NOLA Girls Weekend

The first weekend in October I had three nights away for a girls trip to New Orleans.  Thanks to Jud for watching the boys by himself for four days - you are such an amazing dad).  My college girlfriends and I try to get together every year and this is the first time since college that all eight of us (me, Maggie, Erin, Taylor, Lindsay, Sarah, Cherie and Kelly) have been able to be there.  We stayed at Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter. It is the perfect location and has a nice rooftop pool and turning carousel bar.  Here we are all stuffed in the small elevator after we arrived.  I took the picture using my go-go-gadget arms.  It's blurry, the color is horrible and I cut Lindsay out, but I love the picture.

The first night we went to a nice dinner at Restaurant August.  It was good, a nice atmosphere and expensive.  I would recommend it, but it's not my favorite.  We took a great picture of all of us but it came out blurry.

On Saturday morning some of us headed to Cafe Du Monde for breakfast.  I'm pretty sure I can't go to New Orleans without going there and getting beignets - so good!

That afternoon we took a culinary bike tour through the city.  It was so much fun especially since we had such great weather.  

We stopped at four different hole-in-the-wall restaurants.  The first was an African place (New Orleans was originally settled by Africans) where we had amazing spinach.

We then headed to have some amazing shrimp and sausage gumbo.

 Parkway Bakery and Tavern was our next stop for the most amazing Roast Beef Poor Boys.  It may have been the best sandwich I've ever had.  It's a must if you are looking for a good NOLA Poor Boy.

 For dessert we went to a great little Italian bakery/gelato place.  Those cannoli's - yum!

That night we were all stuffed from the bike tour so we headed to Frenchman Street and had some apps at a casual hole-in-the-wall place.  We then walked around a little bit and went to this fun outdoor night craft market.  They had some interesting stuff and I loved how it was lit by the draping lights.

Of course we walked back by way of Bourbon Street to get a frozen daiquiri.  I've never seen Bourbon street so busy.  You had to push your way through the crowd just to get anywhere.  We all pretty much decided we were too old for that craziness.

 Sunday we all had appointments at the spa (four in the morning and four in the afternoon).  Kelly, Lindsay, Sarah and I were in the afternoon so we we to brunch a Brennan's.  So good.  Yep, that's our banana's foster in flames.

 Erin, Taylor and Cherie left on Sunday night so we made a quick stop for a send off glass of wine.  It was a pub atmosphere inside, but a quaint little courtyard outside in the back.

 Sunday night, Lindsay, Kelly, Sarah, Maggie and I went to Restaurant R'evolution.  This place was so good, I want to go back to NOLA just take Jud there.  Everything we got was amazing!  From the gumbo and crab beignets to the unbelievable boneless braised short ribs everything was to die for.  I got a trio of ice cream for dessert (red velvet, toasted marshmellow and crunchy peanut butter) that was a perfect ending.  The wine list was top notch and on an iPad and the dessert menu lit up when opened.  If you are going to New Orleans and want to go to a nice dinner, don't go anywhere else but R'evolution!

We had an amazing trip!  We mainly ate and drank our way through the city, but isn't that what you are supposed to do in NOLA?  It was so good to see my girls.  We don't get to see each other enough.  Until next year....

Soccer Time!

Soccer season is here and we are currently in the middle of the season.  These pictures were taken before and during the first game.  We decided to have Miller play on the pre-K level again so he could play with the kids he will be in school with.  Plus, it's nice that they don't practice during the week.  We have a 20 minute practice before our game on Saturdays.  Our team is the Fire Balls.  Here's Miller all ready for the first game.

Miles wanted to be in the picture and of course had to have his own water bottle.

 We had no one step up to coach our team and since Jud was an assistant last year, he decided to just go ahead and coach.  What's one more thing, right?  Here are coach Daddy and Miller ready to play.

 Team huddle before the game.  Jud is so good with all the kids and a great coach! 

 Prayer before the game...love church league!

Miller heading for the goal.  He scored 3 goals in the first game. We keep calling him the red-shirt.

Wedding in Scottsbluff

Over Labor Day weekend we headed to Scottsbluff, Nebraska for Jud's cousin, Dani's, wedding. It was a quick two night trip, but we had so much fun seeing family we don't get to see enough.  The entire side of the Martin family was there.

Here is the bride and groom, Arthur and Dani, at the rehearsal dinner.  They had a BBQ outside in a friends pasture.  It was casual, laid back and super fun for the kids.  All things we like.  

 The second cousins enjoying dinner.  They had fun flying balloons, a huge slide, a merry-go-round and tons of room to run.  Needless to say, all the kiddos went home tired.

 The next day we went swimming at the country club pool.  These two characters had a blast.

 The ceremony was in Dani's parents (Jud's aunt Sue and uncle Jud) backyard.  Again, casual yet elegant.  Dani looked so glamorous.  I think everyone there was crying when she surprised Arthur by bringing his boys over and gave her own vow to them.  So touching.

 The beautiful couple.  Congratulations Dani and Art!

 The Max Martin clan.  This could possibly be Max and Mary's Christmas card.  

 We got a super cute family pic.

 Silly!

 The whole Martin Crew.  

 The reception was at the country club and was a lot of fun.  The kids tore it up on the dance floor.  Check out Miller's moves.

 We all loved the hats they passed out.  Miller and cousin Max - these boys love each other so much!

 My sweet Miller Bug!

Miller is Five!

 Miller turned five on August 28.  He woke up to streamers on his door, gifts on the kitchen table and blueberry muffins.  It was a big day for him as it was his first "real" day of school too.

 We let Miller choose where he wanted to go eat for his birthday dinner and he chose Luby's!  We drove to the Post Oak location, since it's the best, and had a fun family dinner.  Of course he had mac and cheese, Jello and chocolate iced box pie.  I'm convinced this is his favorite restaurant since that's all I ate when I was pregnant with him. 

 Evan and Blake took him to Build-a-Bear for his birthday.  He chose Iron Bear on roller skates.  They had such a fun Saturday afternoon.  

He shares his birthday with Evan and here is their annual birthday picture.

Our sweet big five year old was 3' 10" tall (96%) and 48 lbs (89%) at his five year check-up.  I look at him every day and think how did he get so big.  He is still a lover, but pushes the limits.  He loves school, but is a typical five year old boy and has trouble keeping his hands and feet to himself.  His is a trickster and is always trying to be funny.  He's great at soccer and loves being outside, but could watch TV and movies all day long if given the chance.  He is a true blessing and we love him so very much!

Miller's First Days for Pre-K II

Once again, sorry I'm so far behind.  My goal this week is to catch up at least a little.

Miller's first day of Pre-K II was August 27.  He is going to Wildcat Way, a district Pre-K only school for kids whose elementary schools do not have Pre-K.  Even though it's public school, Pre-K is not state mandated so it's not free.

The first day of school was meet the teacher and see the classroom day.  I got to go with him and do the same.  We were there less than two hours.  Miller was super excited to go to "big school".

 Here he is sitting at a table in his class.

 His teacher is Ms. Denise (on the right) and his assistant is Ms. Jacqueline.

 The second day of school was his first "real" day of school.  It was also his birthday (next post).  I walked him into school since we brought cupcakes for the class.  Here he is sitting outside his classroom waiting for his friends to get to school.

 Two days later he started riding the bus, yes the bus.  They do have a teacher on the bus along with the bus driver so that helps this worried mom.  He loves it.  He rides it to school every morning.  When Jud can, he walks him down to the bus stop at 7:50 so I can stay home with Miles.  Then he rides the bus home on Monday and Tuesday afternoons.  He usually gets home around 2:40.  I pick him up from school the rest of the week right after I pick up Miles at 2:00.  We have pretty good little schedule going.

When did he grow up and get so independent?

Summer in Durango, Part 2

Since we were in Durango for a month, Jud worked a lot while we were there and then flew back home to work for almost a week.  From there he went to Keystone for a guys trip with his college frat brothers.  They went river rafting, hiked up 14,000 feet and had a great time just hanging out and being dudes.  Jud is so blessed to have these amazing guys in his life.

While Jud was gone we had lots of fun.  We took the boys on several small hikes right by the house.  This is a cool tee-pee made out of trees just across the street at the park.

Miller even went to Camp Glacier several days.  Camp Glacier is a day camp for kids where they do all sorts of fun things (hike, crafts, games, swim, etc.).  He also went to hit golf balls with JoJo.  Here he is with his new set of clubs he got as an early birthday present.  He gave his old ones to Miles.

The boys enjoying the weather at the park across the street.  Miles loves to wear a hat, but likes to wear it with it pulled down almost over his eyes.

Once Jud got back from his "vacation from vacation", we had almost a week to do some more fun things.  We went down to the Animas River one day and Jud practiced (that means he didn't catch anything) his fly fishing while the boys and I played at the really fun park right on the river.  

 Watching daddy fish.

 Playing the "music pipes" at the park.

 Checking out the train engine they have on display.

 We all went out and watched JoJo and Jud play golf one morning.  The boys love to ride in the cart and get out when we get to the green and hit a few.

 Poser.

We went down to the base of the mountain one more day and the boys did all sorts of fun stuff.  Miller climbed the rock wall.  It was his first time to rock climb and he loved it.  I'm guessing we are going to have to make some time to climb at Lifetime in the future.

 We had been trying to talk Miller into doing the bungee trampoline for about a year.  He just didn't want to do it until Miles said he wanted to do it (the only requirement is that you are 30 pounds).  Miller then decided he wanted to do it and go first.  He got so high and loved every minute.

 Here's our adventurous child that had just turned two getting ready to "bounce".  

 He kept saying, "Bounce.  Higher, higher."

Then we did a few more runs on the Alpine Slide.  Miller and Jud were riding down together and I riding with Miles when all of a sudden we were no longer racing.  Miller and Jud had fallen off their sled and Miller hit the track hard with his head and elbow.  He had a goose egg the size of a golf ball on his forehead.  We had the immediate care take a look at him and he seemed fine.  He was so brave, but wouldn't let us take a picture of the bump because he didn't want to see it.  It did take over two weeks for it to go completely down.

 He rallied when we went "mining" for rocks and gems after lunch.

Here are all the rocks/gems we got.

We are so blessed that we were able to spend such a long time in beautiful Colorado.  Hopefully it will be an every summer thing.  It's going to be such a fun place for the boys to spend time.  We head back after Christmas for 10 days and we can't wait to see Miller ski again!