Mr. B

Immediately after Kyler's birthday, I met up with some classmates from high school who live in Northern CA and we carpooled down to Southern CA to attend the memorial service for one of our teachers. Mr. B was one of those people who made an impression on everyone around him. He was a true inspiration to the students and had a unique teaching style that made him special and made kids want to learn.

I left my house at 4:45 am on Saturday, with a friend who lives in Sacramento, to drive to Fairfield and meet up with two more friends who live in the Napa Valley. Then we drove south to Pleasanton to pick up another friend who lives in San Francisco. From there, we drove straight through to Loma Linda. I am the first to admit I am not crazy about my alma mater. In fact, since my parents moved away, I have had very little interest in going back down to visit. In fact, the last time I really spent any time down there was almost 5 years ago! But I was glad to be able to go down for this occasion.

We arrived in Loma Linda Saturday afternoon and got ready for the memorial. The service was in the school gym because they were expecting a lot of people, and there certainly were a lot of people. The service was humorous and sad all at the same time.

After the service, I spent the night with one of my “oldest” friends. We have been friends since Kindergarten and don't get to see each other very often. :( But we loved every minute we spent together chatting and staying up way too late! It was so much fun catching up with her on life.

The trip itself was a whirlwind because we got there Saturday afternoon, and then on Sunday, we all met up for brunch before getting back on the road to drive home. We weren't even there 24 hours. The weather was AWFUL with torrential rains at lower elevations and sleet/snow through the passes. We BARELY made it over the Grapevine before they closed it down. In fact, we think they were preparing to shut it down just as we drove by so it could have been a matter of minutes! We were very grateful to get through when we did. I got home around 8:30 Sunday night. Those were 2 very long days! And, leading up to them was our trip to New Orleans and Kyler's birthday party. It was a VERY full week!

Having brunch at Mimi's before driving back home.
L-R: Shirley, Vanessa, Laura, Debbie, Kim, Shelley, Carey

We got to say hello/goodbye to Jamie, Mr. B's daughter and one of our classmates, as we were leaving Mimi's because she was there to eat with her family.

My friends rented a van to drive down in, and we affectionately called it the "orange beast." This is the crew we drove down with (L-R): Debbie, Shirley, Carey, Vanessa, Kim

Part of our old high school gang (L-R): Laura, Debbie, Shelley, Carey, Vanessa, Kim

This was taken through the windshield as we drove over the grapevine. Lots of snow!

5 Years Old!

As of Friday, March 18, I have a 5-year-old! I can't believe where the time went. I swear he was just born a few weeks ago. I must have blinked because he is all grown up. There are so many incredible, sweet, wonderful things about Kyler. However, sometimes those strengths can also be challenging. He is very bright and tends to ask tough questions and doesn't accept easy answers. He will keep pushing until he is satisfied with the answer. But it is great that he is inquisitive and truly wants to understand something.

We had scheduled a birthday party for him at a park with the train just like we did last year. However the weather just would not cooperate for us. We held out as long as we could, hoping things would clear up. But the day before, we had to cancel the train party. We moved the party to an indoor play place which was less than ideal. However, Kyler still turned 5 and still had fun with his friends. That was the important part.

Kyler and I had been planning for a couple months what kind of cupcakes he wanted. He picked lions. So he helped me shop for what we needed, pick out the kind of cake, etc. And he helped me make them. It was so much fun. I am not a creative person, but I copied the idea from a cupcake book I borrowed from a friend and they were really easy. They took FOREVER to put together, but it wasn't hard at all; just time-consuming. I am really happy with how they turned out and they were a big hit with the kids!

He was VERY excited about turning 5. He started counting down the days until his birthday immediately after Caden's birthday (January 9). The morning of his birthday, as soon as he woke up, he came running out of his room and shouted, “I'M FIVE!!!” I would say he is very happy about that. :)

Kyler helping pull the licorice apart to get ready to assemble the lions.

More supplies: cheerios for ears, red hots for noses, and blue M&Ms for eyes. It was Kyler's idea to put them in color-coordinated bowls!

The first finished cupcake

Thank goodness I was only making 24! They were a ton of work, but very cute.

Kyler spelled this out on our fridge the morning of his birthday. :)

Present time: he loves legos

At home with the family after the party.

Happy birthday to my big 5-year-old. We love you!

The Big Easy

I had never been to New Orleans but it is a city I always wanted to visit. So when Greg told me he was going there to attend a conference for a few days, I was very excited to tag along. It was just before Kyler's birthday (March 13-16) and my parents were going to be coming to our house anyway so they were gracious enough to come a few days early and stay with the kids so I could go along with Greg.

Actually because I was using a free ticket, I was unable to fly the same day as Greg. :( He left on Sunday morning and I didn't leave until Monday morning. So he had a little bit more time there than me. Although he did have to spend the majority of his time in meetings so I got to see more than he did. But he did spend some time at the World War II Museum and walking around town. So I'll include a couple of his pictures as well.

Greg visited the World War II Museum and really enjoyed it.

This is one of the vessels used to storm Normandy on D-Day and more than 90% of them were made in New Orleans.

This is the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial along the water front.

He took this picture in Washington Artillery Park.


My flight there took the scenic route. I guess that's the beauty of Southwest Airlines, right? I flew out of Sacramento through Seattle to St. Louis (because that makes sense!). Then, from there, the flight was delayed indefinitely due to mechanical problems. Of course I was grateful to not be on a plane with known problems, but I was anxious to get to New Orleans as well. They finally got another plane for us and I was able to fly out that night after all. I was relieved when Greg picked me up at the New Orleans airport and we made it back to the hotel that night. I was exhausted.

Tuesday morning, I had breakfast at the hotel, walked around town for a couple hours and then took a city bus tour. I was so glad to take the tour because it really helped me see more of the city as well as learn more about its culture. There is so much history there and I enjoyed learning all about it. They took us to the Lower 9th Ward where we could see the most serious damages from Hurricane Katrina. This area of the city was completely covered in 18 feet of water that had to be pumped out over a 2-week period. There are many open lots where people have not come back to the area. But Brad Pitt has been helping to rebuild the area so we saw many of the houses he is responsible for. They are very space-age looking but they are supposed to be very eco-friendly.

I found this shop as I was walking around that opened up to a courtyard in the back and I loved all the colors and textures, although it's hard to tell from this picture.

The Canal Street street car.

Preservation Hall

Bourbon Street during the day is a very different place than at night!

The Katrina Memorial in the Lower 9th Ward. The tallest blue pole represents where the water level settled at 18 feet. :(

One of the homes built through Brad Pitt's foundation.

One of the more interesting highlights of the trip was visiting the cemeteries. It does seem like a bizarre attraction, but after you visit, it makes much more sense. Because the city is built on swamp land, if they bury the bodies in the ground, they just pop up to the surface which is a little gruesome. So the Spanish introduced them to the above ground tombs. They can hold up to 100 bodies in one. However, it is a process. When someone dies, they put their casket in the tomb for 1 year + 1 day. Then the casket is removed, the body (which is mostly bones now) is taken out and placed in the back of the tomb. There is enough room to do this continually until 100 people are buried in it. A tomb is typically purchased for use by a family. So if multiple family members die in a short period of time, they might have to rent space from another family in their tomb to place the casket until the 1 year + 1 day time period passes. Then they would take the casket out and move the body to the correct family's tomb. It seems rather complicated to me but I guess it works for them.

On my city tour, at one of the cemeteries.

It was fascinating to learn more about them.

If you look closely, you can see the Superdome through our hotel room window.


After Greg got out of meetings for the day, we went to the Hurricane Katrina Memorial, visited another cemetery (because Greg wanted me to tell him the history) and to City Park. Then we headed back to our hotel and dropped off our rental car before walking into the French Quarter for dinner. We had wonderful pizza at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen followed by beignets at Cafe du Monde! Then we walked along the water for awhile before heading back to our hotel for the night.

At the cemetery with Greg.

Greg at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial.

Hurricane Katrina Memorial Sign.

More of the memorial.

Having fun at City Park.

Loved the spanish moss hanging off the trees.

Self portrait with the trees above.

Having fun posing with the beautiful architecture.

Seems like on every street, there was something new and different to look at.

Mmmm, Louisiana Pizza Kitchen.

Getting ready to devour my beignet at Cafe du Monde!


Our last day there, Wednesday, I drove out to Oak Alley Plantation, which is about an hour out of New Orleans. It was so different there than in the city. I loved the big open spaces, the beautiful trees, and the beautiful views of the mighty Mississippi River. I had time there to leisurely walk around the expansive grounds and take a tour of the plantation house to learn more about it's history. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I took the time to go out and do that.

Welcome to Oak Alley Plantation.

This huge old oak tree made me think of a spider from this angle.

The view from the 2nd story balcony of the plantation house to the main road.

I'm standing close to the main road with the plantation house behind me.

From across the street, a sign telling about Oak Alley Plantation and looking all the way to the plantation house down the lane of beautiful oak trees.


Once back in New Orleans, I had to check out of the hotel, load up all our things into the rental car and grab some lunch. Then as soon as Greg was out of his last session, we met up and drove to the airport. It was too short a trip, but I'm so glad we were able to go. I have always wanted to go to New Orleans. I loved seeing the beautiful architecture throughout the city. And, you could see where old met new and different style influences came together. Very fun!