I love my boys

I had to post some more pictures I took of Ross and Jackson in their matching Cubs hats Ross brought back from his trip.

Members Night

So we went to the zoo again.. I know.. But this time it was a members only night. They had live music, a snake out for the kids to touch and all the rides were FREE! We really only went to ride the rides, they usually cost a couple bucks to ride one so we never go on them. After going on a couple rides Ross and I were glad that we never spent the money to go on them. None of them were for Jackson's age. The one Jackson and I went on was a little scary for Jackson. It looked slow watching it from the line but on the back side it flung you around fast and was super jerky. To add on top of it I put Jackson on the outside not knowing it was going to fling us around so the entire ride I had to brace myself from not squishing Jackson and also trying to hold him so he wasn't scared. I was glad when the ride was over. After that we kept it safe and went on the train and carousels. Jackson not sure about his wristband By the snake The scary ride Jackson on the train Jackson hanging on Ross On the carousel

Trolley ride

The last thing we did with my mom was go on a trolley ride. We had never been on the trolley before so it was a new experience for all of us. Our driver talked to us about raising kids and being healthy the whole ride. He was super nice and made the ride fun. Jackson enjoyed looking out the window and feeling and being about to walk around inside the trolley. We will defiantly do it again when the weather cools down. Jackson loved his black beans at lunch. Riding on the trolley Our driver! I loved how the trolleys look inside. Looking out the window Jackson had fun holding onto the handles in the trolley The trolley we rode

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July! Our fourth was pretty low key here. We went shopping, had some friends over for dessert and then wen't and watched fireworks at the park. They don't have any parades going because its to hot here, all of them are in the winter lol The fireworks were pretty good but they had NO Finale, it was pretty weird. Jackson's breakfast Our Confederate flag lol My cute little man Ross and Jackson before the fireworks Jackson loves Matt and watched most the fireworks with him Fireworks over the lake Jackson watched the last of the fireworks with my Oma We came home and did some of our own fireworks. Jackson was so tired he really didn't care so we ended them early. Ross with the our huge sparklers

Ross's trip to Chicago

Ross went to an American Optometric Association meeting in Chicago the same weekend my mom and I went down to New Orleans. I think they did more site seeing then going to the meeting but I kinda expected that! I told Ross he was there that he should see the city. I asked Ross if he wanted to take our little camera to take pictures and he said no thinking they wouldn't see anything haha So all these pictures are from his phone. I think the first thing they did was go and get Chicago famous deep dish pizza. Ross said it was good but nothing amazing. Ross with his pizza At the student bowl (party) at the meeting. A bunch of Optometrist has to be a great party lol A group of LDS students eating dinner at the party The Chicago Temple was only a couple blocks away from their hotel They went to a Cub's games while they were there. Matt, Bret and Ross Navy Pier Random but kinda cool, Its made of canoes I love this picture This yacht was parked in the pier. Ross loved the helicopter

New Orleans #2

Day 3 was just as busy as the others. My mom wasn't joking when she said that she wanted to see everything.. The day before we talked to a tour guide in hope to get a map of the city and ended up booking a tour that took us all around the city. I was so happy my mom wanted to do the tour because driving around town was so hard for me. You aren't allowed to turn left, you have to flip a "U" turn and then turn right and every street is a one way road. Even with my GPS we got lost lol So that morning we got up and went to the restaurant that we to be picked up and ate Beigents! They were really good but it was like taking a bite of a deep fried heavy donut. They says there is a place in french quarters that is better and we had planned to go there but ran out of time. The tour was amazing. We saw and learned so many things about New Orleans and were able to see devastation from hurricane Katrina. It's sad to hear and see that seven years later people and the town are still suffering from it. I watched all the reports on tv but being there and seeing everything made it come to life. Knowing that where I stood there was 15-20 feet of water on top of me was hard to imagine. It was crazy to see the houses with the "X" on them showing the date they went in the house and how many bodies were found in the house. On a lighter note, I loved seeing all different districts. Our tour guid said they didn't know their north, south, east, west, that they used upriver, downriver, riverside and lakeside. The garden district was the most pretty and I loved the mardi gras beads hanging in every tree, on the street light, and power lines. If I was driving myself I totally would have stopped and looked like a freak and climbed a tree and got one out lol After the tour we hurried and got lunch and were off to yet another zoo.. It was a very pretty zoo but boy was it HOT and Humid!! I have never sweat that much in my life. Poor little Jackson, I didn't know a kid could sweat like that. In joy the many pictures :) Every time we went into the city we drove past the Superdome Our Beigents Jackson enjoying them Oma and Jackson on the tour bus Jackson square An artist gathered all of this wood from around the city after the hurricane and made this. The X on the houses One of many houses distorted from the hurricane One of the levee's This is one that didn't break during the hurricane I wish I would have gotten a better picture but this is showing how hight the water was compared to a house. The tallest blue pole is taller then the frame of the house. One on Tom Cruise's house he donated to the city. All of his houses were the top of the line with everything. Smokey Johnson was driving down the street in his jazzy and came and said hi to everyone. I guess he's a famous blue's/Jazz singer.. IDK This is probably my favorite picture on the tour. I love the colorful houses all around The tree's were amazing too The cemeteries.. quick info on them. They are all above ground because when it floods the bodies would come up. Big groups own one plot, it can be families, churches, whatever. The vaults have two levels in them. The top one is where they put the casket and the bottom is where they sweep the remains of the body when they put another one in.. Yeah gross huh. They said that it takes a body to decay in the heat there a full year. So each person has to stay in their casket on the top shelf for a year. That means if your mom died and then six months later your dad dies you would have to rent a little space on the back wall to put your dad for six months until your mom and been in there for a year and a day and then they would take her out, sweep her remains into the bottom one and then bring your dad out and put him on the top shelf!! Crazy huh and someone asked on our tour if they could use the old casket again and thats a no, its illegal lol You know.. Just a family picture in the cemetery The creepy back wall This vault had thousands of names on it! They were all nuns Some really old creepy vaults.. This was at their art museum. It was labeled "To little to late" showing that most were to late escaping from the hurricane. Jackson asleep on the tour. They said it was only two hours.. try almost four The tree's with the mardi gras beads They said this was the frame of one of the levels of the Eiffel tower. They redid a level and somehow the frame ended up there.. Oh the lovely Zoo This was right as you walked in Jackson hand compared to a bears I love this picture of Jackson with the monkeys A floating house Mom and Jackson teasing the raccoons Jackson in the kids trap Jackson being brave and sitting on the alligator The gross swamp This bird was just sitting in the open. It was really cool to be so close to it. Poor Jackson sweating to death Just a picture of the zoo as we were leaving. It was a really pretty zoo