Easter 2014

This year Easter was interesting because we had so many options on how to celebrate.  New Orleans is the most Catholic city I have ever lived in, and there are churches everywhere.  Even though I didn't feel much like walking, we tried to see as much as we could.

On Good Friday, we went towards Tulane and Loyola Universities.  We had lunch at a Salvadoran restaurant, and Tiago was very happy to eat pupusas, beans and rice.  Jaime got a fish fillet that was coated in tomatoes and garlic, which is always a good combination.  From the restaurant, we walked down the street to Mater Dolorosa church just to check it out.  It was too early for the service, but we had read that lots of people make it a point on Good Friday to do the stations of the cross, praying each station in a different church.  We were definitely not up for that (neither was our 3-year-old), but we wanted to see some churches.  That one is beautiful. 

After Mater Dolorosa, we drove a few blocks over to the campus of Loyola University, which also has a beautiful church.  We hung out there, lit a few candles (because I do that every chance I get), and then decided to head to a Good Friday service at St. Clement of Rome.  After the service, they were planning to do the Way of the Cross through the surrounding neighborhood, but I couldn't do all the walking that would require, so we headed to the park to let Tiago burn off some excess energy, since he slept through a good part of the church service.  We did the Way of the Cross the last 2 years in Long Beach, and always enjoyed it.  Maybe next year...

On Saturday, we decided to check out the Audubon Zoo.  Tiago and I had a family pass, and wanted to take Jaime, who had never been.  It is a nice zoo, and we enjoyed just wandering around and seeing what there was to see.  Tiago decided his favorites are now the giraffes and the jaguars.  My favorite is the swamp exhibit, which has nutria - and also features recipes for cooking nutria on the information panels.  It just cracks me up every time.  No recipes for cooking any other animals in the zoo...

On Easter Sunday, we needed to try another new church, so we drove downtown to Immaculate Conception.  It's a beautiful church, and Tiago did very well to sit through mass not in the cry room.  We were proud of how he behaved, but it's amazing how much work it takes to get him through the service quietly.  He was just not born a quiet child.  After the service, we knew there would be a parade, so we got a snack and waited for the parade to start.  I didn't know what to expect, since the parade started near the intersection of Bourbon and Canal Streets.  But nothing says "Jesus is Risen" like beads and booze...

The parade turned out to be nice, but odd.  There were maybe 15 floats, and they did indeed throw beads, small stuffed animals, chocolate rabbits, and the random flower.  There were some people on the floats in their Sunday best, and some other groups also.  Tiago seemed to enjoy himself, and as we were walking by, someone on a float threw him a stuffed penguin and hit him in the head, which was the highlight for him.  The last parade he went to he wore his bike helmet, and I think next year we will do that.  Jaime had a drink and held Tiago on his shoulders, so overall it was pretty fun.  Just a VERY different Easter experience. 

 Tiago had a great vantage point to watch the parade.

 Marching band.

 The first of several random float pictures.

The corner of Bourbon and Canal.  Because where else would you be on Easter Sunday?

New Year in NOLA

We have been living in Louisiana now for almost 6 months, and are getting settled into a new life here.  Jaime is very busy with work, and definitely enjoying the new job and the new company.  The good thing about having a job is that it works you into a routine and a local network very quickly.  Some of us are taking a bit longer to reset.  :)

Tiago has been in school three days each week at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton since mid-August.  He loves it - the uniforms have eagles embroidered on them which he thinks is great.  Every morning at drop off he will let me take off his jacket, then he races in to see his friends and play.  I was never certain if we would do public or private school for our children since I went to Catholic school and Jaime went to public school, but in New Orleans, it was an easy decision.  Everyone we talked to, and everyone we have met with kids in school pays for private school.  The public schools are that bad.  In our area, the people who teach at the public school also send their kids to private school.  To me, that speaks volumes.  We have tons of Catholic elementary school alternatives, which is nice.  But what a strange situation.  Since his current school is so far from our house - 30 minute drive one way - we are looking for an alternative for the next school year.  We have looked at several good ones, and need to make a decision, which is more difficult than I thought it would be.  But we have a few more weeks until the registration opens, so we will have it all figured out by then.

T in his uniform, with the Houston Dynamo hat that he loves.

 

A few weeks ago, we took a Saturday and went over to Baton Rouge to look around since we have not done much exploring here in Louisiana. 

 The drive was interesting - people live so close to the water here.

 

 Pelicans.

 

We didn't stop here, but did think about it.

 

 The state capitol building.

 

 They had green space around the capitol, so we made let Tiago run for a while.

 

 View from the observation deck.

 

 View of the Mississippi River.

 

 Another view of the River.

 

 Tiago loves the penny presses.

 

 State Christmas Tree.

 

 I can't remember what this building was previously, but it's now a museum.

 

Art near the library.

 

So it was a nice day trip.  We have so much more to see, and soon plan to go east on I-10 to get to some new states.  I think we are about 30 minutes from the Mississippi state line, and I plan to take a long weekend sometime and spend it on the beach of the Florida Panhandle.  Not sure when, but we definitely want to avoid Spring Breakers!



2013 Summary

Just so I can feel like we captured our year here, I will try to sum up 2013 here and have a clean slate going forward in 2014. 

• We started the year living in a condo in Long Beach, California (this becomes relevant later on).
• In February we traveled to Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. 
• Also in February, Tiago turned 2.
• March was quiet, no trips or major events.
• In April, we spent a weekend in San Diego.  Tiago and I also traveled to Walla Walla, Washington to attend my grandfather's funeral.
• In May, we spent a long weekend in Northern California, a short weekend in Las Vegas visiting some family, and had my parents come visit for a weekend. 
• In June we traveled to Seattle/Vancouver, Jaime's mom came to visit for a weekend, and Tiago and I went to Disney with some good friends who were visiting from Texas. 
• In late June we put our condo on the market.
• In July, we packed up and left California.  Jaime and Tiago flew to Amarillo, I drove from LA to Amarillo, Jaime flew back to California to be there when the movers packed us up, Jaime started a new job in New Orleans mid-month, and by the end of the month we were all living in a rental house in New Orleans.

 Our last 4th of July parade in Long Beach.

 

 The parade always ends with games at the park.

 

 Tiago loved spending time in the pool at the condo - and also enjoyed the recycling boxes.

 

 We miss Glenda, Tiago's favorite babysitter!

 

 My drive from California to Amarillo.  Looked mostly like this.

 

Not a great picture, but note the temperature.  My car did great, but I was a little nervous.

I stopped at one point and the "breeze" felt like a hair dryer.



• Tiago and I spent a few weeks in Amarillo mid-move.

 Snoozing in the blue chair with Jack.

 

 Pumping water at the Museum with Gram.

 

 Riding the saddle at the Museum.

 

The Donut Stop.  It's the best.

• In August we house-hunted in the New Orleans area, traveled to Illinois to attend a wedding, and had Jaime's parents come visit twice.

 We had a huge backyard in the rental house.  Tiago loved it.

 

 Exploring a new park - found a rabbit!

 

 At the wedding in Illinois.  Beautiful setting!

 

It was a really beautiful wedding, we were so happy we could be there!

• In September, we closed on a house and moved in, Tiago started school, and my Mom came to visit for a weekend.

 The moving truck!

 

 A fraction of all the stuff we own...

 

 Just for fun.  One of us loved the "treasure hunt" that is moving.

 

Also for fun.  I have no idea what was happening here.

• In October we spent most of our time settling into the house, trying to empty boxes and fixing things on the house that needed work.

 T was not into Halloween costumes.  But was willing to wear a hardhat...

 

 And some kitty ears, but only at home.

 

Smiley kid.

• In November, we spent one weekend and Thanksgiving week in Houston visiting friends and family.
• In December, we spent about a week in Amarillo with my family for Christmas.

 Decorating the Christmas tree.  A HUGE hit this year.

 

 He loved it, which is why it is still up on January 10.

 

 Our first day in Amarillo we got to see several inches of snow!

 

 Jack reading stories to two little rascals.

 

 One week after the snow, it was 60-degrees so we went hiking in the canyon.

 

 The day was beautiful, and Tiago enjoyed the walk.

 

Hungry Hungry Hippos was a big hit with the under-4 set.

Sorry for the photo dump.  I would like to do so many posts, but if I'm being realistic, it's probably never going to happen.  But at least we captured a summary!  Hoping to do more in 2014.

It's interesting to see the year summarized like this.  No wonder it felt like the 2013 went by so fast!  We loved the time we spent living in California (almost exactly 2 years for Tiago and I) and miss it more than I ever thought we would.  New Orleans is a different world, and I hope to document some of the differences here.  It is more different from Texas than Long Beach was, definitely.  And the weather is nowhere near as good.  But we do feel much closer to "home" and are getting settled in.  It is great having a real house for the first time.

Now in early January, King cakes are showing up for sale everywhere, and we are interested to watch Mardi Gras from the perspective of a local.  I think we may find it to be just a pain in the ... neck ... but we will see!

Quarterly Update

It's been a while since we put anything up here, but I have a good excuse...I promise!

But I'll start with the update, and a few pictures.

In March, we must not have done anything, because I don't have anything written in my calendar.  I am sure it was a good month, but that's all I can say about March.

In April we were busier and better documented; Jaime spent a week in San Diego doing the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People training.  He took the train down, and spent the week there.  On Friday Tiago and I drove down to meet up with him and spend the night there.  We found Jaime, and went to the Seaport Village where we grabbed dinner and enjoyed the views of the ocean.  T had just learned to say "pool" and he spent a while pointing out at the water and telling us that it was the pool.  We had a hotel room booked, and just like the last time we spent the night in San Diego, T declined to sleep.  It was a long night, but we survived.  The next morning, we went to Old Town San Diego to check it out, and walked the streets, saw the sights, let T play on one of the buses and generally just enjoyed the morning.  We met up with one of Jaime's cousins for lunch, then we headed back to Long Beach.

 Ice cream in Shoreline Village.  We might get a cow chair for the house.

 When we called this place a park, T asked if there were swings.

Things for sale.

Thinking about getting one of these for our house - he stopped at EVERY one we passed.

Tiago was very interested in the mariachi guitar player.

The next week we got busy.  Jaime headed to Texas for a funeral and a job interview (more about that later), and I was prepared for a slow week at home with T.  But then I got a phone call that my Grandpa John had passed away up in Walla Walla, WA.  I wanted to try to attend the funeral, so I tried to put together a travel plan that would be manageable for me and a 2-year-old.  Fortunately, I was able to find two tickets into Walla Walla, with a three hour layover in Seattle.  I checked it out, and discovered that they have an AMAZING play area at SEA-TAC.  It was so perfect for those three hours, and made the trip really pretty amazing.  Also, the connecting flight from Seattle to Walla Walla offered free beer and wine, so that was also a good thing for Tiago's Mama.  Tiago was also happy because we were able to take the shuttle van to LAX and the train through the Seattle airport.  He's such a kid for transportation!

We got to Walla Walla, my Dad picked us up, and we found the rest of the family.  Funerals are always difficult, and the silver lining was getting to see the family.  It was interesting to watch T interact with my aunts, uncles and cousins.  He definitely attached to several people, especially my Dad.  Every morning when he woke up in our hotel room, he would ask me about Jack and Anne.  It was sweet.

That was a difficult trip, but I've never been there in the spring time, and it was completely beautiful.  My grandparents are buried near several dogwood trees which were in bloom while we were there.  And the Blue Mountains are a spectacular backdrop.  I apologize for the lack of photos, I either didn't take any, or can't find the right memory card.  Really need to sort photos, download them and organize...maybe someday.

So Tiago and I traveled home to LAX.  I was afraid that we might have delays as this was that time when the air traffic controllers were making their presence felt during the sequestration and flights all over the country were delayed.  Fortunately, we had no issued and finally got back together with Jaime.

I'll have to continue the update later, this is longer than I expected!