New Orleans

I've been wanting to go to New Orleans ever since the Princess and the Frog came out (don't judge me.)
And this Christmas my dream of eating bengints with a Prince (gag?) was granted.

Don't judge my hair and lack of make-up - we left our house at midnight.

They load the bengints up with a small mountain of powder sugar. It's impossible to eat without making a complete mess.

You would be walking along looking at all the beautiful buildings and than BAM a voodoo store.

Voodoo dolls of every size! I wasn't allowed in the store. Typical.

Waiting in the longest line ever for bengints 

New Orleans has the best balloon artist in the world. I would have personally preferred Donatello, but Raphael isn't too shabby.

Since I will never ever be allowed to go to Mardi Gras (having a husband is sometimes like having a 3rd parent) - figured this guy (yes guy) and my mask below would be the closest I would ever get.

These guys are the Dragon Masters - you may know them from America's Got Talent. Since they are still dancing on the streets, my guess is, they didn't win. They did lots of really impressive stuff, but this is my fav. It's called the helicopter, and could possibly be one of my goals for 2012.

Mexicanity

The old addage that every song sounds better when played by a merachi band is true, and here's the proof:

Turkey Trot

I only need half an execuse to dress up, so when we signed up for a Turkey Trot, I decided feathers were a must!

Always one to play up to the camera!

Light Foot and Silver Heel ready to run!

We discovered that Kevin is willing to wear face paint, but Nicole is awful at putting face paint on......

Everyone loves pumpkin pie!

Accomplished racers!

I felt completly justified eating my two pieces of pie later that evening!

Just Add Water

Kevin's company has been coming along swimmingly these past couple of months. Recently we have been working on logos and tag lines, and for the life of me I can't convince him of the tag line -Just Add Water. How is that not brilliant?
Here is a simplified version of how a pool is built. Turns out it, it's a lot more complex than digging a hole!

Of course I had to try out the end product!

Don't be afraid to pass our name along: K2 Pools - Just Add Water.

Practically Perfect

The Poppins! 

This was meant to be Mary coming out of chimney, you need to use your imagination for this one. (Props aren't really my thing)

Me and Bert 2.0 (everyone needs a back up Bert) won $50 at our work costume competition.  

I'm guessing Disney World is feeling pretty foolish for turning me down now!

Disney

What's better than a day at Disney? A FREE day at Disney. A year ago Kevin and I worked the Disney marathon and landed ourselves free day passes!
We went to celebrate Kevin's birthday, and learnt that when you where a happy birthday badge with your name on it, everyone wishes you a happy birthday. He even had the maids at the haunted house sing to him.

 Kevin's favourite ride is Buzz Light Year. We went on it 5 times! On the 5th round he scored within the highest range... which is why we didn't have to do it 6 times.

Right next to Buzz is a dance floor where the characters comes and dance with you. For every Buzz Light Year ride, I was allowed one dance. Chip or possibly Dale and I had a great time doing the Cupid Shuffel.

 Kevin won the best husband of the year award, when he suggested we go queue up to meet the Princesses. 20 minutes of standing with a bunch of little girls shows nothing but pure love.

Belle's dress is so pouffy, it's hard to get close.

 

 I told Aurora that I really appreciated her tiny waist, to which she responded "oh how kind" - the princesses won't break character, no matter how creepy you are.

Disney really is the happiest place on earth. Followed very closely by Costco.





Bucket List

What started out as your typical Sunday Afternoon Fire Engine picture shoot ended in me starting a bucket list and crossing off my first item.

Driving a Fire Engine? Done!

I got that baby up to 15mph, survived two stop signs and parked this bad boy.

Number 2 on my bucket list has yet to be decided. But I am thinking it is better to add items to my list when I have completed them, it eliminates disappointment that way.

Merry Natal

We had a fabulous Saltzman family get together in Natal (which means Christmas in Portuguese) in August. There is too much to cram into one post, so please enjoy my favourites:

Eating more meat than humanely possibly:

Gigantic slip and slides:

Silly faces:
Walking along the beach to get lunch:
Eating amazing food in tiny shacks:
ABC football game that only the night owls attended:
Renting a native for the week:
And becoming best friends despite the language barrier:

The largest cashew tree in the world (we can confirm that cashew juice is disgusting)

Feeding cashew tree monkeys (get this they eat cashews!)
Did you know that a single cashew grows under a piece of fruit, as demonstrated by this wonderful plastic replica:

Enjoying our own private beach (that we sometimes shared with others, we are nice like that)

Dune buggies!


Watching the locals fish:

Kissing a shark (this isn't really how he kisses...)

Building sandcastles with the family contractor:

Cavern (you had to grab onto the wall for dear life when a wave came in)

Dolphin watching and just being plain cute:

Team volleyball practice:

Becoming "friends" with officials (aka bribing)

Our house:

Snorkeling in a rain storm:

Enjoying great times together:

Being with family is always great, no matter where you are....so Australia next time?