Friday, May 29, 2009

Visiting the Powells Down South!

Wowie, wow, wow! I am such a lame blogger. Somehow life got busy (with what, I'm not quite sure...) and I neglected my poor blog for 2 months! Shame. Anyway, sorry about that Mom, Dad, Robyn, Kara... and whoever else is interested in our daily ongoings. So... I've got about 5 posts I need to catch up on... so I'd better get started!
Woohooo!! We just got back from an awesome trip to Louisiana! :) It would have been even BETTER if Daddy could have come... but with him gone to New Jersey, Dom and I decided to get the heck outta Dodge! Pretty typical of us, really. Daddy, we love you and missed you so much! Thank you for working so hard to support our family, you're the BEST!


Dominic had sooooo + ooooo + oooooo much fun with his cousins. Yes, it WAS that much fun. He chased them around the house, followed them around the yard. Giggled with them, played with them. LOVED them. It was a MUCH needed trip. We can't wait to do it again!


We went to the Audubon Zoo and then the Aquarium in New Orleans. We enjoyed a wonderful rainstorm under Robyn's tin roof out on their porch. The kids played in the pool, ran around naked, watched cartoons together, and just had so much fun!



Here are a TON of pictures from our trip...
The Plane...


Dom on the plane. On the way there, we had a non-stop flight. There was room for him to use his carseat. It was super.


On the way HOME... we had 3 take-offs and 3 landings... he didn't have his carseat, he didn't nap all day... it was so traumatic that I'm not even going to relive it by writing about it.

*Slight whimper*

The Kids...

Rub-a-dub, dub... two babies in the tub... pouring water onto the bathroom floor while I take a picture.

Dom and Alice playing together on the porch.
Awww... they love each other!


Cute little Ali-boo! Man, she took FULL advantage of not being the baby in the house while Dominic and I were visiting. She'd follow him around, cornering him in the hallway, taking her toys and his out of his hands, watching his every move and to every thing she's say, "No, no! No, no!" Just like a mommy.

By the end of our visit, Dom would throw himself to the ground and cry every time she told him no. Now that we're home, whenever I tell him no, he growls REALLY ferociously at me!!! Haha!

Ella and Dom, wrestling on the bed.

Ella holding Dominic. She LOVES to pick him up. He just goes along with it. :)


Tired babies. Aren't they sweet!?



We had a picnic at the park. The kids enjoyed the swings and the slides.



The Scenery...


Some of the beautiful scenery...

... and some of the odd scenery. Haha! Only in the South!!!

More Kids...

Ella, making Dom laugh in the car.

Doiminic really likes the girls' Rose Petal Cottage... maybe we'll get him one!

The Pool!

He couldn't resist. One early evening, we went out to enjoy the backyard. As soon as Dominic set eyes on the pool, he made a beeline... tugging at his shirt. I figured, why not? So I stripped him down to his diaper (we DID bring his swimming suit) and threw him in. He was quickly joined by two other Bathing Beauties... who were appropriately clad in their swimming attire. ;)



Ella, showing us the blackberries she just picked. They're quite tasty.


Dominic, "eating" the pool water. Mmmmmm.


Alice, making the most of it!

What a gorgeous girl!

What an ANGRY boy!

The Nakedness...






Could this picture BE any more shameful??? Naked... and on a pink and purple Barbie jeep!?

The Garden District...

The Trolley.
One of the gorgeous houses.





Beautiful Oak Trees...


The ZOO!

Mommy and Dom at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans!

Ella, the flamingo. They are her favorite animal, she says. (Actually, frogs are her favorite animals...well... amphibians... whatever.)


Ali-boo in her harness. She wouldn't hold still long enough for a picture. ;)

It was rainy... my hair loves the rain. BUT... the rain kept us cool and made for a zoo practically void of other people. It actually only rained in two little spurts... not the whole time. So it was great!
Tuckered out.

Ella, offering herself as a sacrifice to the Mayan Gods.


Ella, being a toucan.

The Aquarium!

As we walked in, we walked through an archway of water all around us!


Mommy and Dom in front of all the fish... that you can't see. ;)


The kiddies, fascinated with the fish!


More kiddies... getting swallowed by a whale! Aren't they cute!



Here's a clown fish, being loved by a sea anemone.



Here's a big scary shark!


Ella, petting a shark. Dom was brave enough to pet it as well... but it was a bit too difficult to take a picture while holding him. :)

The Disaster!


There's nothing worse than finding a purple crayon in the pocket of your kid's pants... AFTER running the whole load through the dryer. Waaaaahhhh!



We had probably close to $400 of our clothes, Alice's clothes, Dom's clothes and Ella's school uniforms in there! But don't fret... we're smart girls, kinda...

...we got on the internet and found this AMAZING recipe for crayon/dryer disasters. We frantically ran to the store, bought $20 dollars worth of goods, and prayed all the way home that it would work...





... and VOILA! 100% of our clothes were saved! God BLESS the Internet! :)

Just in case any of you are also as unfortunate as we were... I'm posting the recipe here:

  • 2 max doses of liquid TIDE or PUREX (we used PUREX)
  • 1 cup of Powdered OxyClean
  • 1 cup 20 Mule TeamBorax
  • 1 cup liquid Shout
  • 1 cup white Vinegar

We used warm water because our load was colors. We added ingredients to a large load of water, and let it agitate for a couple minutes to mix it up.

Then we added our poor, stained clothing and let it agitate a couple more minutes.

Then we soaked it for about 2-3 hours.

Last we let it run a full wash cycle with the ingredients still in.

When we were done, ALL the stains were GONE!!! ( Be sure to clean the dryer out too or you'll restain your clothes! )