[Nicolas] Cooker Baby

crawfish boils! nicolas enjoyed his first crawfish boil today at our the home of our good friends jonathan and sedoni. mary and i peeled, while he watched skeptically. after his first bite he couldn't wait to eat more. he even danced with new friends (trish): and spent some time with cuter-than-ever harley:

i just uploaded some new pics from this past weekend. bayou boogaloo was great friday night and saturday: nicolas and mary really enjoyed saturday there: nicolas met some cute girls that wanted to grab him: and then he danced with them on our blanket: and he loved seeing all the boats too: The next day (Sunday), we headed up the bayou to lakeview for the annual Greekfest. There were all kinds of cool "Greek-themed" activities like rock climbing, boat rides, greek dancing and live music, but all nicolas cared about was the cool sandbox (he had never played in one before): and the inflatable clubhouse:

this weekend is a prime example of why we love new orleans so much. yesterday and today, just a few blocks away from our house, is the Bayou Boogaloo on beautiful Bayou St. John. - live music, great food, arts, crafts and tons of friendly new orleanians. we went last night for a bit and nicolas of course loved it: great cajun and zydeco music and some awesome crawfish quesadillas. a couple even got married there on stage: this weekend is also the 35th! annual greek festival in lakeview, just a mile away. it 's a huge celebration of greek food, music, with lots of things for kids and a ton of fun - http://www.greekfestnola.com/ we may try to check that out today or tomorrow.

it's been almost a month, but we still have great memories of jazzfest. here's nicolas playing the water bottle at the fais do do tent: and a full 2 minutes of the little guy dancing to some zydeco music at the kids tent later in the day: we've taken advantage of this beautiful late spring here as much as possible, with regular bike rides through city park and after dinner neighborhood walks before bedtime. despite its flaws, new orleans is one of the most beautiful cities i've ever seen and we couldn't be happier that we're finally back home and able to share this special place with nicolas. hey, remember that clip a couple posts ago with nicolas dancing to the roedean choir of south africa at jazzfest? here's a video i found of them helping rebuild homes while they were here. how cool is that?: Roedean Choir helps rebuild

here's nicolas enjoying his discovery of spanish moss in beautiful nearby City Park:

here's nicolas enjoying music from the roedean choir of south africa in the kids tent on friday at jazzfest:

less than a couple weeks ago we packed up the cats and nicolas and some essentials and headed down to new orleans to live for a while. we're renting my brother's and dad's house near city park so we can be closer to work, friends and the city we love. within a few days of being here we had already run into some long lost friends. city park is literally a stone's throw away, and besides having a really fun playground for nicolas, it's also got the city's awesome museum of art, an amazing sculpture garden, an amusement park just for kids complete with a train and roller coaster, all set among groves of 100-year-old oak trees, bayous and wildlife. here's nicolas enjoying the playground: fortunately we got down here in time to enjoy what's left of the beautiful spring weather. the wednesday before jazzfest we met some good friends in the park for the Louisiana Philharmonic's annual pre-jazzfest concert, and unexpectedly ran into even more friends there.

we snapped these from my mac right after his nap on monday ...