Retirement! Here We Come. (Well, Don is back to work)
by Vicky Showalter

Thursday, October 23, 2014

New Orleans

"Saturday through Wednesday in New Orleans?" asked Don in a text.  "Sure, sounds like fun!"  That's the way our retired lives flow.  The Tulane University coach asked Don to observe and evaluate his practices and players.

We started the New Orleans experience with shrimp po-boys for lunch.  We met the Tulane coaches and wives at Clancy's in uptown in the evening for dinner.  Yummy crab salads, fried oysters, pecan crusted catfish, and drum (a delicious white fish)

Shrimp po-boy

Clancy's

Sunday morning Don headed to Tulane and Tiffany (asst coach Andy's wife) picked me up for a morning of sight-seeing.  She took me to a cemetery, by the big house on St. Charles Street, walked through some of the Tulane campus, and rode the trolley.

All burials are above ground.
Interesting cemetery

Mardi Gras beads in a tree on the Tulane campus.
We stayed in a downtown Marriott on Canal Street at the start of the French Quarter.  I spent the afternoon exploring the French Quarter and to the Mississippi River.

Beignets and a hot tea for snack/lunch!

Jazz on the street

French Quarter street


St Louis Cathedral


Jackson Square

Statue of Andrew Jackson
Pralines!

A paddle boat on the Mississippi
We enjoyed a delicious meal at the Palace Cafe. Then a walk through the French Quarter and a carriage ride.

Appetizers-Crabmeat cheesecake and
barbecued shrimp

Pecan crusted catfish

Shrimp & mushrooms

Banana Foster for dessert!
Bourbon Street


A carriage ride/tour in and around the
French Quarter.

In front of Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral


 Our last full day included a wonderful city tour, Don at Tulane's practice and then a delicious meal at a local uptown New Orleans restaurant, Katie's.

I introduced Don to the beignets!

City tour time

A tour of another cemetery

Halloween is a big celebration in New Orleans.



Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Fall Break with Cade & Kasen

Cade and Kasen have two weeks off from school for Fall break so we kept them after they came for the Iowa football weekend.  Brent, April and Cam took off for Brownsburg Sunday after dinner and the boys stayed on!

Sunday evening was movie and popcorn night - The Lego Movie per request!  Monday was a rainy day so we carved the pumpkins in the morning and went swimming at the North Liberty rec center in the afternoon.  An evening treat at Gurties ended the day.

Not really sure about pulling the insides out!





Another rainy day on Tuesday sent us to the Children's Museum and then to the theater to see Dolphin Tale 2.

Kasen loved the airplanes

Cade enjoyed the balls and tubes area.

Racing the golf balls

And making pizzas

Melissa invited us to come to CR for supper.  We ended up taking pizzas and the cousins had fun playing together for a few hours.



Wednesday was a sunny day (hurray) so we headed to papa Joe's farm to see great grandpa Joe and great grandma Janet.  A tractor ride, rides on the 4-wheeler, and picking Indian corn from the garden were highlights.

Precious time with papa Joe on the tractor



Husking the Indian corn

With great grandpa and grandma

Playing on the bulldozer

Play time at the West Chester school

Thursday, already!   Wow the week went fast.  We took the boys to Bloomsbury Farm near Atkins before heading to Milwaukee where we met up with Brent, April and Cam.  Bloomsbury was lots of fun with so many activities.
















After a 4 hour drive to Milwaukee the boys were re-united with mom and dad.  So many stories to tell.  We met at a Mexican restaurant near the neighborhood where they lived while Brent was in law school at Marquette.  The boys will spend a couple days in Milwaukee before they head home to Brownsburg.

Cam, you can join Fall break at papa and nana's
house in a few years!



What a fantastic week with Cade and Kasen.  I hope that we made lots of memories and that we can do fall break together again next year.