Summer Bucket List

When school let out, the girls and I made a bucket list for summer. There are things on the list that I want the girls to do and there are things on the list that the girls wanted to do. For example, Elizabeth's idea - top of the list - swim 100 times. This was modified from 454 times. I had to show her the math on how hard it would even be to swim one hundred times and when I explained that we only had two and a half months of summer, this made her mad. (she enjoys school as much as her dad did as a child). Anyway....my contribution to the list included things like read 3 books, go to a play and go to 5 different state parks. Oh, and I can't forget my favorite, go out to eat ice cream. We have already marked that one off the list. (:

Seems to be working well...

.....and then maybe not. I had a real nice post about our summer, then took picture of the girls in the pool AND CRASH. Lost it all. So first , I've posted a pic from last night that I spruced up with Instagram, and now writing a little and we will see what happens.

Let's see how this works from the I-phone

Just wanted to see if I could use this or blog from my iPhone This app claims to be able to upload pictures and I hope tis true.

Softball season ended last night. Elizabeth 's team had lost every game until last night. I said they should have got the dirty sock award, but truly they should have got the good spirit award. Every time they played AND lost they didn't care- they were just glad to be there, get to play, and have fun- unlike the parents and coaches who were dis-heartened and discouraged that once again we had lost. Last night was a cherry on their cupcake- they were so excited to win. They didn't care that they didn't get a large trophy, they were just glad to play well and win- and have fun.

First Day to NOLA

We had a later start, but I don't know if I could have handled an earlier start. WOW. ANYway.... Eric is still coughing, but says he feels fine. I drove all the way, so I think he is still sick, because he hates my driving - it makes him nervous - and slept most of the way down here. Highway 27 (I think) from Vicksburg to Crystal Springs is a nice drive. Spring is alive in Mississippi, and all the trees are nice and green and it was just beautiful. It was like driving through the bottoms at home. We met traffic once we got within 13 miles of NOLA. (how do people do that everyday?). Stop and crawl. Stop and crawl. It was around 3:30pm, so I figure it was quitting time. We found our Bed and Breakfast with only one turn around. BUT OMG - there is a school next door and they were just letting out, so traffic again was awful. I began to panic. Was this what the Big Easy is all about? Traffic?

We are on the third floor at the Terrel House. Its a very small room, but the bed was comfortable last night and it's dark and cool. (two things I want in a room) There is a courtyard on the side that I enjoyed yet, with a beautiful fountain and lush green garden. Pictures will have to be made today.

Once we got our bags to our room, it was off to our adventure. Why did we choose NOLA? Food! And what kind of food did we want? SEAFOOD! Oysters in particular, raw please. So off to Acme Oyster we go. It's only a mile away. "We can walk there" I say. Eric says "oh hell no". My plan was to find a street car and ride into town. We asked our host about how to get a pass and she gave some "quick" directions and we didn't follow well. AND your have to have exact change - which we had none. SO off a hiking we went. BOY - was someone grumpy. (that was until I went off on him in the middle of the street and things were much better then!!) We were lost most of the time and stupid me followed my phone map directions instead of my head. We have blisters this morning. We found Acme through route of Bourbon Street, otherwise should be known as "SIN STREET AND MIDDLE OF HELL". I'm not gonna get on a high horse here, but it was just gross, lued and stinky. I can't believe that the people that sit on the left side of the church, second row, have been down that street!!

We finally found Acme and there was a line. But we didn't wait more than 5 minutes. Ok, let me start off - the oysters were good. Eric thought they were great! But now let me complain. We chose to be seated "1st available" and of course it was at the bar. At the bar, the guys are shucking oysters right in front of you and that was real cool. Back to complaining - our seats were right up against the door, and you know me, I don't complain while there, just gripe about it afterwards. Eric took his space and I squinch up against the wall. Which also means Eric ate most of the oysters, too. Oh well, he had fun. We had 2 dozen oysters and a sample plate of jambalaya, gumbo, smoked sausage and red beans and rice. With drinks, our bill was almost $60 dollars and we were really still hungry. Eric wanted to get another dozen oysters, but I told him we should sample some other oysters around town. You have to try Acme Oyster, because that what all the books and TV shows say, but I must say, they are pricing it according to their popularity.

We got change for a street car. We got lost again looking for the stinking street car, I mean -We walked the streets some more, exploring the city. Found the street car, and decided to ride. How far could the street car go right??!! How bout FOREVER. I thought I was gonna throw Eric off the street car, because he kept worrying about "how far was this thing gonna go" and "is it gonna bring us back to our B/B?" JUST SHUT UP AND RIDE for PETES SAKE!! It did take us a long ways, but we got to see some of the most beautiful homes and it's an open window streetcar, and the weather was perfect for it.

About and hour (or two) later, we got off at our stop. We were hungry, so we decided to try this restaurant at our stop. GOOD CHOICE!! It's called Zea. I don't know if it's a chain, but I think it might be. When we got there, they said we would have a 30 min wait, but we were seated shortly after we got there. We were afraid that we had chosen a swanky place by looking at the plates on the other diner's tables. Plus it had pretty white table clothes and candles. But our waiter was wonderful!! I would say that it was a dressy casual place. Lots of people came through the door and all seemed very happy to be there. We had duck empanoda's for appetizer - YUMMY. Eric had the dry ribs and I had the Trout with spicy shrimp/rice topping. YUMMY. I also had a side of corn grits. OMG, I have to have that recipe!! SO YUMMY. Did I say YUMMY??!!

We were only 4-5 blocks from our room, so off a hiking we went again. Straight to bed. What a great ending to a crazy day.

Day Trip

Eric and I are going to Texarkana today. We had great intentions of getting up early this morning and getting on the road before 7pm. BUT, kids will change your plans. Last night we had a make-up softball game at 6:30. The game was close and went into overtime. Elizabeth's team lost to the number one team, but we ALMOST beat them. Well, when we were done, the coach informed us that we had another make-up game at 9pm. Glad it's summer time. We didn't get home until 10:30 and the girls were N-ASTY, so we had to have baths also. I put them in their PJ's after their bath, and they went straight to sleep.

We are going to Texarkana today to pick up more bible school supplies. My friend, Kerri, and I went last week, and of course I didn't have all I needed, so back I go. Eric is going along for this trip. We took the girls to MawMaw Shirley's this morning, straight out of bed!! I stopped in to see a patient on the way, and then we were off. We have stopped at Arkadelphia for a big breakfast We are stuffed! I had french toast topped with blackberry topping and whipped cream with a side of eggs and bacon. Yummy. Eric had eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, and grits. He also is stuffed. We had a fabulous waitress, probably in her early twenties - there is hope for America. Just had to mention that, because good service is hard to find. We tipped her well.

We are also going to try to run a few errands and get some groceries when we get back to town. I have a baby shower at my house tomorrow for an old friend. We usually have these things at the church, but the church is bible school central , so I have volunteered to have it at my house. The cleaning fairy came yesterday and so the house looks nice and sparkly. I have high hopes that we can keep it that way until tomorrow.

Headed home.......

Yesterday we fulfilled our duties of our mini-vacation.....ate, slept, ate,slept. Well, not exactly. After a fine breakfast, we went shopping in downtown Nachitoches. Lots of little shops for women mostly. There was two shops Eric enjoyed. The first was the Mercantile store, reminded me a lot of the old Sheridan Hardware. They sold everything and anything you could need and even had an original 1917? cash register that they still checked our customers on. And the second store he liked was a cooking store. Yep, my husband! Well they had a lot of samples of the food they sold in the store and the "sales pitch" of samples worked. We contributed to the local economy. I also found a book in the local bookstore to buy and after shopping, we went back to our room and enjoyed a lunchtime nap.

When we woke, we had the munchies and the need to do something. We decided to walk back downtown and take a horse carriage tour of the town. We found some of the best pork cracklins to take on our tour. The tour guide was a young man, I would guess he was a teenager, but anyway, he loved history and was a great tour guide. He also pointed out some great places from Steele Magnolia's. After our tour, we found a street bench to sit and people watch until supper. We chose a local downtown restaurant, specializing in creole dishes. The restaurant was a little old and could use some fixing up, but the main course was really good. Eric had a gulf shrimp dish with a crap, lobster and shrimp sauce. I had grilled catfish on a bed of dirty rice and topped with a spicy crawfish sauce. We were successfully stuffed again. We walked back to our room, read and watched TV for the weather back home, then went and got ice cream at Sonic. Yeah, had to help the sweet tooth out.

This morning we had another wonderful breakfast. First course was a yogurt parfait with granola, banana's and strawberries. The second course was what our hostess called a pancake. I just called it cake. It was blueberry pancake that had pecans and Reese's morsel cooked in the bottom, topped with fresh whip cream, strawberries and bananas. Link sausage and grapes were on the side. It was very yummy. I love fancy breakfast.

We then packed up and headed out the door. Our tour guide from yesterday recommended that we visit Fort St. Jean Baptiste, where his dad worked. Sure enough, his dad was our tour guide today. The fort is a reconstruction based on historical records. I'm sure on busier days they do more re-enactments, but today was a slow day, which just meant more one-on-one time with our tour guide. By the way, dad told us today that he was a single dad. Nathan's mom had died about 9 years ago, and he had raised him on his own since then. He did a good job.

After touring the fort, Tommy recommended we go see some of the plantations. Eric was itching to head home, but once Tommy told us that one of the plantations was where part of "The Horse Soldiers" was filmed (starring JOHN WAYNE). It didn't take much to talk him into going then. Oakland Plantation was originally started around the late 1700's, was owned by the same family until 1989 and is now owned by National Park Service. What I enjoyed a lot about this home, was that the NPS has not restored everything back to the 1800's when the house was built, but kept much of the furniture the same because the family did live in the house until 1989. Of course the newest furniture is from the 50's and the ranger said the family were great pack rats, so it made it easier for the NPS.

Now we are headed home and should be home around 6 or 7. It has been a great weekend, but I can't wait to see my kids. See ya next vaca.

Natchitoches

I hope I spelled it right. Eric and I found good bar b q in Ruston yesterday. That was the beginning of our Louisianna food tour. What did we do before the Internet and GPS. Right before lunch, my cell phone's battery went dead, which has my GPS on it. We had my laptop looking for a place to eat, and had to use mapquest to get directions. A few years ago, we would have been stuck with McDonald's or Pizza hut on the main drag. We ate at Dowling's. It was a small bar b q joint and it was good, well, very good. Eric had the ribs and I had the brisket with bake beans and potato salad. Then it was on down the road to our final destination. We are staying at the Queen Ann Bed and Breakfast. We found this place on the Internet. I had heard about Nachitoches from the lady that "cuts" Eric's hair. This is the town where Steel Magnolia's was filmed. It's suppose to be the oldest town in Louisiana. The main street faces the Cane River (where they had the Easter egg hunt in Steel Magnolia's). It is paved in brick. Our B&B is nice. It was a little surprising that our room has large sliding doors right beside the parlor and front door. We were a little concerned at first about the privacy and when we opened the doors this morning to go to breakfast, we were greeted by the rest of the residents. Good Morning ! It hasn't been that bad though. We are the youngest here, and the rest of the residence are from Louisiana. One with a strong New Orleans accent. Our bed is very comfortable and I slept well last night. One problem around here is noise. OMG!! There is train you get use to, but the siren's from ambulance and police are terrible. This town is busier than I thought it would be and Front Street, where all the nice shops are, is very busy with local traffic. I haven't figured that one out yet. Also, last night when I laid down to sleep, I said out loud "I wonder what that door goes to." It's a locked door with a window pain above the door (I love it - very antique!). I found out this morning at 6:50 it leads to the kitchen. O well, I needed to get up anyway. Breakfast was served at 8:30. Bread pudding, breakfast casserole, sour cream grits and biscuit, and orange cranberry juice. It was very delicious and we had good company.
Oh yeah, and last night for supper we ate at a local place called Momma's Oyster Bar. We had oysters on the half shell, shrimp and crawfish. It was VERY good. We were able to walk there from our B&B and the local homes have really nice flower gardens. I could eat there again tonight, but maybe we will try something new. I am trying to get Eric to go to the Green Market right now, but naps are calling his name. May have to venture out on my own.