Wordy Wednesday - New Orleans Style

Happy Wednesday Everykitty! First, we have an update on Daddy's sister. She is still in the hospital as she is experiencing some complications. It's nothing too big, they expect to release her Thursday, but the recovery will take longer than first anticipated. If you guys could send her purrs to get better quickly, we would appreciate it!

Today, we are going to show you what our beans were doing while they left us last weekend. They took a weekend trip to New Orleans with Aunt Susan and Uncle Dave. Uncle Dave is a native New Orleanian (Aunt Susan lived in LA too - her V-E-T degree is from LSU) so they were able to stay with Aunt Dave's sister Susie in Slidell, a suburb of the city. On Saturday, they were invited to attend a huge party at Susie's house. Here's a picture they took when they first arrived.

The food they ate was wonderful and we are very jealous of what they were served- three kinds of gumbo, shrimp and grits, grilled oysters, sausages, Cochon de Lait (Mommy refused to eat this as it's suckling pig), rack of lamb (Mommy also refused to eat), chicken and vegetable kabobs and Corn Maque Choux. Susie has this party every year and its always catered by Jack, the owner of Jacques-Imo's Cafe in New Orleans. This year, two of the gumbos (a traditional chicken and sausage gumbo and a seafood gumbo) were made by John Besh - runner up on the show The Next Iron Chef. John was supposed to be there, and Daddy was really looking forward to meeting him, but he could not make it at the last minute. He sent the gumbo though and Mommy says it was delish! Here are some pics of the food that Daddy took.

The next day was absolutely gorgeous in Louisiana. Daddy woke up early and took some pictures of the bayou that is behind Susie's house. He had hoped to see the foxes and bobcats (big wild kitties) and alligators (Daisy - they are great big lizards!) that live on the property but didn't see any. Here's Mommy's favorite of the bayou pictures that he took.

After everyone woke up, they all went into New Orleans and headed for the French Quarter. They went to some place called Pat O'Brien's and had those hurricanes we heard about. Guess what! They are not scary storms but drinks - really nummy adult rum drinks according to Mommy!

They spent the day in the French Quarter and watched the sun set on the Mississippi River. Here are some pictures Mommy took.

Look what else they got while they were in the French Quarter: gourmet kitty and doggie treats!

After leaving the French Quarter, they drove through the residential sections of the city. Though Uncle Dave and Aunt Susan had been back numerous times after Hurricane Katrina, this was our beans first time back. Even after over two years, Mommy was shocked at how bad certain areas of the city looked like - like a war zone. There is also a smell of mold and decay in certain areas of the city that was not there before. Many people are still living in FEMA trailers in the front yards and entire apartment complexes are boarded up and buildings are falling down. Mommy said seeing it all made her heart hurt and seeing the water lines still on some buildings and rescuers markings of "rescued cat" or "1 dead" followed by dates was just awful. The city is coming back, but its going to take a long time to erase the damage the storm left behind.

They left the city that night and spent one more night at Dave's sister's house before driving home the next day. They arrived home Monday night and we were really happy to see them! We don't think we will let them leave again!!

They're Back and Random Meme from Mickey

First off, we want to thank everyone for their heartfelt good wishes and prayers for Daddy's sister. She is doing well and should be home by now and able to return to work next week. We have not been blogging long, and knowing that so many people already care about us is just overwhelming. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. Now on to other things!

Last night, after dark, at about 8pm Mommy says, our beans returned home from New Orleans! They were very glad that they got to go and we were kinda glad too because it meant we got spoiled by Uncle Mark. We did worry about them for a time when we heard something about having hurricanes in the French Quarter (as pirates, we know that hurricanes are not good - after all, one swept Captain Jack off of the Black Furrball) but Uncle Mark said it wasn't what we thought. Mommy says they ate excellent food and had a great time. They even brought us back some gourmet kitty treats from the French Quarter! When they get the pictures they took edited, we'll put some online for you kitties to see. Until then, we've been tagged for our very first meme!!

We’ve been tagged by Mickey for a meme. Here are the rules:
* Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog;
* Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself;
* Tag 7 random people at the end of your post & include links to their blogs;
* Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 Random and/or Weird Facts About Us!

1. Captain Jack - I love to play with straws so much that when I have one in my mouth, I make a weird yawling sound, almost like I am in pain. The first time I did this, Mommy was so scared because she thought I was hurt when actually I was just playing with a straw. Even now Mommy must remind herself "Oh, Jack has a straw" when she hears that meow.

2. Dante - One of my favorite things to do is to taunt Beaux through the glass on our porch door. He will be outside and I will be inside. I love to stand on my back legs and paw the glass door like mad, right in Beaux's face. This makes Beaux bark a really mean bark that usually gets him yelled at by the beans. I laugh cause he cannot get me AND because I got him in trouble!

3. Captain Jack - I love potato chips. Mommy cannot eat any without sharing or I will stand on her and stare until she gives in.

4. Dante - I love to sleep in front of the fireplace when its lit. If I could, and if Mommy and Daddy would remove the screen, I think I would sleep in the fire - so warm and toasty!

5. Captain Jack - I love water. I drink out of faucets, the water bowl and my fountain. Sometimes, I know my toys are thirsty too so I put them into the water bowl so they can drink....I just forget to take them out sometimes.

6. Dante - I only like crunchy treats. I refuse to eat moist treats like Pounce. Jack can have those - gimme the Whisker Lickins or Temptations!!

7. Both Kitties - We love to play on both sides of a door. Dante gets on one side, Captain Jack on the other, and we attack each other by using our paws under the door. It is so much fun!!

We are not sure who has not been tagged by this but Captain Jack wants to tag his special lady friend, Miss Boo. Dante would like to tag our twins Skeeter & LC.