Friday, Alvin had his parents over for his mom's birthday. He said that Kevin and Kristin and the kids came too. It's sounds like they all had a great time. Saturday morning, Alvin took Owen to his last soccer game. Since it was his last one, the parents got to play with the kids. I know Owen loved that! After the game each player was given a trophy, their pictures, and a cookie. Even though Owen wasn't too fond of soccer at the beginning, he did end up enjoying it. Now we get to move on to basketball...in a few months. Sunday, after church, my mom watched Avari, while Alvin, Owen, and my dad went to the toy farm machinery show at the Dubois County 4-H Fairgrounds. Just like every other year, Owen came back with a toy. This year he got another big red tractor and a little sprayer. Avari was got a toy...a little orange tractor. :)
Owen receiving his trophy and pictures
Like I said above, I was in New Orleans this weekend for my cousin's wedding. That is one CRAZY place!! It is also very beautiful! We stayed in the French Quarter, so we were surrounded by beautiful old buildings. We walked everywhere, except to the wedding ceremony and reception, so we got to see a lot of the French Quarter. We also saw the Mississippi River, a Hare Krishna group singing and parading down the street, street artists and their amazing works of art, and the many little shops they have.
April and I flew out of Louisville Friday afternoon. When we got to New Orleans, Margie and Steve (April's parents) picked us up. Steve dropped us girls off at the hotel, so we could change, while he parked the car...by parking the car, I mean he drove down 8 blocks and parked it behind the Astor Crowne Hotel, where everyone else was staying...yes, that was the closest parking spots (unless you wanted to be parked in). So, we changed, grabbed something to eat, and met Steve, and Tony and Vicky, and Butch and Cheryl at their hotel room. That was an experience in itself. Well, we actually didn't meet them in their room, as Steve had to come and get us from the lobby because we got lost in the hotel. :) In our defense, it had two elevators, 13 floors, and the info board didn't have any room numbers on it. Long story short, we took the wrong elevator, tried to go back down, but it wouldn't take us to the 1st floor, so we got off at the 2nd floor, walked down the stairs to the 1st floor, and found out the door was locked. Our only other options were to go outside and around to the front, or walk through the McDonalds that was attached...we chose McDonalds. By the time we got back to the lobby, Steve had called asking where we were, and met us down there, and led us to the room. Once we ate, we all went down to Bourbon Street. We went walked down the street, caught some beads (no we didn't have to flash anyone :-D), and went into a couple of bars, before walking back to the hotel.
Bourbon Street
Saturday morning/afternoon Steve, Margie, April, and I walked down Canal Street to the Market Square, where there were many little shops, street artists and their amazing artwork, and more beautiful buildings. On our way, we passed a Hare Krishna group that was singing and parading down the street. We also went up to the Mississippi River. We went into the St. Louis Cathedral, which is beautiful, inside and outside. We also went on a carriage ride around the Square, where we saw more the the awesome buildings, and more of the different shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, we must have gotten on the wrong carriage because my aunt. Vicki, went on one the went past some areas that were hit by Hurricane Katrina, and Nicholas Cage's and Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie's houses...which would have been awesome to see...maybe next time!! :)
All the buildings are SOO pretty!!
The beautiful St. Louis Cathedral
facing the altar
facing the choir loft
We headed to Jeremy and Heidi's wedding ceremony later that afternoon. They got married at the St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral, which is another beautiful building. Their reception followed at the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel. They are a beautiful ceremony, and a fun reception. Heidi looked gorgeous , and Jeremy looked very handsome. I was interested to see how a New Orleans wedding compared to a Southern Indiana wedding. They are actually pretty similar. A few of differences were that they had the wedding kiss right after their vows (caught me off guard, so no good picture), they had the bride/groom dance, father/daughter dance. and mother/son dance soon as they arrived at the reception, and no wedding party dance. They also only had a Best Man speech, no Maid of Honor speech (lucky girl ;-) ). Also, instead of one or two buffet lines, they had a table set up in each of the four corners, with different types of food on it. April and I said that we would try some of everything, as long as it didn't look too gross. Everything we tried was good, but after finding out what was in some of the food we tried, we decided not to find out what was in everything. :)
Inside the cathedral
Jeremy waiting to see Heidi walk up the aisle
Here comes the bride!
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Hartings!!
~The pretty cake~
~Their First Dance~
Yes, that is mashed potatoes in a martini glass!!
They put the mashed potatoes in it, and you added the toppings!
Me, April, and Brooke (Jeremy's sister)
The bride and her bridesmaids wearing the masks that Cheryl bought for them.
April and me on the balcony at the reception (the cigar bar)
The reception ended at 9:30, but continued onto Bourbon Street. Everyone went to their hotel rooms to change, and whoever wanted to go along, met back down in the lobby. It was a fun, but very late night!!
Dueling pianos at Howl at the Moon Bar
The bride riding the bull at the Bourbon Cowboy.
Heidi did really good!
The groom's turn.
Jeremy stayed on for quite a while.
Sunday morning, after about three hours of sleep, and a very fun-filled weekend, we headed to the airport. New Orleans is definitely a beautiful place, but as I said above, it is a crazy place. April and I think they have a whole different set of rules down there, then we do. For instance, you can take a drink out of a bar (in a cup only), but you can't take it into another bar. There seems to be no such thing as public intoxication because people were going past cops, barely able to stand, and nothing happened to them. I have also never seen as many butts and boobs, in my entire life!! It didn't help that practically every other business on Bourbon Street was a strip club, which we were told happened after Hurricane Katrina came through. Also, people apparently never sleep in that city, as people were still partying at 6:00 in the morning. Even with all this, I can't wait to go back, and see more of the place. April and I said that we wanted to try some of the local food while we were there, and we managed to do that as well. We tried Cajun chicken, a muffaletta, jambalaya, gumbo, and beignets, and they were all very good.
The Super Dome!
When I got home Sunday evening, I met the rest of the family at my parents' house for supper. While I had a great time in New Orleans, it was great to be back home with the family.
Monday, Avari decided it would be fun to walk around in her mud boots. She was actually doing it completely naked, but I made her put underwear on, so I could take a picture. Unfortunately, this is the best one I got. :)
Sorry for the long post, but I didn't want to leave anything out. :)
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