Louisiana trip 2010

We left for Louisiana on March 25th with the whole van loaded to the gills.

From Louisiana trip

Nana sat next to Colin & we put the big boys together in the back. Cries of "Mommy, are we there yet?" co-mingled with "Mommy, he's touching me!!" really took us back to our childhoods. Overall, it wasn't too bad of a drive, except for the fact that toting a 24 pound sack of potatoes for 2 weeks and a 12-hour car trip combined to throw Nana's back out & she hobbled the whole time we were home :(

On Sunday, we took off for Slidell to see Scott's side of the family. Kristy brought their 3 kiddos over, so the boys got to spend the day with their cousins. Maw-maw Lin's and Paw-paw Bip's neighbors across the street have inexplicably put an alligator statue in their front yard. Needless to say, the kids loved it & ran over there to climb on it and take a ton of pictures:

From Louisiana trip

The boys got to spend a lot of time in the hot-tub (one of the things they GREATLY look forward to when we head to Slidell!):

From Louisiana trip

From Louisiana trip

From Louisiana trip

From Louisiana trip

We took a trip to the Audubon Zoo over in New Orleans & all three boys LOVED seeing all the animals:

From Louisiana trip

From Louisiana trip

The albino tiger and the lions were a big highlight! They were being very lazy in the sun:

From Louisiana trip

From Louisiana trip

And, we got to see a Mama Orangutan with her baby:

From Louisiana trip

She came out with the baby clinging to her and then, the daddy came out & took the baby. They were just like proud parents, trying to show him off! It was amazing & the boys loved watching.

Aunt Laura even got to come and meet us. Here's a quick picture of her and her look-alike:

From Louisiana trip

The boys just had a great time piddling around the backyard, doing yardwork with Paw-paw Bip and playing baseball. William was so proud that he got to help Paw-paw Bip water all his plants:

From Louisiana trip

From Louisiana trip

And, here is Daniel, patiently waiting for William, Scott, and Mr. Bill to come home from the store. They'd promised the boys that they could get in the hot tub when they got up from their naps & Daniel refused to get off of his perch until they got home:

From Louisiana trip

On Wednesday, it was back to Eunice for the remainder of the trip.

Nana gets to stay

Grandpa Sam had to go back to Louisiana on Monday, but Nana got to stay for the next 10 days! The boys were so excited to have her & it definitely made MY life easier. Nana took great delight in feeding the baby, playing board games with and reading books to William and Daniel, and entertaining the kids when they woke up early. We seriously thought about holding her hostage, but figured Grandpa Sam would figure out where to find her.

From March 2010

We took the boys to Monkey Joe's:

From March 2010

And, Colin got to run around in the baby area for the first time:

From March 2010

From March 2010

From March 2010

From March 2010

Nana also shared her "music" with Daniel. Think the boys want iPods now!

From March 2010

From March 2010

Overall, it was a great visit and we were very sad to have to return her to Louisiana!

No kids in Tampa!

A very good friend of ours got married in Tampa March 11--he's also William's godfather--and Scott & I were lucky enough to get to go since it was a "no kid" event. My parents fortunately were able to come in on Wednesday & stay with the kids for us and we were "Leeeeeavin' on a jet plane" by Friday morning. Wish I could've said we didn't know when we'd be back again, but Sunday morning, not-so-bright & early (and I do mean EARLY!), we boarded another jet plane. We decided to save a bundle & take the red eye back out since we'd be up all night anyway. Seemed like a great idea until we realized that not only was it the weekend of the spring time change, but we are now OLD & staying up all night is much harder than it used to be! But, we made it safe & sound & all 3 kids apparently behaved like little angels while we were gone. If only they'd behave like that when we're HOME! Anyway, we forgot to bring a camera with us to Tampa (what happens in Tampa, stays in Tampa!), but Nana & Grandpa Sam sure took a bunch of kiddo pics while we were gone.

There were lots of neighborhood walks:

From March 2010

From March 2010

Visits to neighborhood parks:

From March 2010

Playing in the backyard:

From March 2010

From March 2010

And, just random cuteness:

From March 2010

From March 2010

Colin answering the question, "How big is Colin?"

From March 2010

"SOOOOO big!!"

Colin's favorite pasttimes

Colin has taken to crawling after his two big brothers as fast as his little legs and arms will carry him. When we leave the basement door open, he sits by the gate & "calls" them (sounds like "Daaaaa-Daaaaa") in a very emphatic voice. After a while, they come running to play with him from the other side of the gate. Grand fun for all!!

From Colin pics

From Colin pics

He also pulls up on my windowsill and stares longingly out while the big ones run around the backyard. You can almost hear him thinking, "Man, I can't wait until I'm big enough for that!"

From Colin pics

From Colin pics

And, his latest & greatest trick is to crawl through anything that remotely resembles a tunnel. We find him up on the bottom ledges of all of my end tables, he squeezes through the narrow spaces between all of my furniture, and he LOVES to crawl under his exersaucer. This video is a bit long, but if you have a couple of minutes, there is some cute footage near the end of him blowing "kisses".

From Colin videos