Cajun. Food. Mmmm...heaven on a plate.

One of the best things about New Orleans is the food.  We absolutely love, love, love Cajun food so it was a wonderful treat to be able to eat it for every. single. meal.  We didn't worry too much about calories because we did so much walking that we were able to quickly walk off each meal, lol.

Ever since watching The Frog and the Princess we've wanted some beignets.  They are french donuts, basically.  But they are a little slice of heaven.  Mmmmm....yummy.  We ate at a cafe called...Cafe Beignet and listened to a jazz band. 

Pier 424 Seafood Market was Aaron's favorite.  He had a shrimp boil.  They cooked shrimp, potatoes, corn all together in a big ole pot and served it up.  The corn was so spicy it had his nose running and eyes watering!  I had crawfish cakes and pasta. 

We also ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  That was a lot of fun, and of course the food was delicious.  I ordered grilled shrimp and Aaron had grilled mahi mahi. 

...and at a place called Riverfront Restaurant...which was...right near the river. I had jambalaya, I don't remember what Aaron had.  :)

 La Bayou was located in the heart of Bourbon Street. 



My favorite place to eat was on the Steamboat Natchez.  We took a river cruise on the only riverboat powered by steam left on the Mississippi.  It was a dinner/jazz cruise and they had a cajun buffet dinner.  Oh, fabulous.  It was 2 hours and the first hour we enjoyed steaming down the river and watching the sights pass by.  The second hour we enjoyed our fabulous dinner.  After the dinner we returned to the deck in time to see the lights of downtown New Orleans come into view.  What a beautiful sight! 

Just a teaser...

No need to adjust your screen, or get a new glasses prescription...the blurriness is due to the *elderly* woman who kindly took our picture with our "new-fangled" camera.

One of the many things we did was take a dinner/jazz cruise along the Mississippi on a steamboat. 

What's on my mind

I, along with just about anyone else in the world with TV or Internet access, have been watching in horror at the devastation in Tokyo after the earthquake and resulting tsunami.  The power of water is incredible. 

My really good friend lives in Hawaii and I'm guessing she is okay, since she's been updating on facebook.  Although, she is ignoring my texts. 

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My high school boys basketball team is RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE playing for the state chamionship.  I so wish I could be there to cheer them on!  Go Eagles.  EKA!!!  I could watch the game on the internet but I am too cheap to pay the $6.  The last text update I got put them ahead by 6...hopefully they're still ahead.

Playing in the state championship game is a BIG deal where I'm from.  A very big deal.

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Tracey is doing very well as pain goes, but there is a lot of swelling and bruising.  Much more than last time, but I'm chalking that up to a different surgeon.  (Our regular surgeon resigned 2 weeks ago)  Tracey also managed to catch a cold after all this so she's feeling pretty crummy right now.  She will be home this weekend, probably Sunday. 

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Only 5 more days!!  I can hardly wait til we leave on our mysery trip.  I am no closer to guessing the destination, although I am certain it's not California.  We had a little "incident" in which I learned I could eliminate that entire state from the list of possible destinations. 

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The fire in Silver City is out and residents were allowed back in their homes on Tuesday night.  Aaron was demob'ed from the fire after Wednesday.  He's back holding the fort at the office- they actually had another fire this morning in the Mimbres Valley, but it's under control now.  It wasn't very big and not near any houses.  Definitely a sneak preview of what the summer could hold for us.  It could be a very busy fire season and likely won't see Aaron much. 

What a day.

Odalally, odalally, golly what a day.

I first heard about the fire when the secretary told me Highway 90 was closed due to a fire.  That is my route home.  My other choice (which is 2 hours out of my way) was also closed due to high wind and blowing dust.  Now, blowing dust and closed Interstates are pretty common place around her in the spring and early summer.  It happens quite regularly.

BUT, 90 is never closed unless it's due to being snowpacked and icy.  Not fires. 

I quickly checked my voicemail and there was a message from Aaron saying he was going to a fire and I needed to pick up the girls at daycare.  Ummmm....okay. 

Now we have a problem.

Later on the phone I told Aaron to use his influence to get his wife past the closed road barriers. No such luck.  Hmph.

I finally found someone to go pick up my kids and I also made it home since Highway had been reopened. 

Ahhh...all is well.  At my house.  Elsewhere in town...not so good.

The news is showing houses that are engulfed in flames and has reported anywhere from 5-15 houses on fire.  The entire area off Ridge Road has been evacuated...many of our friends live out there and are very worried about their houses and property. 

Aaron has called me a couple times giving me updates from his end of things.  Being wildland and not structural he is working on the opposite side of the ridge from Silver Acres, so he doesn't know what's going on with any structures.  He's got a dozer and a crew working on line in that area between Ridge Road and Highway 90. 

Like any good firewife and any responsible looky-loo, I stopped and took a few pictures on the way home.  Unfortunately, I couldn't zoom very close since I was using my itouch.  Aaron also sent me a pic on his phone a little while ago.

White smoke = good.

Black smoke = bad.

Regular fuels such as grass, brush, and trees produce white smoke.  Structures produce black smoke due to all the chemicals in the the structures. 

Here is the point of origin.  This is just past Tyrone, heading up the hill. 

No, I didn't hang out my window as I was driving down the road to take this picture...I pulled over.

What a day.

Surgery #3

As I type this Tracey is at the hospital in Houston consulting with the surgeons.  Her surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 11:00 am, Texas time. 

For those of you new to my blog, my oldest daughter has a genetic mutation of the veins in her left arm.

When we finally got a definitive and correct diagnosis from the fine folks at Harvard Medical Center we were referred to a certain doctor who worked at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.  There are only a handful of surgeons who specialize in pediatric venous malformations.  Last spring we made the trek to Houston to begin the series of surgeries on her arm.  She had 2 last spring and is having the 3rd tomorrow. 

What is a genetic mutation?  In Tracey it causes the vein walls to expand in her arms and the blood to pool, causing pain and swelling.  They inject stuff directly into these veins to kill them off. After the first surgery she noticed no difference, but after the 2nd there was remarkable difference...almost immediately.  Hopefully we'll have more improvement after this one.  

Does it cause problems for her?  Not really.  We have never restricted her activities due to this.  Even though one of her sports is volleyball and the area affected is her left forearm.   And forearms are necessary equipment for volleyball.  But it doesn't seem to hurt her too much.  She occasionally wears her compression sleeve when it bothers her.  It also bothers her more when it's cold.  The cold restricts blood flow and so there's more pooling in her veins- therefore, more pain.  So in winter, obviously, it's worse.   

Why am I not there?  She's old enuf to go on her own.  Heehee.  Not really, her dad took her this time. 

Will she have more?  We don't know.  We'll have to wait to see what the doctor says tomorrow. 

If you have any more questions, just leave a comment and I will answer them as best as I can.  I will also be giving updates on FB as I get them from her dad. 

Keep her in your prayers tomorrow.

Cousins

Here is the best picture we could get.  Our subjects were less than cooperative.  :)

I love surprises.

Our anniversary is coming up this St. Patrick's Day.  It will be our 10th anniversary and I can hardly wait.  You know why?  Other than the obvious.

Aaron is planning a trip with a surprise destination for our anniversary.  I've known about the trip for a few months now, but definitely not the destination.

It came out when I asked him what he wanted to do for our anniversary.  He said we would probably just find a babysitter and go to the Buckhorn (nice restaurant here) for dinner. 

As you can imagine I was outraged.  "What?  For our 10th anniversary that's all you want to do?  Can't we at least go somewhere overnight?"  I was getting pretty irate by this point.  Thinking the nerve of this man to make lightly of a milestone anniversary. 

I then told him if he wasn't gonna plan anything, then I was.  At this point he finally gave in and told me that he'd been planning a trip for months. 

"What?  You are?  Oh goody!"  (definite attitude adjustment on my part)

Perfect.  I love trips and I love surprises.  A wonderful combination. 

Now that the date is getting closer I am starting to obsess about the destination.  He has given me a few clues; I know that we are going either east or west and that it's to a city.  I know that he picked a location that I would like, but not necessarily him. 

I have a million other questions but I have not voiced them because I don't really want to figure it out.  I want to be able to keep dreaming/guessing. 

I do know that it's not skiing, because he told me that when we were discussing what to pack.  We would have to go north to go skiing anyway. 

But that's all I know.  I have several guesses running around in my head but nothing I am sure of.  Going west means probably either San Diego or LA.  I'm thinking more San Diego.

Going east means places like San Antonio, Corpus Christi, or anywhere along the gulf.  He also said we can get there in a day.  So by driving we couldn't really go much farther east.  Vearing up towards Dallas and into Oklahoma is probably out since who wants to go to Oklahoma anyway?  Dallas?  I don't think so. 

Also, there's the possibility of going east or west to an airport.  There's one in either direction:  El Paso or Tucson.  From there we could obviously fly anywhere we wanted.  Well...maybe not out of the country since neither of us have passports. 

If we were to fly my thoughts are leaning toward either New York City or New Orleans.  Possibly somewhere in Florida. 

It's driving me craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy not being able to guess!!!!  I am even dreaming about it.  Two nights ago I dreamed we went to Syndey, Australia and last night I dreamed it was Washington DC.  I know it's not Sydney and I doubt it's DC. 

Don't worry, I will let everyone know as soon as I find out.  We leave March 15.