The Swampy O'Neals: Whew! And now, we rest....

Boy, it has been an exciting couple of weeks. As everyone probably knows by now, our beloved Saints made it to and WON the SUPERBOWL!!!! It was so awesome and couldnt have happened to a better group of players or fans. It all started with that last fieldgoal kick in overtime against the Vikings. When Garrett Hartley made that kick it was like the whole state exploded. I actually got kinda dizzy and had to sit down on the floor. There were fireworks and screaming and cheering coming from every direction. Looking back on it, i think that one kick was more intense and exciting than anything that happened in the superbowl game itself.

Donny switched jobs again. He went back to the same company that was giving him the runaround a few months back. He's back at a plant he's worked before and seems to really like it. He gets home at a deicent time too, which is good for Justin. He was off for just a few days this time, but Justin really got used to having his daddy around. We took another river road trip, but the pictures turned out kinda dreary, since it's winter and everything is dead. I thought about that before we left, but I didn't know it would be as depressing as it was! i think we might re-do that leg of the trip come spring.

Feb. 5th marked the beginning of the Mardi Gras parades here in Houma. We always send Justin to his grandparents and go to Paco and Kasies for the Hercules parade, which is usually pretty wild. Not this year, it kinda sucked. They werent really throwing anything and they were rude and when we went downtown they were throwing thier trash and empties at us. Not cool. The following Sunday was SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!!! We took Justin to the parade that morning, along with our friends the Austins and Paco and Kasie. We went to the Austins after the parade and cooked and watched the game. Good times were had by all. Tuesday night the Saints parade was on TV and boy, that was something to see. They pulled that parade together so fast, it really was amazing. All the different krewes donated floats, including a train float that Sean Payton rode, waving the Lombardi Trophy the entire way. An estimated 800,000 people attended that parade, the largest number in the recorded history. Good times were had by all. The following Friday was the 2010 Olympics Opening Ceremony. Those ceremonies are always cool. Good times were had by all....well, except maybe for the Luge competitors. They lost a fellow athlete during pratice that morning. The worst part was NBC showing the accident over and over, even in slow motion. That was, in my opinion, in very poor taste. NBC has lost a lot of points with me over the past couple of months. I really only watch it now for the news. I get a kick out of WDSU's news anchors and reporters.

My folks drove down to visit the next day and we all went to the sunday morning parade. Again, good times were had. It was cold, and Justin got cranky but thats okay. It was too cold to attend the Monday night parade so we took the night off and got up early the next morning to get ready for Mardi Gras day. I always enjoy WDSU's coverage of everything that goes on in New Orleans and they did not fail me! They were already acting kooky before 9am. The ONeals went out to the street around 11, had a little trouble finding parking, but everything worked out. Good times were had by all.

And now its all over. Kind of a relief. We've still got a week of the Olympics left, but somehow I dont think that will really compare to everything thats been going on around here. Overall, its been a fantastic time.

HAPPY LOMBARDI GRAS!!!!

Spending time with Daddy (Feb. 2)

Depressing trees (Feb. 3)