Columbus Day One: Travel and Technology Tykes

by CajunKate

So Day One began at 9:00 PM on Sunday. That’s when we backed out of the driveway of Chez Hovel de Kable and took off for Columbus. People, it has been a long, long time since I did the drive through the night thing. And, people, you know something? I am way too old for that s**t.

I drove the first leg of the trip from Lafayette to Nashville. With Baby Bro asleep in the passenger seat, it was a long, long drive through the state of Mississippi. The “Dueling Banjos” theme ran through my head several times as we hurtled through hillbilly country. At about 3:00 in the morning, I thought I was losing it. My eyes started getting that gritty feeling, and they were all, “Duuuuuuuude, this is not working for me.” I was never so happy to see a sunrise.

After switch off, I tried to get some Z’s. But I don’t sleep well in cars, so when I awoke I had been asleep all of an hour. I just gave up and kept Bydee company the rest of the way. He got the shi**y weather and traffic jam part of the journey. Ha! Sucks to be you!

We pulled into Jen and Tim’s at about 1:30 PM. The boys were still at daycare so we shot the breeze for a bit then at 3 PM, we came back to the hotel, had a snack, and took a two hour nap. I don’t think Bydee wanted to get up from that nap, but I was all, “You get you’re a** out of that bed, mister! You can sleep when you’re dead! I’ve got nephews to eat up with hugs and kisses.” And he was all, “This is gonna be a long friggin’ week. *sigh*”

Back at Jen and Tim’s the boys came flying out of the house to greet us. Is there anything so delicious as adorable nephews who are simply apoplectic with glee over your arrival? I think not.

We played for a bit, then I pulled out my camera, and I’ll just put it this way. Nothing changed from last year. It was all, “May I see your camera?” every five minutes after that. Here’s some of their handiwork:

Blue Horsey- Up close and personal!

Uncle Bydee- Up close and personal

Blue Horsey- Distant and impersonal

But I hadn’t brought my video camera, so I had to throw my new iPhone into the mix so they could trade off periodically and I wouldn’t have to hear, “Is it MY turn?!?!?” every thirty seconds. This turned out to be a genius move since when Colin, who’s three, gave it back to me, he’d managed to move all the icons around. Something I hadn’t been able to figure out how to do over the course of three days, he figured out in about five minutes. So I asked how he did it, and he was all smug about it and sighed and said, “Let me show you, Nanny Kate.” Outsmarted by a three-year-old. Well, not the first time and won’t be that last, I’m sure.

Tim’s friend Paul came over with his girlfriend Heather, and we all sat around visiting and, of course, there were horsey rides, basketball, Frisbee, and Monsters, Inc., as well. But I think the highlight of the night was when I went to the bathroom, and Colin was all, “I have to pee and poop; I’ll come with you.” And so it was that we ended up taking turns sitting on the edge of the tub, watching each other do our respective businesses, while planning our adventures. A short recap:

Colin: Nanny Kate, I want you to come back to my house tomorrow. (*grunt* plop!)

Me: Oh, I am! I’ll be here tomorrow and a lot more days.

Colin: Yeah. And, Nanny Kate, tomorrow can we ride on your back again? (*grunt* plop!)

Me: Yep. And play Frisbee.

Colin: And hide and seek? (*grunt* plop!)

Yeah, like that. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing at the absurdity of it. Then, when it was all said and done and I had helped with the wiping and the re-dressing and the washing of hands. He looked at me and said, “Nanny Kate, I love you. You are so beautiful.” And I devoured him whole.

The rest of the evening was filled up with lots of playing and laughter and visiting. And of course, supper! (My favorite part of the day! Right after breakfast and lunch!) We had this deliciousness:

MMMMMMMMM! Papa Murphy's stuffed crust pizza!

I’m not the only one who thinks this is heaven on a plate. Check it:

Shortly after supper, it was time for the boys to go to bed, and Byron and I were beat so we headed back to the hotel where we both managed (barely) to brush our teeth before collapsing. And I dreamed of Thurminators. Hmmm, what’s a Thurminator, you ask? Oh, you’ll see. You’ll see! And when you do, you’ll be sooooooo jealous of me. Or disgusted with me. One or the other. Stay tuned!!!

What that? No, I didn’t decide to spare you the pics! HA! Fooled ya! Shpladow!

Classic Quinn: "Let me just explain this to you, Nanny Kate"

Colin and Blue Horsey

Quinn playing basketball

Colin: "Can't talk! Figuring out this iPhone thing!"


Quinn doing his "I'm AH-dorble! You are powerless to resist me!" face


and Colin doing his "I'm AH-dorble! You are powerless to resist me!" face.

O-H-I-O! Ohio! Here We Come!

by CajunKate

So Bydee and I are making our annual trek to C-Bus to see Jen, Tim, and our delicious nephews Colin and Quinn. We are leaving tonight at 9 PM tonight. Please keep Bydee in your prayers as he will be trapped in a car with me for 15 hours. This is the reason our trip is annual. No one can (or should be forced to) handle that more than once a year.

I have MY PRECIOUS (new iPhone) with me, and I've set up this here blog to allow for mobile blogging, so you'll get some real time posts along with daily recaps like last year. I'm a blogging machine, people!

Stay tuned! Also, I'll be posting to my tumblr, as well. Hmmm, what's that? A narcissist? I don't know what you mean. I only live to serve, and the public has demanded this. And by public, I mean the voices in my head.

P.S. I spoke to nephew Colin on the phone this morning and he said, "Nanny Kate, I want you to come to my house! Oh, and Nanny Kate, I have a gun! A toy gun, Nanny Kate." You're in luck, Colin. I am coming to your house, and I'll bring... my shank! My toy shank!

Did You Say Beer and Food?

by CajunKate

(* FYI! This is gonna be a long, pic heavy post. Fair warning!)

So I don’t know if you guys remember or not, but I am a food-obsessed pig. Yeah. This means that when my birthday rolls around, I always try to find a unique, delicious, and expensive dining option. Late last month I stumbled across the Abita Dinner Series. This is how it came to be that Thursday, June 11, 2009, from here forward will be known as “Most Holy Abita Dinner Day.” Here’s how it went down.

Bydee and I hopped into the Vue at about 2:30 PM on Thursday. Neither of us had eaten lunch. I had purposefully done this because I am gluttonous and wanted as much room as possible in mah tummy to fill with Abita and food. But I am a loving, wonderful, and generous sister, so I stopped at McDonalds. After much debate, it was determined that we would get the meal that comes with two cheeseburgers, and I would eat one of the cheeseburgers, or as I like to call them “a most unfortunate snack.” We spent the first 30 minutes of our drive b***hing about how horrible McDonalds is. A whole 30 minutes on the topic of fast food. We are nothing if not lame.

The rest of the trip was spent talking about different topics. One topic was drinking and people who don’t drink, which included statements like this:

1. People who don’t drink, and have no logical reason for it, make me really nervous.

2. I don’t care if other people don’t drink, but don’t judge my drinking. Anyone who says something like, “Really? A drink? But it’s only ten in the morning!” will be an immediate victim of my one strike rule. They have no chance of becoming my friend…or even an acquaintance, really.

3. I’ll f**king set my alarm for 3:00 AM and drink a scotch if I f**kin’ feel like it! You can take your judgments and stick ‘em up your a** while you stare at my middle finger!

We are nothing if not classy.

When we arrived at Chez Sista and B Daigle's in NOLA, we were greeted by the AH-DORABLE Baby Zah-Zah. I don’t see how it is possible, but she gets cuter every time I see her. Bydee agrees since every time her name comes up, he yells out, “That kid is beautiful! Gerber baby! Get that kid in commercials!”

Zah-Zah in polka dots!

Michelle, Melissa’s sister, was there. Michelle is hilarious and awesome in every possible way. She cracks me up. One of my life’s dreams is to go out on the town with Michelle. I have every reason to believe it would be epic.

Burt got home about 5:30 PM, and Melissa’s parents, whom I happen to like very much because they are hilarious and have awesome accents, arrived to babysit Zah-Zah. After convincing Byron to let me iron his shirt, we all got ready and were out the door to the cab at 6:30 PM. The cab fulfilled the “responsible adult” part of the evening. We were under no delusions that we would not be drunkity-drunk-drunk by the end of the night, which fulfilled the “irresponsible adult” part of the evening. Ying and yang, people! Learn it, love it, live it!

The dinner was at Ralph’s on the Park, a very fancy-schmancy restaurant. We were led upstairs to a private dining room. This is when we all realized that we would be sitting at a table with strangers, and I had a mild panic attack. My RSS (Retard in Social Situations) disorder does not allow for eating with strangers until at least two drinks have been consumed, so that explains why I burst through the door onto the porch where the pre-dinner bar was set up, slammed my hands on the table, and yelled, “Beer! Now!” Not really. But it could have happened if Burt had not taken the lead and hustled us outside and gotten a drink into my hand within 60 seconds of arrival.

The pre-dinner beer was Abita Light. It’s not my favorite, but was def the best choice cuz, duh! No one wants to fill up on beer. The pre-dinner turned out to be my least favorite part of the night. We were all crammed out onto the tiny upper gallery. You heard me. Outside. In June. In 90 degree, 80 percent humidity weather. Me no likee. Also, there were supposed to be passed hors d’ oeuvres. There were, but the thing is they were plates with like ten items on them which were devoured by the ten people closest to the door from which the server emerged. I got one fried eggplant stick. That sucked. Eventually, I was all, “Seven o’clock yet? Inside! Inside! Sweating! No likee!” And Melissa was all, “Um, I think she needs to go inside and sit down for dinner.” So we did.

We all sat down at our lovely table.

Table setting

Menu

Our table marker read “Carter/ Diagle” :

They spelled our last name wrong and sat us with complete strangers? Unacceptable! But the Carters were not there yet. And in a true sign from above that Baby Jesus loves me, they NEVER DID! Amazing, no? We had the table to ourselves, and it was AWESOME! (Later in the night, I made a loving and beautiful toast which consisted of the statement, “I’d like to thank the Carters for not showing up! Yay!”)

Chef Chip Flanagan came out and described each of the courses to us. He was funny and charming, and I was determined to get a pic with him once I got enough liquor in me to throw my RSS out the window. Then beer was delivered for the first course, and the room lit up with a chorus of angels and divine light. Or maybe that was just me.

Anyway, the rest of the dinner went like this. YAY, BEER! Aaaaaand devour course. Repeat four times. It was magical!

Course I

Course II

Course III

Course IV

All of the courses were very good. But I think we all agreed the second was our favorite. Byron doesn’t like polenta (BLASPHEMY!) so Melissa and I got to eat his. When the waiter came by to pick up our plates for this course, I wasn’t done. I may or may not have threatened him with my dinner knife. Allegedly.

Needless to say, as the night wore on, we got more and more inebriated. Throughout the night, the next table was passing around a table member’s panama hat and taking pics of everyone wearing it. I said to Melissa in passing, “I want a picture of one of us wearing that hat.” And she was all, “Really? I’ll get it.” And I was “LOL! Nu-uh!” And then she got that SISTA! look on her face and said, “Oh, you think I won’t?!!?” and glided over to that dude and the next thing I knew, this was happening:

One of the most awesome parts of the evening was the impeccable service . Seriously. They were efficient, professional, and just so darn nice to our drunken a**es. They treated us like royalty. ADORE! When I left my seat to go to the restroom, the server at the door, who was scanning the room to service any needs of diners, stepped aside and literally did that whole *Sweeping hand with slight bow! Right this way, my lady!* gesture. I said to the server in the hall “Restroom?” and he did the exact same thing in the direction of the restroom while saying “Straight ahead and to the left, ma’am.” When I came back through, I gave him a full kiss on the mouth, then tucked him in my pocket to take home with me. Not really. But I wanted to.

After dinner, we went down to the bar to have a drink while we waited for our cab. Which never showed up. Seriously. We sat there drinking for probably an hour and taking pictures with people. (Bye-bye, RSS!)

The gang with Chef Flanagan

Me with Chef Flanagan

The gang with the Abita brewmaster (can't remember his name- surprise, surprise!)

The gang with some guy who started chatting with Byron at the bar and proclaimed himself "The Sausage King"

Eventually, we asked the bartender to call a cab for us, even though Burt had called like three times already and had waited outside for the better part of the hour. It got to the point where they were closing, and I asked the valet outside if he would call a cab for us, which he ran inside to do because at that point I think he was like, “Anything! Just get the f**k out! You’re drunk and obnoxious!” But, but… we’re fuuuuuuuuuuun obnoxious drunk, Mr. Valet!

Ten seconds later we all piled into the cab, which magically appeared, and within ten minutes we were all back at Chez Sista and BDaigle’s. Melissa’s mom greeted us and kept trying to get us to whisper and be quiet so as not to wake Zah- Zah. A complete exercise in futility for her. Within 5 minutes, Burt was asleep in the recliner, despite the fact me, Bydee, and Melissa were still whooping it up. About 30 minutes later, the rest of us gave up the ghost and went to bed.

Because there is a baby in the house, we were all awake and in the living room by 8:30 AM. We all sat around shooting the s**t and playing with Zah-Zah.

Baby speak for "Hoooooooooold me!!"

At about 10:30 AM, we decided we were starving, got dressed, and went out to Martin Wine Cellar for lunch, which was delicious. I know this because I took a bite of everyone’s meal. Classy! We roamed the store afterward for a bit and got a slice of heaven…err, peanut butter chocolate layer cake to go.

Back at the Daigles’, Melissa and I devoured the cake then I hustled Byron out to the car before he fell asleep in the chair, and we headed back to Lafayette. The trip back was uneventful with Byron sleeping for most of it.

All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better trip. What a great start to my BIRTHDAY weekend, which will continue tonight (Saturday) with a night out at The Tap Room and Café Roma. Pics and post tomorrow for that.

Wheeeeee! Turning old never felt so good!