Smoke, Smoke Everywhere

NEW ORLEANS -- Thick smoke continued blanketing parts of the metro area, as a massive marsh fire kept burning in eastern New Orleans.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu said that the fire is now over twice the size of City Park's 1,300 acres. Landrieu made the comment after finishing a morning flyover of the fire Tuesday.
Landrieu said that he will meet with state officials to discuss options for fighting the fire, but "aerial assault" may not help.
After finishing the flyover, Landrieu left for Baton Rouge to discuss options with governor's office. He is planning afternoon newser to announce plans.
"The experts are saying that even if you try to put water on top of it the smoke's going to continue," said Landrieu.
The smoky haze has loomed over sections of the city since this weekend.
"It's like your house is on fire. That's what it smells like," said Angel Price, who lives in one of the closest neighborhoods to the fire.
The fire, which has already scorched 1,300 acres of marsh, has been burning since late last week.
"We woke up coughing during the middle of the night, maybe about 2 or 3 (a.m.)," said another neighbor, Trimile White. "It's been pretty bad and I have a 1-year-old son, so I'm just trying to deal with it, but it's getting worse by the day."
Officials say they can't do much about it though, as the fire is burning in an inaccessible area.
"The best practice for this going out is by rain, obviously. We continue to explore every other option that is available to us that protects the health and safety of first responders," said Landrieu Monday.
Landrieu said the city is working with state and federal officials in a continuous effort to monitor the situation.
"Our coordinating systems are all in place right now and we'll continue to react based on the best advice our emergency responders give to us," he said.
Officials say, if it doesn't rain, the fire should burn itself out sometime within the next three days.
They stress that it isn't a threat to any homes or businesses.
But as the aggravating smoke keeps billowing into the New Orleans East sky and beyond, neighbors like Greg Glasper say they'd like to see a more aggressive plan of attack.
"You can bring a helicopter with some water and dump the water on it and try to smother the fire. At least do something about it. It's a nuisance," Glasper said.

Today when I watched the news, the weather people said that the smoke should be better today.  The smoke should be pushed more to the north.    Well, they were so, so wrong!  Ha!  Around 10:00 this morning I could smell the smoke inside my house.  When I went outside, it was not just hazy but really foggy with smoke.  Instantly my eyes started to burn a little and my nose tingled like it does when I stand too close to a BBQ pit too long.  I went to get my camera because even though it has been a little hazy the last couple of days and I could never smell the smoke from inside, today was a different story.  As I was taking pictures (and as fast as I could to get out of the smoke) I see a lady jogging down my street.  Is she crazy?  Ha!  I have to admire her dedication though!!   But  I don't know how she could breath in that stuff.  Poor Peyton will stuck inside all day today and he has been asking to go outside.  But no way, not today!  It is suppose to rain this week, so hopefully that will take care of this problem.  It's been three days now and I am already tired of it.  So weird that this is happening.  They say that the fire was was caused by lightening. 

Jumping for Jonathan

Jumping for Jonathan  (Jonathan's story)

"On August 29, 2007 Jonathan Guy Russo was born to parents Jason and Jen and big brother Jace. He was a happy healthy baby and a typical little boy whose favorite things were Thomas the Train, Oreo cookies and being home with his family. At 18 months old, Jonathan started having headaches. Doctors said that any number of things could be causing them. As he got older, the headaches became worse. On March 3, 2011 Jonathan woke up with a severe headache that no medicine could alleviate. We brought him to the emergency room at Children's Hospital and after a CT scan; he was diagnosed with a type of Brain tumor called a Craniopharyngioma. This type of tumor only occurs in 1: 1,000,000 people. There is little research for this type of tumor but what we do know is that it is formed in utero and affect the pituitary gland. Children are typically diagnosed with a Craniopharyngioma between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. Jonathan was just 3. After being diagnosed, his only option was surgery to remove the tumor. This very invasive surgery was scheduled for a week and a half later on Monday, March 14th. Complications arose during Jonathan's surgery and he never left the intensive care unit. On Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Jonathan left us here on earth and entered into heaven. He became "Our Angel." Jonathan continues to live through our thoughts and prayers. Through organ donation, Jonathan was able to save four different lives. Although we prayed for a miracle to heal him, in the end we realized that Jonathan was our miracle. Please join me in the fight against brain tumors by making a donation to my fundraising campaign to support the National Brain Tumor Society."

Yesterday we attending the Jumping for Jonathan Fundraising Campaign.  There were excellent foods, auctions, prizes and games!  To be able to support something so important was an amazing feeling.  I hope one day we can find a cure.  And I also had the honor to meet the mom and big brother of little Jonathan.   Peyton had a wonderful time at a wonderful cause and we look forward to next year. 

Pocket Full of Sunshine

Pocket Full of Sunshine seems to be Peyton's absolute favorite song right now.  With the exception of some of the Fresh Beat Band's songs.  :)  Peyton is so into music and dancing now.  I never thought we would get there!  For a while (and sometimes still) if it is not all about cars and trucks, then don't bother him.  Then one day he got interested in Kidz Bop and now he is all about music and dancing.  So cute....except for having to listen to Pocket Full of Sunshine in the car from the moment we get in to wherever we are going.  Which means that sometimes I have to listen to the same song 5 times!  And during the tremendous bouts of hitting replay of the same song, I find it hard to keep myself from watching him sing.  Oh.my.goodness....it is so cute hearing him sing.  Ha!  He sure is my pocket full of sunshine!!  He always makes me smile. 

What to Do, What to Do

Have I already complained about how miserably hot it has been?  Well after staying inside pretty much all day, we really wanted to get out of the house for a little while.  So Kevin came up with the great idea of going to City Park's Amusement Park.  We usually go there around Christmas time but since we have the membership, why not take advantage of it, right?  Well, we were disappointed to walk up to the gate to see that the darn park closed at 6:00 p.m.  Now wouldn't you think that in the midst of a daily heat wave and it being the month of August AND it being a SATURDAY night (for goodness sakes), that they would have the park open during the coolest part of the day?  Well we were already out and Peyton was not having us go back home again!  :)  He kept sayng he wanted to go back to the "green playground"  I think he meant for us to go back to the Lake area but we knew by the time we got out there it would be super dark.  So we went to a lighted church playground that we gone to a million times and I have a million pictures of Peyton playing there. Boring!  :)  Okay maybe for me but not for my little man though!  He was super excited to see the painted Hop Scotch which is new.  I didn't know that he knew what that was but there he was jumping on one then two legs.  That boy cease to amaze me and I got my one picture that I don't already have!!

A Mexican and Italian Night

Kevin had a rough week (well really month) at work so he wanted to go out and do something fun with Peyton.  Well on a Friday night, everything kiddie is pretty much closed except maybe Chucky E. Cheese.  But I didn't get a response on that one so I knew that was out!  :)  So we decided to try out this Mexican Restaurant, El Gato Negro, in Lakeview and maybe hit a park somewhere.  The restaurant's ambiance was just okay, food was pretty good but the Margaritas were horrible.  It was too bitter for my taste.  But it was interesting to watch Peyton have his first virgin Margarita...... and he really liked the bitterness!  Yuck!!  They called it a Lemon Lime drink but really it was a Margarita without the alcohol.  Ha!

Afterwards we headed to a little park by the Lake so that Peyton could run around a little.   I really do hate the month of August because even though it was close to 6:00 p.m. it was still so hot.  Usually I am inside for that month!  I really can't wait for it to cool down so that Peyton and I can hit the parks again.  And...well even though I know Peyton doesn't really feel the heat like I do, I just can't bring myself outside into it.  Unless I am in water of course!  :)  So anyway, we played a little, fed the ducks a little, watched the sun set, then of course finished off the evening with some Italian Ice Cream. Can't go wrong with Mexican and Italian!  I even brought my little point and shoot to capture some of the moments.  But of course by the end of the evening I wished that I brought my Nikon.  Oh well, at least I had a camera even though my little man seems to think that moments like these should include some pictures of his tongue hanging out!  Boys, I swear!  :)  But can you tell that I so, so, so this sweet child of mine!!

Oh, Those Boys!

Becca and I made family dinner plans at my house for tonight.  I didn't tell Peyton because, well.......even though I think that the first 10 times of "Is it time for Logan to come over?" is cute, the next 20 times of the same question gets a little annoying!  :)   So I kind of kept our little plans to myself and thought to 'pur.prise' Peyton again with Logan's arrival.  Well, it was a good plan.  I guess I should have shared 'the plan' with Kevin.  Last night after Kevin and Peyton walked the dog, Peyton comes in the kitchen and asked "Logan is coming over tomorrow?"  I looked at Kevin who then asked "You didn't tell Peyton about Logan coming over tomorrow because he acted like he didn't know about it."   Well yeah, honey, there is a method to my madness!  I just need to remember to tell you about it.   AND...the next day Logan coming over was all Peyton talked about.  But it was cute all the same!  And when Logan walked through the door we had two little boys who squealed like girls with happiness to see each other.   I love those boys!!

Cool Zoo

As I was getting Peyton dressed early this morning he asked me

"Are we going somewhere?" 

'"Yeap, but it is a surprise."  I said 

"It's a pur.prise?" 

"Yeap." 

So I packed him up in the car and drove up front so he can see his little buddy Logan waiting for him! 

"There's Logan!"  he says excitedly

"Yeap, we are going to the zoo to swim!" 

"To the zoo to swim?"   Peyton was a little confused with that statement.  He knows we don't swim at the zoo!  HA!  But the boys were so excited to see the splash park and had so much fun.  Why did I wait so long to check out this place??

Peyton and Logan's Day

Logan's Mom has been having a rough time with Brenna due to teething and had absolutely no sleep last night, so I offered to pick up Logan to spend the day.  Peyton was so excited when I told him we were going to pick up Logan to come play.  They played for 5 hours straight which helped me get  a lot done around the house!  :)   They played so good together.  It was so cute.....on our way from Logan's house all they did was talk and talk and talk.  Then I hear Logan say "Peyton, I love you."  And Peyton responds back "I love you too Logan!"  Can you say melt.my.heart!?!  What sweet boys!