Christmas Evening.

On Christmas Eve we headed over to Jim & Karen's for their Annual Christmas Eve Singing, Dancing & Eating Extravaganza. The kids handled all aspects of production this year, including the old stand-by of the Frosty the Snowman skit, and some new additions... Leah & Ashley dancing to "Baby, It's Cold Outside," and the Mullen family performing "Mele Kalikimaka," accompanied by a ukelele. Austin had an interesting turn as the evening's narrator, "John Malkovich," and Ashley introduced the crowd to some sort of "find-your-match-without speaking" game, which proved to be a lot of fun. And of course, it would not be the Annual Christmas Eve Singing, Dancing & Eating Extravaganza without the singing and dancing! After finishing the evening with the living nativity parade, everyone left for home to prepare for Santa's arrival.

Two more days!

Slow down and enjoy!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Yesterday Holly, Ethan & Donovan came over to see if the rumors were true - and they were! Santa & Mrs. Claus came roaring down our street in his sleigh, pulled by eight tiny reindeer... or, in a firetruck, led by several police cars with sirens blaring. Santa is not real discreet these days. Anyway, the boys had fun playing and waiting, and waving, and catching footballs and candy that Santa's elves threw to them.

Home again.

We have arrived safe and sound at home after another great adventure!
mancuso family, new orleans, 2008









Bring on Christmas!

A Walk in the Park.

We spent our last day in New Orleans exploring Audubon Park, a pretty city park located right next to the Tulane campus. We walked the trails and played on the playground for a bit before it started to rain. We then actually found an open Starbucks and celebrated the holiday season kickoff with a Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha Latte, followed by an (un)traditional Thanksgiving dinner in the motorhome! Hope everyone had a great day!

Motley Krewe.

Wednesday we decided to cross the Mississippi and check out the city of Algiers. We ate lunch at the Dry Dock Cafe before making our way to Mardi Gras World - basically a huge warehouse where the amazing floats and props are kept during the year. It was an interesting tour. After Mardi Gras, all the floats are brought back here and painted a stark white. Then the artists spend the next year re-painting everything in accordance with the next year's theme. Before exploring the grounds, we were treated to some King Cake and were able to try on some of the costumes and masks used in the parades. It was a lot of fun and cool to see the artists working on the floats!
After spending some time rolling down the levees, we made our way back to the homestead.

Laissez les bon temps rouler! Again!

After a pancake breakfast in our abode, we wandered down to the French Quarter. We made our long-anticipated stop at Cafe du Monde for some coffee and beignets, explored the shops along Decatur Street, watched the ships make their way down the Ole Miss, and enjoyed listening to some street musicians in Jackson Square. After a fantastic bowl of gumbo, we headed for home for more board games and movies!

Due west.

Monday we cruised out of Destin and drove about five hours to New Orleans. We hooked up our home, found a diner, and then settled in for a fun evening of family board games!

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Destin. Blue skies, sun shined all day, and the temps got into the mid-60's. Someone please tell me where in the world the weather is like this all the time and I am moving there. We hit the trails at our campground, spending some time at the playground and then finding ourselves on the beautiful shores of the Gulf of Mexico. The sand here is so unbelievable - sugary soft white, does not stick to you. It is great for kicking off your shoes, wrestling with your little brother, etc.














Later we ate lunch at a fun place called Fudpuckers, and then did a little shopping at an outlet mall that coincidentally was having their tree-lighting ceremony. We celebrated that little bit of Christmas cheer with (what else?) some gelato. This morning we are heading out to Louisiana. I hope to post more later - internet service has been a little sporadic! Hope everyone is having a great week!

The Cold One.

We woke up this morning to 37 degrees, people! Yes, I know it is colder where you are, but we are camping in Florida! John and Will did venture out for a walk around the campground, but Will was very happy to get back inside where it was warm. We cooked up a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, English muffins and coffee before heading out to find a movie theater. Leah, Jack and I saw Twilight while John and Will did a little shopping - including a little train ride and a trip to Build-A-Bear. After we met up we found a little pizzeria and then headed back for a cozy night in the motorhome. We hope to do some more outdoorsy-type activities tomorrow, then again we are also hoping the temps will break out of the 50's!

Timelines, S'mores, and Kung-Fu.

We arrived at our first destination, Topsail Hill in Santa Rosa Beach, just after dark. This was not our intention, and I am not sure exactly how it happened. Dark at 5:15pm? What's up with that? We have crossed over the timeline into central zone, which puts us an hour behind, but even that didn't help our cause. Being our first time backing in the motorhome and hooking in the various tubes, cables and pipes, we were hoping for some daylight to guide us. But, alas, we are survivalists. We are camping, after all, getting back to nature! We are rugged individualists! We bravely found our way to our campsite, hooked everything up without incident - now we are settled in with our wifi internet, satellite tv, and central heat. We put Kung-Fu Panda on the tv and even indulged in the obligatory s'mores... made in the microwave. Ah, nature!

Ready for the next adventure!

We're hitting the road tomorrow - in style! We are borrowing a friends' motorhome and making the trip up to New Orleans, Louisiana, with a stop in Destin, Florida. We are also going to check out Biloxi, Mississippi. This baby has on-the-go wifi internet and satellite, so we expect to do plenty of blogging from the road!












This may make a return to our regular mini-van road trips a little difficult. ;)