Date Night

Today was much like yesterday - we slept in, ate breakfast, headed to the beach, played in the ocean and sand, read books, came back for lunch, and went back out to the beach.  Doc and I headed in earlier this afternoon to get ready for a much-anticipated date night. Lala took our picture before we headed out for the evening.

We started out with the pizza special from Bud and Alley's Pizza Bar. The special was margherita pizza with salame and it was delicious! I barely got this picture taken before Doc snatched up the last piece.

After dinner we walked across the street to the outdoor amphitheater to find a seat for the concert that was about to start. We traveled all this way to end up seeing someone from our home state! I have seen Dave Barnes several times before, but I think this setting was by far my favorite. It was so relaxed (and free!).

Dave is so funny and such a good singer that he had a gaggle of girls lined up at the front of the stage waiting on him before the show even started.

Unfortunately for him, they were all a little young.

In between songs I was playing with my camera and decided to take a picture of our feet...

...and then, as the flash went off, Doc said, "Oh wait, are you taking a picture of our legs and feet? I wasn't ready. Do it again."

Notice anything different about this picture?

I'm totally outting him and his flexed muscles.

At the end of Dave's set we got to go up front to get some better shots.

See all the blurry dots in the picture below?

Those are bubbles from bubble guns that the girls on the front row were shooting. I think he secretly paid them to do that. It made for a nice effect.

View from the other side.

And rockin' out the last song.

And that was it. It was such a perfect date night! If you don't know who Dave Barnes is, or haven't ever heard his music, I highly recommend you check him out.

We came home to a rousing game of dominos that has since ended and everyone is getting ready for bed. The rain held off for the outdoor concert but I think it's going to come any minute now. Hopefully it will all come tonight so we can enjoy another sunny day on the beach tomorrow!

Fun in the Sun

We are officially on vacation!! I told myself I'd write a post at the end of each day so that I wouldn't have a million pictures to sort through when we got home. But being on a relaxing vacation makes it awfully hard to get on the computer at night...especially when you fall asleep around 9! So here I am, the morning of day 3, ready to talk about days 1 and 2.

Although for day 1, there's nothing to report except that we were excited to be here!

Yes, that would be 5 of the 6 of us all on one couch.  We did walk to the beach as soon as we unloaded the car and the kids ran right into the water, completely unaware that they weren't wearing swimsuits.

Day 2 was awesome. I really don't think I have ever seen a prettier day at the beach. The weather was perfect - only 90 degrees instead of a miserable 100+ and a very good breeze off the ocean. The water was so clear you could see right to the bottom - no seaweed or anything.

Green means go!

Only one of us took the time to completely set up camp before heading out into the ocean. Can you guess who?

Here's a better hint...

My toes were so happy to be in the sand again.

Daddy and his kiddos.

"Come on! It's not cold at all!" Except you can tell he's sucking in from the cold since his ribs are poking out...

Anna got buried.

At least she had a good view!

Out in the water together.

We did lots of wave-riding on the boogie boards, and I have a nice strawberry on my hip to prove it. Apparently big kids crash into the sand a lot harder than the little kids do.

Anna and I built a nice sandcastle complete with manicured lawn, gate, and front drive.

Wyatt built...this.

We came in at the end of the day exhausted and hungry! Poppa and Doc made a delicious dinner of skamp, rice, salad, and fruit. It hit the spot!

Anna helped me make dessert. Can you tell from her face what we made?

Brownies. Mmmmm...and they were so good fresh out of the oven!

Lala continued to work on the puzzle...

...and these guys gave her no help at all.

We did finally finish the 500 piece puzzle. Hooray! It was a tough one - those flowers at the bottom were not easy to figure out at all. Next up, 1000 piece picture of hot air balloons.

Everyone is finishing up with breakfast now so it looks like Day 3 is about to get going. Beach, here we come!

NYC :: Food Edition

Warning: this post might make you hungry.

We were in New York for probably less than three hours before I spotted this.

Oh yes, we were going in.

So many delicious choices. How do you choose??

Can you guess which one we went for?

Peanut Butter Cup wins!

While we were getting ready for the evening's festivities, the doorbell to our room rang and we were given some champagne for our anniversary. Well done, Waldorf, well done.

Next up on the food list: dinner at Scalini Fedeli.  This place was quite the complimentary restaurant, and I don't mean complimentary as in they told me how pretty I was and that they liked my dress. No, I mean complimentary as in the truffle stuffed raviolis that came out before our appetizers, and the two sorbet desserts that came out before the desserts we ordered, followed by sparkling moscato with dessert and then strawberries and cream to finish it all off. All complimentary.

Here are the desserts that we actually ordered, complete with Happy Anniversary written in chocolate.

Deeee-licious!

I have always admired the cute little fun-shaped glasses at places like Williams Sonoma, but also wondered "who actually uses those things?" Well, now I know. Scalini Fedeli does.

We woke up Saturday morning to rain so we just walked to the deli down the street for breakfast. Bagel and cream cheese for me.

And sausage, egg, and cheese muffin for Doc.

We also shared a peach and banana smoothie which, I have to say, was probably the best tasting smoothie in the world. So good, in fact, that we went back for two more the next day. They didn't use any ice cream or milk in it so it didn't taste thick or heavy like a shake, and the ice was blended so finely that it had no crunch at all. And did I mention that the flavor was peach and banana? It was slap-your-pappy good.

I mentioned in my last post that I thought the Meatpacking District was my favorite area. That decision was made mostly because of this:

Mild, medium, and hot salsas from Dos Caminos. Of course, I didn't try the hot because I'm a weenie, but I could've easily eaten the medium straight with a spoon. Gosh, it was good! We went through two baskets of chips and two refills of salsa before our entrees arrived.

Oh, and did I mention that even though we sat down at this place at almost 2:00 on Saturday, it was still brunch, and at Dos Caminos, one drink each comes with your meal during brunch. You don't have to tell us twice. Sold!

Margarita for an excited Doc:

And a Prickly Pear for me:

Then came the food. I had enchiladas with two different sauces. It was very pretty.

Doc had the chicken tacos.

We just randomly ended up at this place because the first two places we went to had long waits, and it ended up being a great meal. Did I mention the salsa?!?

Because we had such a late lunch, we didn't eat dinner before going to see Wicked. By the time the show ended at 10:30 we were starving! We hit up Times Square for a slice of pizza, or should I say, some pie.

It was a chilly night and that greasy, cheesy pizza hit the spot!

If I ever get to go to New York City again, I think I will definitely have to hit some of these awesome spots again. If you're headed that way, be sure to look them up!

New York City

We arrived in New York City around 12:30 on Friday and hopped in line for a taxi.

Doc was able to cash in some of his hotel points so we could stay at the Waldorf. It was pretty fancy, but also kinda old.

By the time we finally made it through the front desk line (yes, there was a very long line) and got checked in, we were starving! We headed out on a walk to find something to eat. Luckily, we weren't far from Rockefeller Center and were able to find a nice restaurant there.

Right after we got our drinks and had made our food selections, the lady at the table next to us leaned over and informed us Times Square was being evacuated. As you may or may not know (I didn't until then), Times Square is only about 3 blocks from Rockefeller Center. Lovely.

It was just a false alarm, thank goodness. After the failed terrorist plot, I guess everyone is being overly cautious there. Which is totally fine by me. I'm just glad we didn't get blown up.

After lunch we headed out to do some sight-seeing.

I didn't realize how much time I'd spend watching these signs.

We strolled through Central Park for a little while.

And do you know, even in the land of concrete, I was able to find me some pretty, happy flowers!

As we walked, I was amazed at how many bikes we saw chained to bike stands. I don't think we saw a single bike stand that wasn't full of them. And if someone couldn't find room on the stand, then they'd just chain it to whatever else they could find.

But apparently a bike lock wasn't enough for this biker, he/she had to take the front tire off too.

And this one was growing grass!

Going into the trip, we only had two things planned: reservations for dinner on Friday night and tickets to see Wicked on Saturday. Later that night, we got fancied up and headed to dinner at Scalini Fedeli.

That's right, I dusted off the ol' green shoes. It was my anniversary, after all.

Doc wore his wedding suit with his wedding tie.

And if you know me, you know I like to match. I had on the dress and jewelry my bridesmaids wore.

Saturday was full of more sight-seeing, shopping, and walking, walking, walking.

I think the Meatpacking District was my favorite area. It was very hip and trendy.

Chelsea Market was pretty cool too.

This is a mustache over an archway made out of black drinking straws. Creative, no?

And this is what Doc and I will look like when we're celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary. We'll still be matching.

It was soon late afternoon and we were exhausted! Poor Doc's hands were cramping up from carrying all of our shopping bags all day. (Side note: LOVE Century 21 and Filene's Basement. We bought 5 pairs of shoes between the two of us.) We may not be as old as the couple above yet but we already need to take naps!

That night we got dressed up again and headed to Broadway to see Wicked. I didn't take my camera with us, so no pics, but the show was sooo good! I was nervous I wouldn't get it since I hadn't seen the Wizard of Oz in years, but that wasn't the case at all. Everything about the show was great, and I highly recommend it. If you ever get the chance to see it, you should go!

Sunday morning we walked down the street for breakfast before heading to the airport. This is our last picture from New York.

It was a great trip that ended way too soon! I'm ready to go back already.

Oh, that may be the end of the trip, but it's not the end of the pictures. I've got more to share, so check back soon!

Felix's, Faux Hawks, and Fairies

The first two parts of our NOLA trip can be found here and here. Saturday night got kicked off with dinner at Felix's. The wait was long and the restaurant was freezing cold, but the food made up for it all. It was yummy!

What's a Saturday night without a couple of mohawks faux hawks??

With our bellies full, we headed to the Old Absinthe House to try the Green Fairy. It's so fun to watch the bartender prepare an absinthe drink. They place a sugar cube on top of a slotted spoon that's placed over the glass. The water and absinthe are poured over the sugar cube making a milky liquid, and then the sugar cube is set on fire. Here is a very, very blurry picture of it.

Cool to watch, but the drink itself tastes grody. Veeeeeeerrrrry grody.  It's like liquid black licorice. Blech. And this is what happens to you if you drink it.

And awww, look...24 hours and a glass of absinthe later and they're still engaged. So sweet.

We stayed at the Old Absinthe House for a couple of hours before deciding we were hungry again. So we walked to Bourbon Street to find some pizza. At the time, I thought this was the best piece of pizza I had ever eaten in my entire life.

I don't remember the name of the place we were at, but I do remember that they had awesome music.

It was so good it deserved a chest bump.

************

Our trip was short and sweet. On Sunday, we really only had time to check out of our rooms, grab something to eat, and then head to the train station. We did have one little snafu...apparently our return tickets home were actually for Saturday, not Sunday (as in, we should have departed around the time we were chasing after the proposal carriage). The train was sold out so things weren't looking good. After lots of phone calls (on Amtrak's end) and nail-biting (on our end) they finally told us they could squeeze us in on the lower level. Turns out, the lower level is like first class on the train. Not a bad way to end our trip.

Goodbye, New Orleans! Hopefully we'll see you again soon.