Thursday, July 21, 2011

Louisiana Vacation–2011 edition

Dear Riley,

This year we once again visited our Louisiana relatives for summer vacation. Our first stop was Mamaw’s house, where it’s Christmas in July when Riley walks in the door.

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A new chair, tricycle, dishes, clothes, movies, coloring books, purse… just to name a few. And that’s just on the inside. Outside, Mamaw bought you a new swimming pool.

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Next, we visited Leslie at Lake Bruin, Louisiana.

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We’re total tourists.

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I spent a lot of my time here. I just love the cypress trees, something we don’t have in abundance in Texas. They are so beautiful.

Swimming was the main activity, and Riley, you participated. You love to swim!

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I have to tell you something about swimming in Lake Bruin. I’m really nervous about alligators getting us while we are swimming! I’m so nervous in fact, I have to force myself to swim and have a good time. The thought that an alligator is about to yank me or you under is always on my mind. But I also have to tell you, we’ve never actually seen any alligators in Lake Bruin. I know they are there, but have to believe when Leslie says they won’t bother us. I guess you could say I’m a Texas-girl.

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We ate a 50 lb., Mississippi watermelon on the pier one day. I’ve never seen a watermelon so big. It was so sweet too!

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We also rode on the boat and tubed. In my mind, I braved the alligator infested water of Lake Bruin to let you ride a tube behind the boat for the very first time. It was an awesome experience and you had a great time!

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The picture above isn’t an action shot, only us about to be pulled by the boat. Believe me, we went fast! Your daddy said we were going about 30 MPH, of course in a straight line. You held on and even started fake screaming. It was hilarious!

We ended our trip back at Mamaws. There, we waited for Grandad to come and get us to take us back to Texas. When Grandad came, we went and visited Poverty Point.

 

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We rode the tram around the whole park. Poverty Point is my most favorite historical site.

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Poverty Point is a series of earthen mounds built 3500 years ago. That’s before Christ and about the same time as the Egyptian pyramids. Not much is known about the Indians who built the mounds, other than they build mounds and didn’t bury their dead. We got to meet a real archaeologist who was digging around.

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The ride home was a little sketchy, with all the “I need to tee-tees!” from you. The perfect way to instill fear into a parent of a potty-training toddler is to ride down the Interstate at 70+ MPH in rural Louisiana, and have the toddler tell you they need to “tee-tee”.

And, instead of asking, “Are we there yet?” you ask a million times, “Where we going?” Over. and. over. and. over. again.

After a wonderful week in Louisiana, we were both ready for our beds! I’m so glad we have the life we have! We are so lucky!

Love you so much,

Mama

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