Today I rode the train

Today I rode the train all by myself! (I had too many events in St. Louis in the same weekend to drag Anna to and she got some quality time with Saint Mimi while Curt the superman redid our closet the he hated.)

(For anyone who is wondering, yes he finished it and yes it is nice.)

I enjoyed catching glimpses of the flooded rivers as I read my book.
I also got to cheer my little Amtrack on as we raced a freight train...and won!

Throughout the trip I nervously checked my book - folding it in half to make sure I had plenty of pages left for the trip home. Does anyone else do that? Would that mark me as anal?

I only had one book in my backpack. I had the whole return trip!

I kept thinking, "we seriously need to bring train travel back to the mainstream". It's so peaceful.

Sigh.

Nawlins (belated)

Nawlins

Here is the run down of our trip to New Orleans for Joshy and Kate's WEDDING! Sorry it took so long. I know it's long and there is a lot of pictures but look at it for my sake since it took a lot to get it on here!

Here is a list of our activities written by Curt (and edited by Maria to make it more palatable:-)

Wednesday

We flew from KCI to Atlanta to New Orleans

We discovered our room (which was the living room part of the suite we got with Mimi and Papa) was absolutely giant and oddly shaped like a triangle. It was also so, so quiet so Maria loved it. We met Charlie and Laurie for dinner at Deanie's. Anna ate crawfish etoufee (and liked it).

Maria took Anna back to the hotel, and everyone else went to Pat O'Briens for a hurricane. We ran into Auntie Kate and her friends.

Thursday

Went to breakfast at Cafe Fleur de Lis.

Anna went swimming and fell into the pool (the whole leaning-too-far-over-to-grab-a-beach-ball-routine). There were plenty of people, and she wasn't under water for more than one second, but she was shaken up. When she calmed down, she wanted to get back in! She had a great time playing with a boy about 8 years old with a beach ball.

At 6:30, we met for Josh's bachelor party. We had planned on Acme Oyster, but the wait was too long for 14 people. Instead, we wandered around and eventually ended up at Desire's. We had fabulous oysters, crawfish, and other food. Our waitress, JoAnn, was phenomenal. She made the cocktail sauce right at the table. Then, we went to Checkpoint Charlie's, smoked cigars, and had male bonding time over beers and pool with a couple of live musicians from Ireland. Uncle Johnny fell asleep. When we checked on him later, there was a maraschino cherry in his mouth. We never did find out who put it in there.

Friday

Curt slept in (he got in at 4:30). Anna, Maria, and crew rode the street car to the garden district and marveled at the beautiful old houses. At one point they stopped to wait for another streetcar and Anna, who was lying on her belly on the bench of the car yells, “C'mon lady! Push me!” Curt went for “breakfast” to a cafe at about 11:30 and had a shrimp po'boy. We all met back at the hotel. Anna napped, while Mimi watched her. Curt and Maria toured Royal street and the antique/art shops and dreamed about what we would get if we ever struck it rich. We also looked around Jackson Square. Maria and Curt split a snack of red beans and rice (Maria had been waiting for that dish the entire trip.)

We got back to the hotel and took Anna on a tour of Jackson Square and the Riverfront. We got a few good pictures of Anna in front of a biker gang on the wharf and another few good pictures of Anna in Jackson Square eating a vegan watermelon popsicle. The best flavor: pineapple and cilantro. Even Anna preferred that one! We also got to check out St. Louis Cathedral (oldest west of the Mississippi).

Then, we walked straight to Josh and Kate's crawfish boil. It was wonderful. 170 pounds of crawfish, and only 20 survived (but there were about 80 revelers). Anna had fun eating them and Maria swore they were the best she had ever tasted!

Saturday

We woke up, grabbed a quick breakfast, and went to the aquarium. Anna had a really good time, although it was pretty clear that she was starting to get worn down. She got to see stingray's eating broccoli! Maria and I were silently cheering, “Three cheers for the aquarium and their good food examples!” After the aquarium, we walked to meet Grandma and Mary Helen for a quick lunch at Cafe Begnet.

From the aquarium, we went back to the hotel room and got a great, much-deserved nap. We then got to go to Josh and Kate's wedding at Latrobe's on Royal. The ceremony was great. Their friend, Ryan, presided (favorite joke: “The rings are round because they symbolize that your love will have no end. They are also round because they have to fit on your finger.”). After the ceremony, we did the “second line” march around the block with a Jazz band which is a tradition in New Orleans. The bride and groom grabbed umbrellas and champagne and the entire congregation marched and danced block after block. Anna took a while to catch on, but then she started riding Maria's shoulders, and had a great time waving her napkin and cheering. We got back and had one of the most memorable wedding receptions ever. There was an oyster bar in one room, two appetizer areas, and one entree area. For desert, there was an assortment of pastries, root beer floats, and Krispy Kreme bread pudding. Anna danced like a maniac along with two other girls her age. She was able to stay up very late, yet stayed in a good mood most of the night.

Sunday

We woke up and went to the planned party at Cafe Du Mond. Unfortunately, this was also the morning of the New Orleans Ironman Triathlon and the finish line was right in front of Cafe Du Mond. We had wait a little while, but we got Anna to eat her Begnet (in a black dress!) without too much of a mess. From there, we stopped by Cafe Begnet to get Anna a real breakfast (i.e., fruit platter).

We then went back to the hotel room. Daddy and Anna swam some more (for abut 5 seconds, because the pool was freezing). Then, Anna and Maria took a nap, while Daddy went to the Bienville House to hang out with the rest of the Stokes. Maria followed soon after, and we all had a good time hanging out by the pool. A few Stokes left as the day went on. But the ones who remained went to eat dinner at the Crescent City Brewery. While we were there, a thunderstorm rolled in. We had to get a cab back to the hotel since New Orleans is below sea level and the sea was raining from the sky! Daddy got soaked hailing the cab.

Went to bed early and packed in the morning.

Monday

Flew back to Atlanta again. Loaded onto the plane to KC 30 minutes early, but it smelled like urine, so they had us switch planes. Maria loved the whole “the sooner you get off the plane, people the sooner we get in the air!” lecture only to find our new plane had just pulled in and had yet to be de-boarded OR cleaned. But we made it and drove in Papa's trusty truck back home and stopped to eat some delicious Kansas City bar-b-que along the way. We were oh so glad to see our kitties and feel our own beds.

Thanks for reading!

Weekend with KG and Russell

We spent a wonderful weekend with my two siblings! ;-)
I failed (yet again) to take a picture of any of it so enjoy the pics on KG's blog. Click here to read all about it!

A special thanks to:
Curt - who napped with Anna on Saturday and
Mimi- who watched and fed Anna on Sunday!

More conversations...

Anna this morning waking up in the "trib" (crib) at "Dranny's" (Granny's) House:
A: "My name is Anna!
I like to sing!"
Spoken only to herself. She's always happy when she wakes up. What a blessing to be a little ray of sunshine!

Tonight as I was putting her to bed:
M: 'I'm going to get ready for night-night. Good night sweetie!"
A: "Whachoo dweam about?" (What are you going to dream about?)
M: "Well! I don't know. I'll probably dream about our train ride!"
(We had just ridden home from Granny's)
A: 'And I'm dunna dwean about a HELICOPTER RIDE!!!!"

Where does this girl get this stuff?

Another thing she says often"
A: "Whoa that wuth a prize!" (Whoa, that was a surprise!)
But how fitting that she says prize? Because.... isn't that sometimes true?

Another thing: "I'm so cited!" [excited]

My girl!

A message from Miss Kim...

Hi Maria,



I wanted to “officially” note this precious, precocious act of kindness that I witnessed Anna perform…

to go into her “permanent record.” ;)



On Thursday, April 1, Anna and her Mommy, and Michelle and Sophie and “Miss Kim”

took Michelle’s van to Michelle and Maria’s plot of land down by the river “rented”

from Jeff City to garden. Miss Kim came to “garden sit” two and ½ year olds Anna and Sophie

so their Moms’ could till the ground and start planting their vegetable garden and I could enjoy the time

with all of them on a beautiful day.



Michelle packed a bright, primary colored, red, blue, yellow

mini-tent for the kidlets to play in and get some relief from the sun.

Michelle also brought along a portable potty which worked out great for

the little ones.



When we arrived at the plot I (Miss Kim) had given each of the four a plastic Easter egg with

three little chocolate candies and a written blessing inside. Easter was April 4 this year.

Anna was skilled at taking the colored foil off of the chocolates. Sophie handed one

then another of hers to me to unwrap for her.



Michelle set up the tent and I had a camping chair near the tent.

Anna and Sophie played together harmoniously. Anna was going back and forth

to Michelle’s van which was parked nearby. I was following Anna when she went to the van.

I think she’d eaten the candies from her Easter egg, but she found a Hershey’s

Crunch chocolate egg in the back of the van. She carried it

to the side door of the van, where she stood a minute and unwrapped it. Anna

then eased herself down the long step out of the van to the ground, walked about

15 feet over the Sophie, and gave the chocolate egg to her friend Sophie.



Love and peace,

Kim

Toddler observations

Today, out of the blue, Anna points out this gem as she walks through the living room,"

"Ben has a yong (long), yong, yong bottom."

This is stated very matter-of-factly and includes appropriate hand gestures to illustrate Ben's type of "bottom".

What do you say as a mom but, "Ummmm. Yep."

What made my day...

After a very long day and while sorting through a week and a half of unread email, I cam across THIS beauty waiting for me....

THANKS SARAH AND MIKE (bet you didn't know Curt could dance like this)!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!