Halloween in New Orleans

We spent Halloween weekend in New Orleans this year. Sandy and Bob had a vacation week in downtown so we drove over and met them. We went to the Audubon Zoo, which was super exciting for me, since my grandparents used to take me there when I was young. Reese had a blast, he loved the animals, especially the petting zoo (picture right). Randy and I also were able to hang out on Bourbon Street for a couple of nights. Our friend from college owns the bar the Blue Nile and showed us a wonderful time. In addition, my best friend from college, Megan Stanley was also going to be there so I met up with her and she was able to meet Reese.

Below are a few more pictures of our weekend.

Reese posing with the seals
Reese with Granny and Papa Adams at the Zoo
Megan and I saying our good-byes.

One of the most exciting things we did was trick-or-treating at relatives homes. My grandparents and my aunt opened their doors for one cute dragon this year. I think he received more candy from those two houses than if we would have knocked on 50 doors. My mom, who was also in town, in New Orleans was there to greet Reese not just at one of the homes but she actually left and went to the other house to open the door again.

Saints were on Monday Night Football so we watched the first quarter at my grandmas and Pan-pan, and my mom was there as well (picture right). Reese has become quite the Saints fan this year, who couldn't with that record! Then we headed over to the quarter with our friends Justin and Lynn to watch the rest of the Saints vs. Falcons game. It was exciting to be in the action of everything and cheering on the Saints with other fans. We then headed over to Harrah's to play slots, a favorite pastime of mine and Randy's, which we haven't been able to do in quite some time.

October in Review

As previously mentioned in my September in Review post, I am doing a quick recap on the three months that I was not blogging.

Here is what the Lillard's were up to for the month of October

Oh my goodness. In the beginning of October, Randy and I had to question whether our child was part monkey. He was climbing in and out of everything. One Saturday during Reese's morning nap I heard a thud and then a small whimper. I turned on the video monitor in his room and couldn't see him in his bed. I run into his room and see him sitting on the floor playing with a toy. That following Monday, I walked out of the livingroom while Reese was playing, walked back in to see that my child had managed to climb onto the recliner and onto the tv tray nearby. He was standing all the way up and was more than pleased with himself. Within a few days of that I walk into the kitchen to see Reese up on the dinner table grabbing a pacifier. He had used his truck to climb onto the chair and then onto the table.

Also in the beginning of the October, we spent one Sunday morning tailgating for the Texans game. It was a blast to see the little ones (Reese, Chase, Markus, and Samantha) playing together. They had constructed a play room right in the back of the Clem's SUV. The kids loved it and had plenty of toys to keep them busy. The kids were also able to sit on one of the police horses and kept wanting to go back to see the horse from then on. The pouring rain made it a miserable day, but everyone had a wonderful time anyway.

Towards the end of October, I began back to work. Currently, I work 24 hours a week and depending on the work load, I have the option to work more. Reese began daycare and seems to like it. Within the first two weeks of him being there, I received three phone calls to let me know that Reese had hurt himself. All very minor accidents but it is standard procedure to call with every scratch. His teachers tell me he is very active, loves to play outside and in general is very sweet. He loves outside time and they all laugh at him when he goes down the slide because he sits down way before he gets to the slide and begins to scoot on his bottom on the flat platform before he even reaches the slide.

At the end of October, Randy had the oppurtunity to go see a launch at Kennedy Space Center. He went to see the Ares 1-x launch, it was a test launch for the Ares 1 booster. He left here on a Sunday afternoon with our friend Brandon and drove to the cape, arriving there Monday around lunch time. The launch was scrubbed on Tuesday and launched on Wednesday morning. Two additional friends of Randy's, Jeremy and Alan, flew in and hitched a ride back. They all drove back Wednesday and arrived home Thursday morning early. Only to have to turn around to drive back to New Orleans with us for a vacation (more details about New Orleans in following blog) For a more detailed story visit our friend Brandon's blog with amazing pictures.