A Day with Rivers

Every morning we headed down to the lobby for a nice free breakfast.  Waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, bagels, toast, juice and anything else you can think of.  The boys are waiting for their breakfast.  We really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with the Doolittle family!

Ryland is playing games on Keri's phone.  One game he likes to play is a country game.  You get clues and have to guess the right country.  He was working South America!

Smile for the camera Easton.  He has my Saints Santa hat on.  What a character!

Mike can make friends with anyone.  He spent at least 15 minutes learning all about these people.  They were in New Orleans for the Grambling game.

Easton was totally fascinated with this lamp.  He could see himself and would make  faces and move around so he could see how the lamp distorted his image.

Off to Stephen's and Michel's after breakfast.  Michel wanted to run some errands and asked if I would watch Rivers!  YES! 

 So precious!

 Keri, Mark, the boys, Mike and Stephen were at the Saints facility playing catch with Drew Brees.  When they got back I had to share Rivers.

Rivers was a huge hit with the boys. Easton was helping Keri feed Rivers. 

 Ryland got to hold "Baby Rivers".  He loved it.  Both the boys loved little Rivers.  They talked about him a lot. 

Ryland got to help lay Rivers down in his little bed.  He was so excited about it.  On the ride back to the hotel Ryland said over and over again how excited he was about putting Rivers to bed and that he had never gotten to put a baby to bed before.  So cute.  Tomorrow is Gleason Gras!  More pictures to come for sure!

Friday in NOLA

Friday at the race track.  I think I have only been to the race track one other time.  This race track has a place for the kids to play and run around.  The Variscos were all there!  So were the Gleasons and Doolittles.

The finish!

Race number one.  These horses are beautiful!  Strong and fast!

We watched the first two races and then decided to try our hand at making a bet. I followed Mark inside.  He had picked a horse by its name.  I was going to bet on the same horse because I had no clue what I was doing.  Mark said NO, don't bet on the same horse I did.  He gave me two numbers that he thought were OK horses.  I picked number 4.  The odds ended up being 11-1.  I bet 5 dollars.

And guess what!  I won $61.00.  Good time to stop if you ask me.  The horse came from the back of the pack and won the race!

 The little boys played some football!  So cute!

 I think there is a little negotiation going on here!

 Mark placed a bet on number 12 in one race.  Ryland requested that. Mark is showing him the ticket and I am sure he is explaining the finer points when it comes to betting on horses.  Number 12 did not win!

Pretty cool.  The kids get to pet the horses.  The horses are guided up to the fence.  The kids loved it!

 After a couple of hours at the track we went back to the Varisco's to watch the LSU game.  The whole gang went there.  The Varisco's have been so gracious inviting us into their home. 

Stephen and Rivers. 

 This is Caroline!  Hillary and Paulie's youngest girl.  She was born a month early so she is tiny. 

 This is a drumming session. The kids discovered that this end table was tin.  They all had a great time drumming on it!  Wow!  Mark played a drum game.  The one who stopped fastest when he signaled won!  Then the kids did very quiet drumming! I liked that game!

Back to the hotel after the game! Another great day! Praise the Lord.

Thanksgiving 2011 in NOLA

Well, here he is!  Rivers V. Gleason

There have already been a lot of highlights here in New Orleans but little Rivers tops the list!  He is precious!

We arrived very early on Thanksgiving morning.  Our flight landed at 1:00 AM.  We got a few hours of sleep and headed over to Michel and Stephen's.  We went with Keri, Mark, Easton, and Ryland.  Ryland and Easton found the helmet cam! They could hardly hold their heads up with the helmet on!

Easton looked like he was going to fall over!

Mike was in charge of cooking the turkey.  He loves cooking!  He is watching his creation in the oven!

OK, the weather was much warmer in NOLA.  Squirt gun wars seemed like a good thing to do.  Ryland and Easton's guns were filled. 

Little did we know that we would become targets of the spray of water!  I guess we should have known.

These boys look so sweet here but they were out to get their mom and grandma!

Rivers!  Snoozing!

Fun, fun, fun! 

So sweet getting to hold him and feed him. 

Rivers meet your grandpa Mike!

Here is Stephen and Michel's house.  It is long and narrow.  Bigger than it looks.  Cute house.

When the turkey was done we had to pack it over to the Varisco's.  Dinner was at their house.  Not exactly sure why Mike didn't cook it there!  It all worked out.  Mr. Turkey rode in the back of the car!

This is the view from Stephen and Michel's house.  A bayou.  They got married on that bridge!

The chef delivered the turkey safe and sound!

Michel is pointing to where the water settled after Katrina.  The picture was up on that mantle.  They had the bottom half restored!

Two beauties!

Keri kept stealing Rivers from me!  Just three minutes she would say but I guess she doesn't know how to tell time because three minutes came and went!

Mark and Rivers!

The kids table for Thanksgiving!

Paul did the turkey carving!

The private school that Michel's nephews go to raised some money for the Gleason Trust!  Very cool!  This was in the Varisco's house.

Time to dish up!  Hillary and Mike getting dinner!

Mark and Mike waiting for everyone so they can get started!

Here is everyone (Mike is taking the picture).  What a great family we were able to share Thanksgiving with!

Caroline is the baby on the left.  She was born a month early and weighed 5 ish pounds.  He is healthy and beautiful!  Caroline is Rivers cousin!

The kids were playing with some Fisher Price toys.  There were little Fisher Price people.  We kept hearing how Michel loved to play with the people.  Turns out she named everyone of them.  She had a chart with their names and more information about each one.  She even made them backpacks with papers inside.  She is holding a backpack!  The rest of the backpacks are right on the table.  Unreal!  Talk about and organized persistant child!

It was a good Thanksgiving. Lots of kids, family, and laughter.  Good food too!  Thanks so much to the Variscos!