New Orleans Road Trip

Last weekend, our free weekend in between graduations, all our family members were out of town for various reasons. So instead of staying in Houston by ourselves, we decided to visit Adam's grandpa, who lives about an hour outside of New Orleans.

 

It's a six-hour drive from Houston and we were a little worried about how Claire would handle being confined to her car seat for such a long time. Because we haven't taken a road trip since she was five months old and because she's been experiencing a lot of motion sickness recently. But we borrowed Adam's parents' SUV, which seems to greatly improve her carsickness because she can see out the front window much better. And we stopped every two hours {for lunch, to run around at a welcome center, and then for dinner as soon as we arrived} which mostly seemed to keep boredom at bay.

 

At the welcome center, we tried to recreate this picture from last summer:

 

Claire was just about equally thrilled this year:



But, she was a big fan of the red beans and rice she had for dinner that night. Apparently she's Cajun at heart!

 

The next day, we went to Sunday Mass. We later found out that one of Adam's cousins was there and recognized us, but was very confused since she didn't know we were visiting and didn't get a chance to say hello. Slightly embarrassing since Claire was in true crazy toddler form at Mass and during the Liturgy of the Eucharist might have crawled under the pew and tried to take off the shoes of the people sitting in front of us...
 

We had lunch with Adam' grandpa {Claire's middle name, Camille, is in honor of his late wife} and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the French Quarter. We saw all the big sights, like St. Louis Cathedral.

 

And a {surprisingly good!} middle school jazz band.

 

 

We let Claire run around in Jackson Square for a while.





And we ended the excursion with beignets from Cafe du Monde.







On Monday, we had lunch with Adam's grandpa at his retirement community. Did I mention he just turned ninety-two?! Claire seriously considered stealing his scooter...
 

Here are Claire and her great-grandfather last summer:

  

 

And here they are this year:

 

 

We spent the afternoon at Oak Alley, a gorgeous plantation lined with the prettiest live oak trees.

 

 

I couldn't narrow it down to just one picture! Claire insisted on walking down the whole path herself.

  

She needed a couple breaks to play with our empty cup of lemonade. Of course.

 

A family picture:

 

And a family picture from a different perspective:

 

Claire's feet, Daddy's feet. Where are Mommy's feet? Kind of crazy at only eighteen weeks. This baby doesn't mess around.

 

Oak Alley is halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rogue, so we went ahead and spent the night in Baton Rogue, since it's already on the way back to Houston. Claire slept really well in the hotels {much better than our recent-ish experiences in Pittsburgh and Victoria}. Thank goodness. We spent a little extra for suites and it was awesome not to have to hang out in the bathroom or something after she fell asleep. Once we were all packed up and ready to hit the road in the morning, we realized that Claire was missing a shoe. We looked everywhere and may have got a tad frustrated before realizing it was in the trash can. I wonder who could have put it there?

 

We made the rest of the drive on Tuesday and are back in Houston soaking up the last few days with our family and friends. Overall, it was a great trip and we are so glad to have reunited Claire and her dear great-grandfather!  

Hermann Park

Adam technically didn't have enough vacation time for a two-week trip. We really wanted to see both of our sisters graduate and we really didn't want to make two separate trips or split up somehow, so it was super nice of Adam's boss to allow him to work from home all last week. While he was working, Claire and I found lots of fun ways to occupy ourselves. One morning, we met up with both Claire's grandmothers, Aunt Allie, Aunt Jenn, and her cousin Estelle in Hermann Park.

 

Hermann Park, in my humble opinion, is one of the prettiest spots in Houston. I love, love, love all the beautiful live oak trees.
 

 

We took Claire and Estelle on the little train that runs through the park while Allie stayed behind to watch the strollers. I'm pretty sure the adults got a bigger kick out of it than the babies...

 

After lunch at the "build your own grilled cheese" place in the park, we walked through the rose gardens.


 

This picture of Claire toddling around just kills me.

 

I mean, really.

Allie's Graduation

We are in the midst of a two-week trip to Houston for both of our sisters' graduations! We flew in from Seattle last Friday afternoon.
 

 

Since Claire has been getting really car sick lately, we were worried about her throwing up on the plane. That already happened once, during our trip to Pittsburgh in January, and it was not fun. We talked to the pediatrician and he recommend a small dose of Benadryl, only for very long flights and car trips. We followed his advice and were so, so glad we did. Claire easily fell asleep for the first two hours of the flight. We were able to keep her pretty entertained with books and snacks for the remaining two hours. Best flight ever!

 

My sister, Allison, graduated from Texas Woman's University with a degree in nursing this past weekend. She has a job offer from an awesome cancer hospital here in Houston and we couldn't be more proud of her! Her pinning ceremony, which is kind of a big deal in nursing school, was on Saturday. Our mom flew in from Shanghai for the occasion and had the honor of pinning her! Too bad I only have that super blurry picture of the moment...

 

But Claire was pretty excited about it.

 

Our next-door neighbor growing up, Mrs. Spiering, drove from Corpus Christi to be there. Claire is actually named after her, so it was really great to see her again.  Here they are last May.

 

And here they are one year later!
 

 

Allie and her roommate + best friend, Kailin.


  

Allie and Kailin with their good friends, Ashley and Natalie, who all survived those long years of nursing school together.
 

 

After the pinning ceremony, we had dinner at our favorite Tex-Mex place, Pappasito's. Oh, man, had I missed their chips and queso!

 

The graduation ceremony was on Sunday. Allie and Kailin were both in the honors program and had to write special capstone papers, so they got to walk first! They were actually the only honors students at the Houston campus (there's also a nursing school in Dallas) which made it pretty special.


 

 Allie receiving her diploma!

 

 

After the graduation festivities, we all went back to Adam's parents' house for a joint graduation + Mother's Day barbecue. Adam's oldest brother, Jeff, and his wife, Jenn, also live in Houston. Their daughter, Estelle, is four months younger than Claire. The cousins have only met once before, at Christmas, and it was so much more fun seeing them interact this time.

 

 

Now we're just enjoying the company of our family and friends until Adam's sister, Katie, graduates from high school over Memorial Day weekend. Oh, and all the amazing food down here, of course!
 

 

We might have been to Chick-fil-A three times this week...

Recent Sewing Projects

When you're in the first trimester and feeling pretty crappy, what sounds like a more fun use of nap time - making dinner or watching tv and sewing? Hands down, I would pick sewing every time. Some of Claire's baby friends had birthdays recently, so I made them each a little something.

Amelia and Jude, both turning one, got stuffed giraffes.

The pattern came with the dress pattern I used to make Claire's All Saints Day costume. They didn't turn out as cute and cuddly as I hoped.

I think they are more on the cute side than the weird side, though?

 

 

The long skinny necks are supposed to be good for teething. Claire tested that part out for me!

I also wanted to make something for Katherine, who's turning three. I had a feeling she wouldn't have much use for a teething giraffe, so I decided on a fabric scrap matching game instead.





I used this tutorial, found on Pinterest. The original game included a cute little fabric envelope to store the pieces in, but laziness took over and I ended up just buying a bag that would work at the craft store.

It was a fun way to take my mind off the constant nausea! So, to anyone who wonders how I find the time for this kind of stuff - the answer is frozen pizza.