More fun from New Orleans

Ok, I am finally posting the rest of the New Orleans pics. I think one of my favorite things was the Jazz Festival. There was so many different genres of music. It was great. You could walk around and hear whatever you wanted and they had a ton of food. I had some jumbalya and parlines. Love it. The festival brought people in like, Bonjovi, Dave Matthews Band, Joe Cocker, The Roots Band, Etta James, Earth, Wind and Fire. I saw a little bit of Joe Cocker--but it was so dang crowded. I like the smaller stages.

One of more lively shows was a high school gospel choir. The woman with the tamborine was out of control. She would hit her elbows and her feet and shake the tamborine. It was so funny. She was definiatly feeling the power of music.

We also went on a swamp tour and saw some alligators. It was pretty cool, but then I kind of got bored. You see one alligator you've seen them all. However our guide had them all named and everything.

We also saw a plantation. It was pretty cool, but when I went to New Orleans before, I liked the plantations we saw better.

These are just some of my favorite pictures from the trip. We had time to walk around the French Quarter and Jackson Square.

Cafe Du Monde. I love this place and it's open 24hrs a day. I made Nancy walk down with me to have one of their Beignets. They are so good.

This was our hotel lobby. I thought it looked cool. It was a nice hotel. We had a great time.

Brek and the bus driver. He was awesome. He knew exactly where to go and he got where ever we needed right on time.

At the airport ready to go home. I love New Orleans. I would for sure plan another trip there.

Race for the Cure

4 years and running strong. This is the fourth year we have done Race for the Cure. We have so much fun running and participating in this event. This time we enrolled my aunt Deb and cousin Jessica. This year we ran in celebration of Grandma Mills, who recently was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had surgery in March and is doing fantastic.

And as tradition...I like to post some of my favorite t-shirts I read while running. "You have to squeeze 'em to keep em", "Saving 2nd base", "Yes, there're fake, the real ones made me sick"

I stole all the pictures from my sista Lisa...Thanks for running with the camera. Good times.

Jazz and New Orleans Part I

Finally, I am posting about my trip to The Big Easy. I had a great time. Here are some of the highlights.

At the airport. Right on time. 6:30am. Wow!

Mine and Nancy's hotel room. This was the first time we did not have to share with 2 other people. We had our own beds!

Look out New Orleans, I am ready to have a good time.

This is the group arriving at The Palm Court. The Jazz Band played and then we ate some great food, while listening to another Jazz Band.

The place was really cool--and the kids got lots of compliments about their performance.

Second day of the trip.

The students had a clinic with a professor from Loyola University.

Then we took a tour of the city. Here are some of the highlights. Our tour guide was very interesting, I wish I had taken notes--I only took pictures.

I think their cemetaries are so interesting. They have to bury above ground, due to the water table.

This picture kind of shows the watermark left from Katrina. It's about 2 1/2 feet high. In some areas of the city houses had watermarks 8-9 feet high. The city is recovering from Katrina. It's just a slow process. Some of the houses are still boarded up, some houses were knocked down and the land is just sitting there.

The Superdome. It was huge.

Jackson Square. Named after Andrew Jackson. I think something cool happened here, and I should know, but I missed that in the tour.

The Real World house. I was dating myself, because my students did not know the Real World New Orleans--I was a faithful watcher. (College years)

Next stop--Riverboat cruise and more Jazz.

Me, Nancy and Brek.

We ate and enjoyed the boat cruise up the Mississippi River.

We had salmon, chicken, some other kind of fish, potatoes, green beans and pasta. For dessert we had bread pudding. I was not a big fan of that and we had it for dessert at every dinner.

The skyline of New Orleans.

After we got back to our hotel, we did room checks and then Nancy and Brek and I went down to.....

Oh--talk about good times. Apparently, Mardis Gras and the Jazz festival is when Bourbon street really comes alive. (we just happened to be in town for the Jazz festival) And TRUST me, we saw it all. ALL. It's crazy what people will do for beads.

Bourbon Street is lined with clubs and live music. At night they close the street to cars and people are walking up and down listening to music and seeing the sights. You don't want to blink because you miss something crazy...and you might get hit in the head with flying beads.

We got our beads without having to show skin. We just got lucky.

We loved this club--They played some great Jazz. We went two nights in a row. It was tiny and it went back in, and you sat on wooden benches. I loved it. And it was packed every night.I tried to take a picture of the inside, but it didn't get it very good. I could have gone here every night. It was such a fun atmosphere.

More to come....

My Peeps! They crack me up!

My cousins crack me up. We always have a good time together.

Even when we should be serious, we make it fun.

Top picture: Ace, Smoothie, M&M, Preston, Bottom: Smoothie, M&M Erica, Preston and Sara.

We were practicing the songs we needed to sing for Grandpa's funeral. You can see we didn't get much accomplished. Errol and I could not stand next to each other or make eye contact during the songs. We did make it through the song.

Grandpa Pope

My Grandpa pasted away on April 22nd. We had a beautiful funeral. He was a great man and did some wonderful things. I'm so grateful that I am counted among his family.

We will miss him. I'm grateful for the Plan for Salvation and the knowledge that I will see him again.