Down in the Bayou

 Saturday afternoon was spent on the bayou.  We signed up for an airboat tour to take us around the swamps.  It was about $75.00 a person but so worth it.  We had a great time.  The day was extremely sunny and warm so we all came back with some funky tans, but since I am not trying to find a summer romance on the boat I'm not that worried about it.  Jon and Josh are a different story  : )

 Our tour guide was Jay.  He is from Louisiana and he knew these waters extremely well and was able to answer all the questions we had.  Actually, me and Ken had.  We were the only ones who did any talking.  Even Jon was quiet.  Which is so weird for him.

 This is like the boat we were on but ours was only a six passenger.  Which worked out great for us because I hate being crowded.  These boats can go fast and move over land or water.  Since the marshes are losing so much land every year it is now illegal to move these boats over vegetation.  Punishable by fine and/or jail.

 Jon got to sit up in the co-captains chair for the first half of the tour.  Then he switched with Josh.  He looks natural up there doesn't he.  He absolutely loved it.

 Yes this boat is sideways but we are moving forward.  All I could think of was how my camera would be ruined if we tipped.

 Since we were in the marshes we all expected to see alligators.  I just didn't expect our guide to call them right up to the boat.  Apparently screaming words in french causes them to surface.  I can't get  my dogs to come to me when I call them and all he does is yell and six alligators show up.  I am doing something wrong.

 See that handrail?  That was my seat.  I moved.

 He was feeding them raw chicken but telling them he had rabbit.  Do alligators eat rabbit?

 Can you say close up?

 Part of the marshy swamp.  We have seen mountains, oceans, desert, plains, but never the marshes.  This is a totally different ecosystem then what we are used to.  I really enjoyed being out there.  So beautiful and peaceful.  Except for the 10 airboats flying by us every few minutes.  Guess they need to make their money somehow.

 This was our extremely stupid guide grabbing the tail to show us that she is a female and was getting beat up due to mating season.  He didn't have to show me, I would have believed him.

Hello Mr. Alligator

 They call this the cajun mohawk 

 This baby alligator will be raised on an alligator farm and released when it is about 4 years old.  Alligator farms actually take eggs from wild alligator nests and raise them for food, clothing, and souvenirs.  Because they take them from wild nests there are required to put 25% of them back into the wild.  They wait till they are around 4 years old so they have a greater chance of survival.  1 in 6 wild alligators survive to maturity.  6 in 6 survive on the farm.  

 Here's another tidbit of information.  The sex of the alligator does not depend on x or y chromosomes.  It depends on the temperature of the eggs they are developing in.  If the eggs are cool they will become females, if they are warm, males.   Don't ever say this blog didn't teach you anything  : D

 The Barataria Preserve is a national park.  And I love national parks.  And I really love getting stamps in my national park passport.  So this find was especially exciting.  We didn't spend a lot of time here, but there were quite a few trails we could have walked.  I didn't even know about it until I went to the national park website to watch a geyser in Yellowstone erupt and saw there was a park/preserve by where we were going to be.  Proceed to happy dance.  STAMP!!!

 See those little stumps in front of Ken?  Those are called Cypress knees.  They are actually the roots of the Cypress tress coming through the soil to get oxygen.  I had never seen that before so I thought they were pretty neat.

 View from our balcony.  Jon is just looking so much older to me  : (

 Bubba Gump bench in front of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  We didn't eat here but I had to take a picture.  These two wear me out!

 We ate dinner at the New Orleans Oyster Company.  Oh look, Ken had jambalaya and oysters on the half shell.  I had crawfish queso and chips and Jon had Alligator and a burger.S

 A historic church in Jackson Square.  We couldn't get close to it but it looked beautiful.

 Sitting watching the Mississippi River go by.

 At Cafe Du'Monde home of the world famous Benoit.  Also known to me and a big funnel cake.

 Jon and Josh on the streetcar.  These two can have fun anywhere.

A payphone?  What's a payphone?????

The Big Easy

May 25, 2012 was both an exciting and sad day.  While I am extremely excited about our trip to New Orleans and the cruise, I am also sad that this is the first vacation Ann has not accompanied us.  In fact, this is the longest I will go without seeing her.  Luckily, her pregnancy is going great so I really don't have any fears along that front.  I just really wish she was here to experience all this with us.  But Jon is super excited so I do look forward to having a great time with him.

Jon and I are alot alike in the "just roll with it" category.  Ken tends to fret over everything, and Ann just is a stay in the background kind of girl on trips.  Not me and Jon.  We have no problem busting a move with the street performers or just being able to really enjoy our experiences.  Ken says he always enjoys the trips after they are done because he has nothing to worry about then.  I live by the motto CARPE DIEM!!!

 We started our journey with a lunch at Lambert's Cafe, Home of the Thrown Roll.  Jon had never been here before so I really wanted him to be able to experience this.  I don't know if Jon was actually hungry for all the bread or he just really liked catching flying rolls in the air.  We all were stuffed to the gills by the time lunch was over.  And since Ken had not yet been to bed, this was the perfect time for him to hunker down for a nap.

 Jon Blaylock's dad let us borrow his Excursion, and it was a life saver.  We were all able to drive together and it offered us a ton of room.  Of course, Jon and Josh had trouble getting comfortable.  Or else they just liked screwing around in the back seat the whole time.  But they did catch some zzzzzz's  on the way down.

 Jon learned the sleeping on the floor was not the best solution.  It is easier to sleep in a car when you aren't longer than the seat.  Sometimes it sucks growing up  : )

 Once we arrived at the Holiday Inn at the Superdome at 8:00pm we were all starving so we headed down to Bourbon St. for dinner.  Holy Moly that place is crazy!  It's not a good picture but on the corner of one of the streets a band set up and people were in the streets dancing to them.  And the town stinks like trash, vomit, pee, and alcohol.  The atmosphere is unbelievable but I don't think I am brave enough to venture down here during Mardi Gras.

 Ken asked around to people who had been down here before for places to eat.  One that was mentioned over and over was Felix's Oyster Bar.  Believe it or not, we found it right away and sat down for dinner.  Ken loves oysters and Josh decided to be brave enough to try one.  So Ken gave him instructions on how to eat them while the rest of us sat back and laughed.

 Ken eats his with horseradish and when he saw the bowl of it on the table he was giddy like a little kid.  Josh prefers tabasco sauce which is what he put on his oyster and cracker.

He likes it, he really likes it.  In fact, he went back for seconds.  I will stick with my shrimp po' boy and crawfish etouffee thank you very much.  Jon really ventured off the charts and ate a hamburger.  That boy lives dangerous I tell you.  Ken followed up his oysters with jambalaya which he said was awesome.

Our first night in the Big Easy is considered a success.  Looking forward to a full day to be able to explore all this town holds

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY BEN!!!

 My middle nephew Ben turned 10 this week.  It has taken us about a week to celebrate, which normally happens when Deb has to fit in a party between 3 kids sports schedules.  They whole family gathered to celebrate with him.  Luckily the weather was clear so the boys were able to go hang outside and play some ball.  Thank goodness they were able to because they never get to play ball.  HA!

 At the kids party, everyone gets presents. Oh look, Cate got a Cinderella toy.  No Way.

 It's always a good time when the family gets together.  

 Aunt Frannie and Uncle Mike doing whatever Cate says

 Deb said this a do it yourself party., you can hold your own cake.  Apparently, nobody gets babied on their birthday anymore.

This poor shed is in the neighbor across the alleys' back yard.  Poor thing has so many dings from baseballs.  I bet the little old lady that lives there thinks she is under attack every time these crazy boys go outside.  It's a shame they don't live by a park and be go there anytime to play.  Oh wait, there is one right across the street.

All Hail Mother Nature

Poor Jon.  Poor Poor Jon.  If something is going to happen to any of us it is going to happen to Jon.  This time, the hail storm that worked its way through Granite City Saturday, decided to leave it's calling card on Jon's car.   He was at work so he had no chance to get it to a safe place.  Luckily, my car was in the car port, Ann's was at Cody's and Ken's was with us up a the camper.

 Jon will now be driving my car until we can get his fixed.  We had Ann and Cody up for lunch Saturday so they weren't in town for the storm.  Thank God!  I have no idea how Ann would have fared had she been in town.  It was bad enough watching radar from the camper.  She made me call my mom half a dozen times just to make sure they were down in the basement when the sirens went off.

Everyone else in the family survived with no damage to anything.  Dad said this was one of the worsts hail storms he had ever seen.  Wish I could have been home to see it.  But then again, Ken's truck probably would have been damaged and that would have been bad for everyone. So here's to Jon and another insurance claim!

Tale of the Hostas

 Oh my hostas.  How I have worried about you.  Last year you didn't do so well and I was afraid I had lost you.  Then that evil animal came and dug most of you up.  I though you were lost to me forever.  But you survived and this time I will protect you and not let bad things happen to you again.

 Last year my mom and dad brought over quite a few hostas from their gardens.  I had them planted around my trees and they looked very nice.  But for some reason during the summer they died off.  The shriveled up and went away.  I really thought I had killed them all,  When we got back to the camper this spring I noticed that most of them were dug up by some animal over the winter.  I just knew I was going to have to buy all new plants.

But alas, some survived.  My one tree has had quite a few come up.  I am so excited.  The other tree, not so much but there are a few trying to push their way to the top.

 Come on little buddy, you can do it.

 After the rains last weekend, everything turned a vibrant green.  Love it!

 As I was fishing, a term I will use very loosely, this creature swam by me.  Not sure the kind of snake that it is, but he wasn't too happy that I took his picture.

 One of the geese guarding her eggs.  She made sure nobody got close to her babies.

 Gross.  I hate frogs.

 Ken thinking he is all cool because he caught a fish.  Well listen here buster.  I caught the first one  But since you didn't help me with it it flopped off the bank into the lake before I got a picture.   But in my heart I know I caught the biggest fish.

New birds to my feeder.  I was so excited to see them there!

Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

This year our Easter was a little different.  Normally our family goes to church then spends the rest of the day running from one parents house to the other.  This year Ken had to work, we weren't going to Ken's families house, and we weren't going to my moms till 5:00pm.  What to do???  At first I thought Ann would be going to Cody's after church so it would just be me and Jon so I planned on taking him to lunch and the zoo.  I was then told by Ann that if I even think of going to the zoo without her she would never let me take Trevor there.  Sooooo I was going to have to come up with some other idea.  Then Cody's family said they weren't eating until 6:00pm so Ann and Cody joined us at the zoo.

Jon and I went to church Sunday morning with Cody and his family.  They belong to Central Christian and that is where Ann has been going the last year. After the service we went out to lunch then headed to the zoo.  The weather was perfect and we had a great time.

 This is normally how we all feel after spending a few hours with Cody  : )

Trevor's first trip to the zoo.  Think he will remember it?

 Did you know hippos kill more people every year than sharks?

 Believe it or not, Ann was yelling at Jon 

 So glad my kids love each other!!

 In case you were asking, yes these two make me tired

 Give the poor thing a leaf already

 Look, Ken showed up!  He actually got to eat dinner with the family.  As you can see, he was thrilled.

 Miss Cate trying the sabotage the Hillbilly Golf Game. 

 Jon saved the day and got the balls back.  Yay Jon!!!

Another crazy holiday!!!  Hope yours was as nice as ours!