Summer Makes Me Think of...

...water sprinklers spinning around in the front yard with ice cold lemonade in hand.

Soundtrack of My Life

I hit shuffle on iTunes and this is the order of the music. So, this is the Soundtrack of my Life. At least on this go round of iTunes shuffle.

Opening Credits:"Bent" 808 State

Waking Up: "Morena Mia" Miguel Bose

1st Day of School: "100% Pure Love" Crystal Waters

Falling in Love: "Wassamatter Baby?" Yerba Buena

Fight Song: "Everybody Everybody" Black Box

Wedding: "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying" Dr. John

Life: "Clocks" The Casual Dots

Sex Scene: "Come Clean" Hillary Duff

Driving: "Go" Moby

Party: "Vertigo" U2

Birth of a Child: "It's My Life" Talk Talk

Funeral: "Mustang Sally" Wilson Pickett

Ending Credits: "Intuition" Jewel

This is pretty funny. Some of the songs somewhat go with the category. Rather cool for being random.

Happy Father's Day!

Hello to all of you dads! I hope YOUR day was nice and special. I am sad to say that I didn't see my dad today, but just talked to him on the phone to wish him well.

The girls and I took FG out for brunch and the park. It was a really great day. The only thing I would change next time is the choice of restaurant. We dined at Begue's at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. The food was exceptional. The only problem was that we could not sit back, relax, and enjoy it. The girls were not being very cooperative (for a 4 diamond dining establishment). We forget that when we dine, it sometimes has to about them and their temperments. I think we will need to save the dress-up-for-dinner-restaurants when it is just the 2 of us.

I am back after 10 days of family torture!

Okay, so it wasn't complete torture. I spent 10 days with my parents, sister, niece, and my 2 girls on vacation. The 1st 2 days actually were torture between my sister, dad, and me. I wanted to leave. Luckily the air lightened and fun started happening.

Our 1st day was a 10 hour drive to Orlando from New Orleans that turned into 2 days. My mom wanted to make a stop in Panama City Beach where she and my dad honeymooned 42 years earlier. (They were celebrating their 42nd wedding anniversary.) This detour took us about 2 hours south out of our way and a day off schedule.

Finally back on the road to Orlando. From Panama City, it still took us 10 hours. I am not sure hour that was so. My mom likes to stop and look around.

We get to the hotel and it is nice, but not nice for a family of 7 staying in one room. Our hotel was the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort. Can you say cramped? It was a Kid Suite room. This entailed one king size bed (which my parents got) and 2 sets of bunk beds. Yes, my sister and I were sleeping on bunk beds that were not long enough for my legs. They even had plastic liners for all of the bed-wetting children. Talk about uncomfortable for adults. After 2 nights here, we decided to find a hotel more accommodating to all of us. We checked out several hotels and ended up at the Double Tree Hotel Suites on the Disney property. We were so happy here. It was a one bedroom suite. It had 2 double beds and a sofa bed. It was perfect. They even had a small refrigerator, sink, and microwave. We stayed here for 4 nights. I will definitely stay there again.

We spent one day at Epcot. This was probably the worst Epcot experience I have ever had. Not because of the park, but because we didn't get there until about 1pm and everyone was hungry and cranky. The next day we were celebrating my niece's 12th birthday and my parents 42nd anniversary. I made reservations at The Magic Kingdom's Crystal Palace for 8:15 AM. Of course we didn't make it there until 8:45 AM. We got to see all of the Winnie the Pooh Characters. It was a nice way to start the day at the Magic Kingdom.

Luckily it was the beginning of June. I don't think I could have endured anymore crowds, longer lines, or higher temperatures. Later that day, we had dinner reservations at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian Hotel. My niece thought this was the coolest thing. It was a princess dinner along with Prince Charming. She got a crown that stated "Happy Birthday" which she wore for the next 3 days. Then we headed back to the Magic Kingdom until closing. Thank goodness my parents took my kids back to the hotel.

The next day it rained and rained and rained. We took advantage of this time and relaxed. Yep, sunshine the next day. We had planned on getting to either Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach to cool off. My dad had this great idea to wait until the evening when it isn't so hot. It was about 4:45 PM when I called the front desk to get the park times. They close at 6 PM. We got everyone together and had 1 hour and 5 minutes to enjoy the Typhoon Lagoon. We actually made the most of it and enjoyed every single minute.

Our next destination was the beach. One our way here, we stopped in St. Petersburg to check out the Dali museum. I had the kids in the stroller, but they were talking up a storm. So much that people were snickering and forced us to leave. Dali was a bit bizarre. I sped through the exhibit and was glad I didn't have to sit through the tour.

We spent 2 nights in Ana Maria Island in a beach front hotel, Club Bamboo. Here, we had 2 full bathrooms, a kitchen, one private bedroom with a king bed and the living room with a king bed, sofa bed, and dining room table. Yes, this was the icing on the cake. I don't think you could have ended a Disney trip any better. I don't recall June being so windy or breezy in Florida. I am not complaining. I am very grateful for the constant breeze because otherwise it would have been a scorcher.

Then we ended the trip by leaving Florida at 5:30 AM and getting home only 11 hours later, record breaking time with kids. The return trip always seems shorter than the departure.

Dear God, please forgive me for........

Today we went to mass in Baton Rouge. We decided to go to St. Joseph Cathedral in the downtown area. We were rushing to get there since we aren't too familiar with it. Using mapquest instructions, it was rather concrete.

So, we get there and mass has just started. It is packed. We did not realize it was Pentecost Sunday. In addition, it was a new priest's first mass as a priest. It was very formal. The usher seats us in the 3rd row. Normally this would not be a problem, but you have to factor in my children. They are in an unfamiliar place and are expected to be quiet for 1 hour and 15 minutes. That is asking a lot for my 2 girls.

There are 2 nuns sitting behind us. They were 2 very old school nuns. I was waiting for one of them to pull out a ruler and swat Sofia's bottom. You kept hearing "geez" and "oh goodness". One of them did tell Sofia to "sit down" a couple of times and "you are going to drop that bottle".

If anyone has insight on how to keep a very energetic 2 year old and 10 month old to sit still and stay quite in church, please tell me the secret. I wanted to turn around to the nuns and say, "hey, give me a break! You were once a baby and toddler." I even thought to say, "do you expect me to leave the kids at home alone while I go to mass?"

This church and our regular church, St. Anthony of Padua (on Canal St. in New Orleans) are both old churches without this new thing called crying rooms. I was raised going to church with my parents. You go as a family. I feel like going to church is a family thing and we should all go to celebrate together.

I feel like the older people have a problem with families and their young children. It is very important to me to be there as a family. I had an old man whisper under his breath to me that children do not belong in church. What hogwash! I feel like this is the foundation to my children's spirituality and religous roots.

So, just warning you; My children will be with me in mass. I may be the one peeling someone off the wall or sticking crackers in another one's mouth to stop the chatter, but we will be there as a family.