Following the wedding festivities, Kendal and I headed down to New Orleans (sans three kids - thank you GanGan and Big Daddy!) for Jazz Fest. Neither of us has made the trip down for the fest since college so we were excited to get back to town. We met some of our best friends for lunch at a south Louisiana favorite, Middendorf's, then headed for a tour of the Abita Brewery. Unfortunately, we missed the tour due to traffic detours (I was not a happy camper - sorry about that, Kendal!) but still got to walk around a bit and Mary E "won" an Abita game (see above). Then, on to New Orleans!
First, we hung out in the Pat O's Courtyard. We then had dinner at Irene's, a fantastic restaurant in the French Quarter. We then got to visit with Kacie Ali, one of my favorite friends from LSU, and her husband Zee. They live in the Quarter and we got a great visit in with them and enjoyed the sights off their balcony - heaven! We later walked around the Quarter a bit and introduced Conner and Mary Elizabeth to Lucky Dogs - alas, they were not impressed!
Saturday, we had brunch at Brennan's, then chilled for a while in the Quarter before heading uptown to walk around Tulane and around the Carrollton area. We walked over to Magazine for dinner at Franky and Johnny's - boudin balls, oyster po-boys, a secret sauce that was out of this world - loved every bite. We capped the night off with the Old Crow Medicine Show at the House of Blues. Halfway through the show they welcomed one of my favorite actors to the stage as a surprise guest - Ed Helms from The Office. I screamed like it was the Jonas Brothers and am still excited! This was followed by a trip to The Rusty Nail (owned by one of Kendal's good friends) and burgers and waffles at the Clover Grill.
Saturday, we got to enjoy a little Galactic and Pearl Jam during Jazz Fest. As luck would have it, a group of my best guy friends from high school were in town and we were able to take advantage of their spot and enjoy the music. Ben, Kelly and Carl are all living in North Carolina now with their wives and kids so we don's see each other often, but what a perfect surprise! In all a great weekend with friends we could not be more grateful for!
The summer has taken up so much of our time - thank goodness! - that blogging has fallen to the back burner. I probably have hundreds of pictures that need posting, but let's start with just a few from some of our more simple summer days.
We just spent an absolutely fabulous week in Wimberely, Texas, with Kendal's family on the annual Land Clan Road Trip Vol. 8 (I just named it such while typing this blog). The Texas Hill Country - seriously, is there anywhere more beautiful?! I took a million photos - and with a new lens to boot - and don't have the energy to post them all tonight. So, I thought I would post some pics of the twin mania we experienced last week!
Evie with Morgan (and GanGan)
Elliot's dad, my cousin Morgan, has always been like a brother to me so it's doubly special to see Evie bond with Elliot! Now, we just needed Amelia to make the pic complete!
Our sweet baby Evie Claire is growing up too quickly! She just hit the seven-month mark and is Miss Curious! She can sit up for longer and longer periods and can even lean over and grab toys while sitting on her mat. Really, she can grab just about anything, anytime, anywhere. She's quick, she's strong and she wants it all! Miss Evie is also quite the roly-poly and can get around a room pretty quick by rolling where she wants to go. She still loves to be held, though she is getting a little more wiggly each day.
Evie loves to eat! She took to baby food like a champ and has never looked back. Her favorites are the mixed fruits with granola, especially banana-peach. She absolutely loves cold yogurt so we're keeping the "Yo Baby!" folks in business for sure. She is even learning to eat the "Mum-Mum" rice treats the twins loved so much. I'm trying to make it to the one-year mark on nursing and it's gotten much easier now that she's eating so well. Yay, Evie!
"Why, yes, all moments are just like this one..."
"So happy to be at Kamper Park!"
"Seriously... this is all there is to cooking?!"
"Just another calm moment with Papa."
Following the wedding festivities, Kendal and I headed down to New Orleans (sans three kids - thank you GanGan and Big Daddy!) for Jazz Fest. Neither of us has made the trip down for the fest since college so we were excited to get back to town. We met some of our best friends for lunch at a south Louisiana favorite, Middendorf's, then headed for a tour of the Abita Brewery. Unfortunately, we missed the tour due to traffic detours (I was not a happy camper - sorry about that, Kendal!) but still got to walk around a bit and Mary E "won" an Abita game (see above). Then, on to New Orleans!
First, we hung out in the Pat O's Courtyard. We then had dinner at Irene's, a fantastic restaurant in the French Quarter. We then got to visit with Kacie Ali, one of my favorite friends from LSU, and her husband Zee. They live in the Quarter and we got a great visit in with them and enjoyed the sights off their balcony - heaven! We later walked around the Quarter a bit and introduced Conner and Mary Elizabeth to Lucky Dogs - alas, they were not impressed!
