Louisiana

Well, I know that I promised pictures earlier, but I am just a bad blogger! Things have been pretty crazy lately and I'm just now taking the time to download my pics and get them up here!

First things first, my trip to Louisiana was great! I drove 6 1/2 hours there on Saturday morning alone, Jay's dad Jim was in the hospital so we split up and he went there and I went to LA. It took me longer than I thought it would but that was probably because I stopped too much. It probably wasn't as long as it seemed, either because I was so excited! After 18 long years I was going to see my baby brother and I couldn't wait!

I got there in the afternoon and saw Austin, his Step dad Judson, and step sister too... Carol was at work still in town. It was a trip down memory lane, I hadn't been to that house in LA in 20 years... that is a looonng time. But it was still so familiar to me. The house was built by Austin's Grandparents and although they have done a lot of work on it since the last time I was there, I still remembered so much. The land out there in LA is gorgeous, green and wooded.

Austin gave me the grand tour and again I was excited to see so many familiar things from my childhood... it was very comforting! We had a good time catching up and filling each other in on the last 18 years or so. Jud, Austins step dad is a funny guy and educated me on many things including Gar Balls... that's right, I said Gar Balls. If you want to know what they are, call me and I'll fill you in.


Carol came home that night and we had a great dinner and continued to catch up. We had a great time talking about old times and old neighbor and all that good stuff. The next morning we pulled out the baby books and she made me some copies and I'll post them when

we get a scanner!) and cooked for us, again, a great big breakfast.

Austin took me through the big town of Evans and out to their camp on the river. The pics of him and the big tree are of a tree that fell in the road that we (well, really him) pulled out of the way. It was an adventure. The camp is really nice, on a sandy beach by the river and I can see why they love it so much, it reminds me of our ranch in South Texas. A nice little retreat.

Austin reminds me so much of Dad. When he was little he favored Carol and now that he's a man, he's definitely taken on characteristics of Dad... which is cool! And, he's taller than me... for real! He's getting a degree in Electrical Engineering at LA Tech in Rustin. I couldn't be more proud of little bro!

I was sad to leave and wished that I had more time. Carol loaded me up with goodies for the road... Amish Friendship
Bread starter, juice to make Mayhaw and Muskydine jelly, canned Chow-Chow, a relish for beans and such. They invited us back this fall and we are planning to go spend some time with them soon.


As for the working out, I have been bad these last 2 weeks. I had about 30 days in a row then our birthdays come around and I used that as an excuse. I've lost 9.9 with weight watchers so far and a total of about 13 since I began so that is good! I'm going to get in 5 more workouts before we leave on our cruise next week. I'm so excited about our cruise!!! We're going to Austin to help Jay's mom and dad with moving into and settling into their new house before heading to my Mom and Pops house Sunday. We'll drive to Galveston together and meet up with Granddad and Aline and sail away. One big happy dysfunctional family on the high seas!!!


I will take tons of pics and blog about our whole trip. We are planning a snorkeling excursion in Cozumel and a trip to the ruins in Progresso.