Sunday, April 11, 2010

SPRING BREAK :)

SPRING BREAK ~ PART 1

We had an early SPRING BREAK this year!!! Edd's sister, Patti and her family came down from Arlington, TX to visit us at the end of their Spring Break! It was so fun to see them again!!! :)

We took them to Honey Island for a swamp tour! The alligators were just starting to come out of hibernation so we were able to see a few of them out sunning themselves. There were also snakes and other swamp life to see...even bees coming from a beehive in one of the trees! Thus the name Honey Island Swamp!

The cousins had such a fun time being with each other again! :)


















Thomas, Mattie, Aimee & Allison

















Tanner, Andrew, Connor, Quinn & Bethany























Here is a young alligator sunning himself! This one is about 3-4 feet long. The wooden path leads up to one of the houses along the river!!! We saw a few other gators on our tour. The biggest one was only about 4 feet. The BIG alligators wait longer until it is warmer outside so they can warm themselves better!
It's officially "CRAWFISH SEASON!" Therefore, when one comes to Louisiana, one must experience crawfish!!!
Edd picked up about 40lbs of live crawfish! The boys thought it was pretty cool to look at them all swimming in the tub!!! The challenge was, who would touch a live crawfish??? Here's a picture of Connor holding one!

Edd and Scott cooked up the crawfish for us. Of course they had quite the audience. Once the crawfish were boiling, the boys lost interest and moved on...until the food was ready!
Most the kids at least tried the crawfish, a few even really liked it!!!

Edd and Scott ended up peeling crawfish for about an hour after we finished eating because we had so many crawfish!!!

This was Edd's first CRAWFISH BOIL! He was excited!!! It turned out pretty good! Of course there will be a little tweaking the next time to get things just right!

CRAWFISH QUESTION: Do you eat a crawfish with a curled tail or a straight tail?

While Edd and Scott were peeling, I was given the assignment to find instructions on how to preserve our leftovers. While I was hunting, I found a page...ways to tell if you are CAJUN...well I couldn't find the exact one tonight, but the one I did find tonight had this on there:
You know you are in Cajun Country when any carbonated softdrink (soda or pop), is called a COKE, regardless of brand or flavor.
I had always heard about this, but actually saw it in print the other day!!

I was cleaning up some random school papers and came across an announcement paper for Andrew's class Easter party. There was a list of desired items that you could choose to donate for the party. One of the items listed was "canned Cokes!"
Growing up, I don't remember calling the stuff in the can pop or soda. We always called things by their names...Sprite, Coke, etc. After living in the South for nearly 15 years now, I prefer "pop!"

Anyway, we had a great weekend playing with Patti, Scott, Quinn, Connor, Tanner, and Allison! Even Thomas had a good time with all the kids!!! We took them to our favorite park...the scenic way and they even got to see a sunset over Lake Pontchartrain!
Sunday morning, we all sat on one pew at church...what a sight...all those cute kids...nine in all!!! I reminded Edd that's what his family looked like, sort of, when he was a kid since there were 9 in his family...they were a little spaced out more.

Patti and her family left from church to drive back home. So when we got to our house, it was soooo quiet. The kids missed the Greenwoods so much! It was sad...

Luckily, we did have something to look forward to!!! On my phone was a message from our friends, the Jensens!!! The were on their way back from their Spring Break in Florida and wanted to stop by on their way home on Monday!
So Monday afternoon we hung out with the Jensens for a couple of hours!!! It was so fun to meet thier baby, Landon, he's such a cute boy! Andrew and Ashton were practically inseperable!!! Savannah was glad to see Aimee and Mattie too! It was hard for Andrew and Ashton to say good-bye. They met when they were 3, I think, and were best friends from day 1!!! We promised we'd get the boys together soon!!! Not soon enough in Andrew's book though...he was ready to just leave right then with Ashton!!!

SPRING BREAK ~ PART 2

Finally, it was time for our Spring Break! We talked about all the different places we could go; Florida, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Utah???

How about LOUISIANA???

The first half of the week, we did fun stuff around the area...went to Thomas' gymnastics class, grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, played at the park, played outside...lots of good stuff! :)
Thursday and Friday were a little more fun! Edd took some time off work and we went to Fontainbleau State Park Thursday morning. We went on a nature walk, which was fun! The trees were beautiful with their new green leaves and all the Spanish Moss!
























When we got to the wetlands, there were cool birds to see! Aimee and Thomas went snake hunting and found one!!! It was in the water and they didn't touch it, just looked at it in the grasses for a few minutes. Turns out the snake was a Cottonmouth! (poisonous) :)

After our nature walk, it was time for our picnic lunch, then off to the beach! :)

Oh, what a perfect day to sit on the beach and feel the breeze! Or play in the water and sand!! :)

The kids played and played and played!!! It was such a beautiful afternoon!!! Edd even caught a nap!!!
The kids collected clams, made mermaids, and had fun splashing around
After a few hours at the beach we went home! Edd cooked us some yummy hamburgers! What a great day! :)
Good Friday, we drove into New Orleans. We were driving along Canal Street when traffic stopped. After sitting a "parking lot" for a few minutes, not moving an inch, Edd
poked his head out to see the problem.
This was the problem...a PARADE!!! Imagine that! It was different to watch a Good Friday Parade!
Once the parade passed, traffic started flowing again. We were getting excited...almost to the Insectarium!!!
But alas, once again traffic stopped! Can you believe it, there was another parade!!! Luckily, it was a short parade group and the police let us pass it!
FINALLY, we made it to the Insectarium! :) Once inside, there were so many things to look at!!! All sorts of bugs!!! Live ones, dried ones, plastic ones, painted ones...they were everywhere! It was so neat!!! :)
Thomas brought his magnifying glass so he could see things, BIG!!
The last room was the live butterfly room! There were all different kinds of butterflies! Edd had fun trying to get a few shots of the butterflies! He got a few really good ones! One of the butterflies landed on Andrew! :)
After the Insectarium, we went back to our side of the lake and played at the Bogue Falaya Park for a little while, then we went out to dinner at Outback! :)
It was a fun week!
We had a good Easter Weekend listening to Conference and spending time with each other! :)

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