Meet Me in Metairie

We spent Father's Day weekend down in New Orleans (my second time there). Boy was it HOT!

We came for this little guy's baptism. Roy is his Godfather.

The Church was built in the 1960's - my favorite decade for design.

This yummy cake was made by the Godmother.

Craft beer selection for the new "Paran." I think he liked ROGUE the best (Daddy's Little Helper).

Our trip was short but we squeezed in some sightseeing. Here, the Spanish moss on the oak trees at City Park.

Louisiana wildlife.

Mama and cutie pie. He is such a good baby.

Strange but interesting displays in the park.

Nice beads!

Louisiana wildlife?

Rodrique recently passed away. His blue dog paintings are famous.

Roy's sister Christina and brother-n-law George got married at this very spot, the Pavilion of the Two Sisters, back in October 2010. George is from New Orleans.

Very lush.

The French Market in the French Quarter.

If you've never been to New Orleans you must go someday. It is a beautiful, charming place - although it might be better known for its debauchery and excessive drinking (some call it a problem, some call it a gift). I can't wait to go back again!

Puttin' on the Lutz

Here are a few skating clips from freestyle last night. The ice was empty after 5:30 which was nice because you don't have to worry about running into other skaters but it felt strange being on the ice all by lonesome. I ran through a little bit of everything and by the time I got the camera out I was beat. I'm still struggling with the Lutz. It is scary. I bail out mid-jump most times and it is not a pleasant feeling. I'm able to land on my feet but I'm usually in a piked position.  Here's one of me biting the ice. I have a good bruise on the inside of my left knee.




Here's one I landed. My leg is bent on the toe in which is not good.




My salchow jump has improved as of late. Salchow jumps are fun once you get the hang of it. If you jump off the edge at just the right moment it catapults you off the ice. Loop jumps do that too (both are called edge jumps). Here's my salchow - it wasn't that high, but I'm working on it.




Starting a weekly group class tonight to work on stroking, turns, and other skills that need fine tuning. I really need to stretch more.

It's the Big Blog Bonanza Issue!

A lot has been going on here in Wormy Burg. Here's big blog bonanza of what's been going on the last couple months (in no particular order).

Pond Cleaning 

Springtime means clean time and after a dreary, cold, wet, and pretty much disgusting winter our pond was one of our top priorities for a good scrubbing.  Pond cleaning includes filling large trash bins with new water, transferring the fish to a holdover bin, and sump pumping out the old water while scrubbing algae off rocks and such. It's pretty gross. We helped Roy's parents clean their pond, too.

Taken from the 2nd floor apartment above our place after we cleaned it.

A closeup shot. We didn't lose any fish this year during the cleanup thank goodness. Our tap water is so chlorinated it smells like pool water and we have to add something to get rid of it for the fish. One year we lost quite a few fish so we try to prevent that from happening again.

Here's a before shot of Roy's parents' pond. Green and icky. Ours pretty much looked the same.

After cleaning. Their pond is so big they have to get water trucked in to fill it back up.

The lily pads got destroyed by the power washer. A few small fish unfortunately perished due to overheating in the holdover kiddie pool. There are over 100 fish (we counted).

Our pond gets a few rare toady visitors but the Smith pond has many frogs. Here's one of the locals.

____________________________________

Kickball 365

So awhile back I mentioned we quit the pool team, but we never really quit. We're still active on the team and we're in second to last place this session so it's been a bit of a drag. To change things up a bit Roy joined a kickball league. The league is run by Kickball 365 and they have leagues around the country. He's in a co-ed division and they play on Thursday nights. It's competitive but social, they actually have umps and the games stats are recorded, but you'll see people (mostly guys) drinking beer while they play and dressed in costumes or skimpy outfits (keep your eye on the balls!), too. The first couple of weeks got rained out but once the weather got nicer things got rolling.

This is kickball. Games start at 6, 7, 8 or 9 pm and last about an hour.

Kickballers go downtown afterwards to re-hydrate.

Rich and Roy of the Harrisburg Hot Pockets.

Roy plays third base. Their team is really good and they made the playoffs! As of right now they are in the top four. Tomorrow they'll play the semi-final game and if they win, the final game. Go Pockets!

____________________________________

Tchotchke Convention

In May Roy and I along with a few co-workers went to AC for a promotional products trade show. I've been working in this industry for 11 years now and though I have been to a few of these it's nice to get out of the office every once in awhile. I would like to go to the Vegas show one year. It's held in January and it's supposed to be humongous. The only truly memorable thing at this show in AC was one of the booth models. She was so tan she reminded me of Magda from There's Something About Mary. All the sales guys over 70 were loving it. I wish I had a picture.

____________________________________

Smittiesburg

Last November Roy closed on a 3-unit up the street from our house. Yesterday he closed on another 3-unit down the street (all are on our block). Everyone is joking that he's buying up the block but seriously, he is! Here's a photo of the "FOR SALE" sign of the one he just picked up. The photo is taken from the front of our house so you can see how close it is. There are two front units, similar to our place (top and bottom apartments) and there is one smaller detached unit in the back that needs fixed up. We're hoping my 76-year old aunt moves in back there so she can be closer to us, but we'll see if it meets her high standards.  

____________________________________

Almost Summer

Well, it's that time of year again! School is out for the kiddos. My cousins are headed to Korea this time for a few weeks then onto Indonesia again. We are taking them to the airport hotel tonight for their early flight tomorrow. On Friday we'll be off to NOLA for our nephew Cade's baptism. Can't wait to see this little guy (and get some drive-thru daiquiris)! 

____________________________________

And that's the end of this Big Blog Bonanza issue.  What's in store for your summer?