Christmas 2008 & Jennifer & Jonathan's Wedding

It was great to see everyone who was in town for Christmas and the wedding. I wanted to share a few pictures from the wedding and Christmas and hope that if any of you have some you would like to share you will email them to me so that I can post them.

New York, New York!

With just 3 days in New York, Margot and I:

Met Mary, Luis, Casey, and Molly for late brunch at Nice Matin...




Went to see the play Molly is stage managing, EXPATRIATE,
and left in awe of the acting and singing!



Took a city bus tour on the top deck and got sunburned!
Waited and waited and waited in long lines to get to the top of Rockefeller Center...
Still had enough energy to do a little shopping afterwards...



Enjoyed an unforgettable, out-of-this-world, DEEEE-licious lobster dinner at The River Cafe in Brooklyn...



and even had time for a very quick shopping spree at H&M before checking out on our last day!
Lovely to have been there, and just as lovely to get home again...

Summer Updates 2008

Hello everyone

There is plenty of news about the Banos family these days so I figured I would take the opportunity to update everyone (just in case you didn't already know).

In PWAC CC generation 2 news Betsy and I are both pregnant again! Baby Vaicius is due in January and Baby Rinehart is due shortly thereafter in February. If I am late and Betsy is early these babies might share a birthday - now that would be cool.

Lucy spent 3 weeks in Atlanta visiting Nana and Papa-T and hanging out with her cousins, Liam and Wes. She had a great time but I missed her like crazy. I was away from her for 2 weeks and doubt I will ever do that again - it was too long!

Christian and I spent a week traveling around Portland, Seattle and the San Juan Islands, where we visited with Richmond who is out there working again this summer for Wilderness Ventures. He took us sea kayaking, which was one of the coolest things I have ever done.

Little Luis finished a triathalon - how cool is that??? I am very impressed. Luis and Anne headed up to watch him compete and captured a few great pictures:





Josh turned 31 and was in town visiting for the week of his birthday. While he was in town we all got together for a birthday dinner (and doberge cake) to celebrate:





It dawned on me recently that I am the only one of the cousins living in New Orleans these days (other than Molly P but she doesn't have a choice at this point). So, will one of you please move back to NOLA? Just checking...

Please let me know if you guys have any other news-worthy information as I am sure I left out some interesting things.

Happy Birthday Molly - Josh In NYC

Today is Molly's birthday - Happy Birthday Molls - we love you!

For those of you in NYC, Josh will be playing at the Knitting Factory on Sunday night so check it out!

Introducing, Dr. Catherine Jones

Catherine is officially an M.D.!!!

I caught her on her way into the graduation ceremony at Fogelmen, looking very impressive in her robe:



Here is a short video clip from the ceremony.



I got distracted trying to take a still picture so that is why the video gets wobbly a few seconds in.

We celebrated with a lovely party following the ceremony at Aunt Julie and Uncle Edwards'. It was a great excuse to get together and a total treat to celebrate Catherine's accomplishments.

More Mother's Day 2008

Here are a few more pictures from the delicious Mother's Day dinner.
Dama would have been so proud of Aunt Margot's incredible igloo cake.
The picture does not do it justice people...it was a sight to behold:


not to mention, absolutely divine. Aunt Margot actually made the whipped cream herself. I am telling you, you can taste the difference, this was no Cool Whip. As you can see from the picture, this is a very complex dessert, one that I would never dare to attempt.

The table, beautiful as always.


Catherine and Lucy on the front porch:



In other news, I recently learned about an impromptu PWAC CC brunch two weeks ago in NYC. Sarah was there visiting Mary so they got together with Molly, Little Luis and Casey. Everyone had a great time but nobody took a picture!!!

What else, it seems like there are about 10 graduations - okay, I am exaggerating a little. Here's what I have been able to keep track of and I apologize if I am missing something - Jane, Laura, Baker, Catherine - all graduating. Austin is getting his wings sometime in June (13th maybe?). Richmond recently defended his thesis and will spend the next year writing his dissertation (I think I have this right) - before all of that happens - however - he is off to do outdoorsy stuff for the summer. Jonathan and Jen are now living in St. Louis but will probably be back and forth a bit for wedding-related planning. Josh just got back from Russia. I have a link to his pictures from that trip and will attempt to set it up so you can check them out. Betsy and Dan just returned from Argentina - the highlight of that trip was apparently the time they spent drinking wine in Mendoza. I guess that was the best part - stands to reason. After graduation Catherine is traveling around a bit and is then headed to Albuquerque. I am sure there is much more news out there - just let me know and I will post it.

I hope to see some of you out at Thib over Memorial Day Weekend. Molly will be in town (she managed to fit in a quick break between shows) and we are REALLY looking forward to lounging around by the newly-refurbished pool!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms and Grandmoms and Great-Grandmom in the Banos Family, and a huge
thank you to our dear children, and nieces and nephews who are as dear as our own, for
for giving us so much for which to be grateful.

We gathered tonight at Margot and Walker's for a delicious supper in honor of all the Moms, those present and those not. Margot made Dama's spectacular igloo for our dessert...a wonderful ending to a lovely evening.
Here we are!