Some of those old oaks are heavy hanging with limbs laying on the ground. I’m sure they are very old.

Parker loves to see the ducks and her other grandmother takes her out here often to feed them.

They are just roaming around, not a care in the world and are used to being fed, so aren’t afraid of people.

Lots of wildlife in the pond, like these sunning turtles. We also saw a nutria, which I didn’t know what that was until Philip explained to me that they are pests that are on the kill list.  They look like big giant rats with long tails, I should have gotten a pic of one that came out on the shore.

Lots of pretty birds and ducks hanging out by the pond.

I can never go to New Orleans without getting beignets, so we went to Morning Call there at City Park and indulged in those and an iced coffee.  So yummy!  I love these pillowy clouds of deliciousness, covered in powdered sugar.

At home, more mom and baby time. We all got a chance to hold baby Iris and snuggle with her.  Parker is doing fine being a big sister and likes to hug and kiss Iris.

One night, we went out to dinner at one of their favorite restaurants nearby, The Blue Crab. It sits right on the water of Lake Pontchartrain.  I have had this dish before so got it again, a wedge salad with grilled shrimp. It was as good as it looks!

Parker loves looking out the window.

It’s always a beautiful view out here on the canal with lots of big boats and gorgeous sunsets over the water.

So peaceful and pretty.

The Blue Crab isn’t fancy, but there are always lots of folks there.

We did a lot of this too, watching TV and just hanging out.  A couple of nights we watched the Olympic try outs for women’s gymnastics.  Parker even likes it too, since she takes “nastics” now.  She was into it!

On Sunday after church we went to breakfast/brunch at English Turn golf and country club, where Philip’s dad is a member.  We had planned to go with them, but they were out of town longer than they had planned, so we had to go without them. It’s a beautiful place out there.

So Southern and stately.

There’s the cutest swing under the trees out front that says “When You Wish Upon a Star” and Parker usually swings in it, so of course I had to take her picture.  The seat is lopsided now, Lauren said it didn’t used to be like that. Doesn’t she look adorable?

Lauren and Philip finally got some sun control up in their windows so it was nice to have that in place.  They had to spend some bucks on it, but it’s nice to not have the sun streaming in late afternoon.  Their 2 story house is nice, but lets in a lot of light. See that box at the top?  The shades are motorized and slowly descend down the windows all the way to the bottom. There’s a remote on the wall and they can stop them at any point as they are coming down.  Lauren had some new drapes sewed to accent the windows too, 4 of them on both sets of long windows, the others to the right.

And here are the shades coming down. Really helps to block out that bright sunshine in the afternoon.  The former owners had never done anything about those windows before and we don’t know how they lived there that long with the sun coming in. Isn’t that a pretty backyard?  They’ve been working on their house, mixing her style and his style and they hired a decorator in New Orleans to help them mesh styles.  It’s still coming together, so maybe one day I’ll get to do a real photo shoot and show the changes.  Someone asked me about that on Instagram and I said with 2 babies, it’s really not photo ready right now. That’s the truth!

Another treat I love to enjoy are Snoballs in New Orleans.  They are known for this sweet treat and it wasn’t until 2 years ago that I had my first one.  Now I’m hooked!  There are tons of flavors and you can get condensed milk added as an extra. What’s not to like about that? I got White Chocolate Macademia with condensed milk.  They are so cheap and yummy!  It’s finely shaved ice with intense flavoring added.

One more pic of mom and baby Iris.  She does a lot of sleeping, such a sweet baby.

Aunt Rhodie got her time in too, holding sweet baby Iris.

So, that’s a wrap up of our time in New Orleans this time around.  We didn’t get to do a lot of exciting things like I’ve done in the past, but it was a family time of just relaxing and hanging out.  We left Dad at home, he does not like to travel long distances anymore, but he tells mom to go on without him. We are glad she did!  It was a sweet time of memories!

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