ur all-too-brief spring in New Orleans usually means festivals, crawfish and all things outside. Some of these events are still on hold, however we’re still looking for ways to expose kids to our culture and history. The Historic New Orleans…
The flat terrain and often intense climate in these parts don’t make for the best hiking. While there’s ample green space for walks and runs, there aren’t a ton of hiking trails that offer a diversity of terrain or wildlife.…
I will be the first to admit that I have never been a fan of Valentine’s Day. In fact, I may be guilty of having called it the “Mardi Gras Distraction Holiday” on more than one occasion. However, as we…
At this point we’ve all celebrated various holidays and milestones a bit differently than in years past. Birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas have been socially distanced, Zoomed or even cancelled. Carnival, however, is like Christmas in that you cannot cancel it.…
Many of us of a – ahem – certain age who grew up in New Orleans fondly remember City Park’s “Celebration in the Oaks” driving tour. A winding path of lights that ended with the entrance to the park’s walking…
The past few months have had most of us scouring the internet for content to “engage” our kids. In fact, “engagement” seems to be the name of the game when it comes to inspiring young hearts and minds. Finding that…
While so many of us were hoping the arrival of fall and going back to school would also bring a the return of “normal” life, that hope seems to a bit further in the horizon. In times like these there…
For the average New Orleanian, August means more hot weather and going back to school. However, this school year – or at least the first half of it – promises to be a very different experience. Be it fully online, hybrid or…
Just as it seemed like the school year would never end, it suddenly did. In the meantime, New Orleans is slowly opening up when we normally slow down for the summer heat. For many parents the slow re-opening of stores…
While the school year may have come to an end, we missed a lot of the endings that come with it: field day, graduation and end of year picnics, to name a few. The result is that the arrival of…
For me, Gov. John Bel Edwards' March 20 announcement that all schools would be closing for at least three weeks (and likely longer) now feels like it was years ago. Overnight, a new world entered my household and words like…
This year’s mild winter means that spring basically sprung before Mardi Gras. The Japanese magnolias bloomed a while ago. We already got the citrus off of the trees, and we’ve had warm temperatures for a while now. However, that doesn’t…
One of my favorite things about parks is how they change with the seasons. While our long summers and mild winters mean we have green year round, a visit to City Park will always surprise you with how the landscape…
During February and March, it seems as if the only event that we can focus on is Carnival – even if you’re not a fan of the purple, green and gold. As King Cakes fill up offices and classrooms, and we…
The beginning of Carnival season has its own milestones within every household. The first King Cake bought for the season. The change of decorations. For the Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc, however, their parade on the first day of Carnival marks…
While there is no shortage of Christmas events in New Orleans, one of my family’s favorite Christmas traditions is a Cajun one that takes places on Christmas Eve a…
Once Halloween is over, we enter what I (somewhat) affectionately call the Holiday Vortex. It seems like Thanksgiving is a blip on our radar before we can even catch our breath for December. In between, there seem to be a…
For lots of New Orleanians, there’s nothing quite like the arrival of October. The temperatures and humidity finally start dropping, and while it may not feel quite like “fall” the way most people imagine it, that doesn’t stop us from…
As we head to the point of summer when we don’t remember the last time we felt cold air outdoors and our brains seem to be melting, keeping kids from falling away into heat-induced doldrums and complaining of boredom seems…
If you have a child that loves trains, then the moment you walk into the Train Garden at the Botanical Garden at City Park, you know you’re going to be there a while. In fact, it quickly morphs into one of…
While there are elements of Audubon Zoo that New Orleanians will always want to see – kids running down Monkey Hill, the Roman Candy Man and the fact that “they all axed for you,” just to name a few – today’s…
The sport of golf always seemed a bit dignified and, well, a bit buttoned up for a city known for people dancing in the streets and wearing tutus during the weekday. But our warm climate makes us a major destination…
Most of us who grew up in New Orleans think of ourselves as “city” kids. Although we have Audubon and City parks and plenty of green space in which kids can play, New Orleans is a city, an urban center.…
In a city and state where we seem to have a festival for just about everything, it makes sense that there would be one dedicated to our French Heritage. The “Fête Française,” hosted by the Ecole Bilingue de la Nouvelle…
Once the holiday vortex is behind us (even as we’re in the full swing of Carnival), there are times when you need to switch gears, get out of town and get a change of scenery. It is moments like these…
When we think of the words “heart healthy,” we picture images of exercise, foods rich in omega-3s and making sure we schedule that yearly check-up. We don’t, however, usually think about our kids, and the American Heart Association is…
There are times when it seems like temperatures are never going to come down in New Orleans. Then, in an instant, “fall” arrives and we enjoy such a brief, and wonderful, moment when it isn’t too hot – and not…
While summer “vacation” for many people means heading to the beach or some far-off place, summer camp and other obligations can make getting away more challenging than we would like. Yet, in our own backyard – well, maybe our back bayou…
To say that there is no greater life change than having a baby is like saying it’s hot in the summer, and for any woman who has been pregnant or had a young infant during summer in New Orleans, both…
While we had a lovely spring this year, it seems as if we turned the corner toward summer at a fast and furious pace. Temperatures have been climbing steadily, and, as our air conditioners hum and our daily pace slows…
