Fan Club Reunion

Last night, Reagan's Fan Club returned from a 10 day Alaskan cruise.  Reagan debuted her new yellow polo dress for the occasion.  After a quick bite to eat, everyone gathered at the airport (yes, another trip to Monroe Regional in less than a week) to welcome them home.

We all spent some quality time together while various members of the fan club alternately chatted with the airport employee about when, & if, they might expect all of their bags to arrive.

Reagan remains unimpressed with Monroe Regional:

I've said it before & I will say it again - hope, enthusiasm, & vacation dreams go to Monroe Regional to wither & die.  Below are pictures of what was supposed to be a family trip to New York in December of 2008.  We had tickets to see Wicked, The Little Mermaid, & Mamma Mia on Broadway, but my parents & I never boarded one plane.  I took time off work, crammed all my toiletry items into tiny bottles, & woke at 4AM so that I could stand around forlornly at Monroe Regional while American Airlines explained that they could not in any way offer us a shred of hope of making it to New York.

We did drive to Dallas to pick up Jessa who sat at DFW for 8 hours after flying there from Denver.  The plan was to fly to Dallas to meet her & make our connecting flight to New York . . . but American Airlines had no plane with which to fly us to Dallas & no way to get us to New York in any timely fashion.  I will resent them forever; I cried in the airport.

Below: me sitting at The Travel Company in Monroe while our travel agent tried to figure out a way to get us to New York in time to see the plays.  They let me sit behind the desk & play on the computer:

In the lobby of the hotel where we stayed in Dallas:

We did have some fun in Dallas . . . 

at The Cheesecake Factory:

We found this book, ironically titled Christmas in New York, in Barnes & Noble:

Happy to be doing some shopping, even if it was in 80 degree rather than 30 degree weather:

The luggage fiasco last night brought on some strong flashbacks for me.  We did go see Wicked at The Orpheum in Memphis in the summer of 2009.  I adore Wicked.

Remember, no good deed goes unpunished . . . 

especially if you include Monroe Regional in your travel plans.

AZ

Cilantro

Weekend excitement over & her daddy still traveling, Reagan grew bored with Jessica & the pups & I.

So we took her to the grocery store . . . where she remained pretty nonchalant about everything.

We decided to take a break from Newk's & do a little cooking.  I suggested enchiladas.  I was eager to make them the way I like them, with tomato & sauteed onion chopped up & added to the sauce (Trey doesn't eat either of these things, but he loves rotel dip.  Go figure).  Jessica wisely purchased some cilantro that we planned to mix with the tomato & onion to make pico de gallo.  Cilantro deceptively looks like a bunch of leaves, but it is AMAZING:

I chopped up the tomato & onion, & Jessica washed the cilantro.  My mom has a food processor, but it looked incredibly complicated to operate, so Jessica mixed the 3 ingredients in some sort of small chopping appliance that sparked a conversation about how a Magic Bullet might actually be useful.  Aside from Reagan's babble & the pups yapping in the background, you'd have thought we were filming an infomercial.  The finished product:

I think 'officially' pico has some lime juice in it, but ours was fantastic with just the tomato, onion, & cilantro.  Maybe it was the cilantro, or maybe it was the pureed bananas she ate, but Reagan's somber mood lifted after dinner:

Wednesday Reagan had two harrowing experiences: 6 month shots & her first trip inside the illustrious Monroe Regional Airport.  After a brief nap following the shots, we headed to the airport.  We passed the construction on the new terminal, found something that resembled a parking spot among the debris, & waded through a few puddles on our way inside to wait for her daddy.  We had fun choosing which chair upholstered with fake torn leather we would sit in, & opted for the one that appeared least sticky.   

Below: Reagan waiting, wondering what was so important that I interrupted her nap (note the wall of translucent cubes behind her that are meant to give the illusion that you're in a 'real' airport).

Thankfully we didn't have to wait long (b/c it's not like there is anything to eat or a bookstore to browse):

(Do not let that 'Restaurant' sign behind Trey's head fool you!  Quite the misnomer).  

Luggage loaded & Reagan buckled in again, we decided to go to Newk's for dinner.  Ok, I decided we'd to go to Newk's.  Hey, I love it.  Once seated, Reagan made quick work of her band-aids from her shots.

I was hoping to eat some of their Chicken Tortilla soup.  It is delicious, probably because it is generously garnished with . . . cilantro.  Unfortunately, Chicken Tortilla is not one of the soups they serve on Wednesday.  I opted for a crab bisque instead, which was palatable, but no cilantro.  Despite the shots, the shoddy airport, & cilantro-less soup, Reagan & I were happy to have her daddy home.       

On another note, cilantro is sold in large bunches, so if you know of a good recipe or dip that requires it, please feel free to post it on mine or Jessa's facebook.  It's too fantastic to waste.  Thanks!

AZ

Father's Day Weekend (Minus the Fathers)

Reagan & I spent Father's Day weekend with Aunt Jessica.  All 3 of us were without our father as they were both traveling, but we made the most of our time nonetheless.  Saturday afternoon the 3 of us (plus 2 dogs)  piled into my parents' bed & took an amazing nap.  Reagan was ready to head out after napping:

We spent Saturday evening at Aunt Donna & Uncle Bryan's house eating fried fish & sliced tomato.  I'm not one to get overly excited about a tomato, but these were fantastic:

Reagan relaxed with Papaw after dinner while we all watched the LSU-less CWS.  Hopefully next June I'll be chasing Reagan around (in our new house!) & watching the Tigers play baseball:

Saturday night was interesting.  Reagan stayed up & watched The Proposal with Jessica & I.  She was so sleepy when it ended I thought I'd put her in her bed.  Yeah, right.  She didn't go to sleep, but she had an audience for her nightly fretting.  Ethan is intrigued by another small creature that whimpers as much as he does (& receives even more attention than him).  

Confession time: we didn't make it to church Sunday morning.  Sophie slept like a log all night, but Reagan & Ethan, not so much (thus Jessica & I not so much either), so we all slept in Sunday.  Instead of the usual frilly dress, this Sunday morning I put Reagan in this onesie her daddy bought her last summer when he visited the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  We didn't know she'd be a she then, so he got something unisex.  I thought the black looked good on her.  She was skeptical at first: 

But warmed up to it once she had some cereal in her:

Cuteness in the ExerSaucer after her cereal:

I attempted to take a picture of both of us to send to Trey, but this was the best I got:

We did make it to church Sunday night.  In fact, we were all 3 dressed in time to swing by the mall before church for coffee & a pretzel at Auntie Anne's.  Yes, coffee.  It was over 100 degrees outside, but that's why they call it an obsession; you don't let the weather deter you.  I also purchased Father's Day gifts for mine & Reagan's dads (hey, if they're not even going to be here I'm not shopping early).  Reagan, bowless for most of the day, sported her yellow bow for the coffee outing & church.  A win-win all around:

I must pause & say Happy Birthday to my dog Sophie; she turns 4 today.  She's adjusted to sharing me with Trey & now Reagan remarkably well.  Trey was not a Sophie fan before we married, but she has completely won him over.  I've told him more than once that I always make great decisions, even if he doesn't immediately appreciate my wisdom.  

And, despite their absence on their big day, a tribute to our fathers from Reagan & I:

They're good with the babies:

They clean up nicely:

They make a nice escort:

They don't take themselves too seriously:

They travel well (& in good company!):

  

They're patient while we shop:

They know their table manners:

And they surround themselves with beautiful, wise women:

In 1979, Margaret Thatcher was asked the following:

Have you got any thoughts, Mrs. Thatcher, at this moment about Mrs. Pankhurst and your own mentor in political life—your own father?

She replied:

Well, of course, I just owe almost everything to my own father.  I really do.  He brought me up to believe all the things that I do believe and they're just the values on which I've fought the election.  And it's passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.

Happy Father's Day.  Reagan & I have been blessed with two of the best.  

AZ