A Visit From the Fabulous Uncle Brad

The kids enjoyed a nice break form the school year - spring break that is, with a visit from Uncle Brad. He made the long drive from New Orleans to visit his favorite niece and nephew (and brother and sister-in-law too of course). It was quite a relaxing few days or all of us. I managed to read three books while the kids enjoyed quality time with their uncle. Once Uncle Brad arrived on Wednesday afternoon, we wasted no time integrating New Orleans into his visit. Jeff and I ordered 30 pounds of crawfish and we, along with a few friends, enjoyed a crawfish boil.  You'd think I would have taken some pictures but the beer must have gotten to me and I forgot. The crawfish was quite delicious, as was the Abita Beer that Brad brought from New Orleans!

Beer wasn't the only thing Brad brought with him. He also brought Christmas/Hanukkah gifts which usually arrive about this time of year. The kids received all sorts of fun stuff, but their favorite thing had to be the box that all the gifts came in. They turned it into a a little house and subsequently spent hours in it.

When they weren't spending time in their box, they were enjoying playing with the other presents. Allison was given a pottery wheel. Her and Uncle Brad spent one morning attempting to make a piece of pottery. Luckily I realized this was an outdoor project ahead of time. The mess that ensued to make one little clay bowl was quite extensive. But they had a grand old time with it and that's all that matters:

Daniel's big gift wasn't AS messy, but it was a bit cumbersome. He received a very large cardboard rocket ship that he could color in. Since this was a rather large undertaking, Allison assisted him:

The rocket ship is a work in progress. It may be complete by the time Uncle Brad make a return visit. Other than arts and crafts, we did manage to get out of the house a couple times while Brad was here. We spent one afternoon at Downtown at the Gardens. We enjoyed a delicious lunch outside at Cabo Flats and then enjoyed walking around the outdoor mall:

Later that evening Allison helped Uncle Brad make a potato salad using all the leftover potatoes from the crawfish boil. Allison was in charge of peeling the eggs - not an easy task: 

The next day, Allison need to work on a book for school. She needed to write about what she did over spring break. Never one to shy away from a project, Uncle Brad was more than happy to help with the cover for the book. After a one-hour trip to Jo Ann Fabrics (I had to pry both of them out of there), we had a new glue gun and several sparkly materials to create the cover. I would venture to say that Allison had the most sparkly fabulous book cover of anyone in her class:

Brad, Jeff and I also enjoyed a dinner out, sans kids, one evening thanks to grandma and papa. Before we knew it, the time had come form Uncle Brad to say good-bye and begin the long journey back to New Orleans. The kids were very sad to see him go, but we hope to see him again soon...next time in New Orleans!