The Big Easy

Dave and I took a weekend trip to New Orleans. It was great - what a beautiful and interesting city. We had some delicious food there too. Our second night we had dinner at Antoines, and now I understand why my neighbor from Baton Rouge says that people in Houston don't know how to make gumbo. This is definitely a place for repeat visits.

mmmmmm . . . Caramel!

This picture turned out blurry, but I still like it. Everyone's eating my instant caramel popcorn, which is a family favorite. I've never made a bowl that's not completely devoured in under five minutes. Heres the recipe:

Make 8+ cups of plain popcorn (I use an air-popper that I got at a garage sale for $1, a million years ago.) In a small saucepan, melt together 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup dark corn syrup. Bring this to a slow boil, then cook and stir for two minutes. Pour the mixture over the popcorn, in a large plastic bowl that has a lid. Stir it up, then shake the bowl vigorously with the lid on, until all the popcorn is coated. Eat right away, but watch out, it's hot. I have no idea how well this stuff keeps, because we've never had any left.

Birthday breakfast

Because of everyone's busy schedules, we had a birthday breakfast for Mary Lou, with fruit salad and a coffee cake. Maddie, Mary Lou and I declined to be in the pictures, since it was the first thing in the morning.

The invitation

We've discovered there are a lot of traditions surrounding Homecoming weekend here in Texas. This is the invitation that Maddie got to the dance (I think Wes had more than a little help from his Mom and big sister putting it together.) We've also gotten a garter for Wes - it's this huge ribbon flower thing that goes around the arm, with all sorts of stuff attached to it. The kids wear them on the Friday of homecoming. The girls get mums (also huge ribbon flower things that are pinned on). At Maddie's school there's a tradition of wearing overalls that Friday, probably so that the huge mum has something sturdy to be attached to. We've obtained those and are almost ready for the big weekend.

Marking time

Maddie is in the marching band at her new high school. This is a picture of the March Off - the drum majors barked out orders and the kids followed. If they made a mistake, they stepped off the field.

Thespians

My kids and my friends Laura's kids spent two of their weeks this summer at a local Theater Arts Daycamp. During the camp, they got to create their own play, with some guidance and help from the camp leader. Their play was called "Medieval People" - the plot was a little murky, but there were some great sword fighting scenes. Before the night of the play, we took them all eat at Johnny Rockets. Luckily that place is very loud already, because they were just as rambunctious as they appear in the top picture.

You can see a video of the play here - it's a little long so I'm just linking it in.

Down the Slide

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The swim school that we enrolled Ellie and Sam in this summer is nothing short of amazing. Four weeks ago, Sammy was terrified of the water - we could barely coax him onto the steps of our community pool. Now he's a regular fish, jumping in and paddling around. Ellie has made just as much progress. Dave said that we couldn't have a pool in our backyard until everyone could swim, so I'm keeping everyone in lessons until they are swimmers.

Splashway

My friend Laura and I played hookie from work and took our kids to Splashway in Sheridan, TX. It's a great water park for families - not very big or crowded.

Magic Time Machine

After a day in the sun, we went to dinner at The Magic Time Machine. Harry Potter was our waiter, and we also met Hermione Granger, Jack Sparrow and Daphne from Scooby Doo. The food was so/so, but the atmosphere was great.

Sea World

We finally got a break from the rain, so while Maddie was in Dallas visiting her friend Sarah, we spent the weekend in San Antonio. Ellie and Sam have been taking swim lessons this summer, so we had a blast at the Lost Lagoon water park inside Sea World, floating around the Lazy River and playing in the wave pool.

Money Changers

On a slow Saturday, Dave likes to pull out his big plastic jar of quarter, nickels and dimes. When they were done stacking the coins, Ben added it up. It was a lot of money.

Belt Test

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Ben and Sammy tested for their yellow belts. I love their Tae Kwon Do school so much. They have lots of classes to choose from, and a set of treadmills behind glass down one side of the practice area. While the boys are taking their class, Dave and I can work out too.

My New Toy

We rearranged the dining room, so this would fit in the corner. If one more person tells me that adults can't learn to play the piano, I might smack them. I have a set of adult piano books, and my family's ears are ringing with my repeated renditions of "When the Saints Come Marching In" and "Kumbuyah". Beenie should be warned that she's in for a recital prepared in her honor at Thanksgiving, since she is one of the naysayers.

And the next day . . .

We drove up again to Grapeland, TX to pick up Ben. He had a great time at Frontier Camp, and actually managed to pack up all his things and keep track of them pretty well during the week.

Brownie Camp

We picked up Ellie from Brownie camp, and she had a great time there. This is one of her counselors, Wildcat. The counselors all use nicknames, rather than their real names at camp.