Fall Festival

Week 71:  Another Week of Fun.  This started the busy season for us and boy are we getting ready for fall!  I guess the real fun this week started at horseback.  Mary Virginia rode Bailey again and she is still jumping at a level 4.  This time she rode without stirrups for part of the lesson and she did amazing!  Her form is really improving and she is turning into quite a little rider!

Saturday, we headed to Denham Springs for their Fall Festival.  It was so much fun last year that we wanted to head back this year.  They shut down the main street in town, all of the stores are open and there are all kinds of vendors along the streets.

One of the kids favorite places of the day was the army truck!  They played inside the cab.

MV headed to the back of the truck to check out all of the guns!



Then it was on to scope out the Parish Police Departments!  The police brought motorcycles, cars and even their helicopters.  The kids weren't too taken with the helicopter...they get to see those all the time at the "airplane museum".  The police also provide rides for the kids!  They loved the teacup style ride.

And they always love a good bounce slide!

As were took our jambalaya lunch break, we looked up and saw some of our favorite "Swamp People".  The kids hurried through their lunch so that they could get to Austyn and Blake! 

 We are officially ready for fall!

Math & Science Night

Week 70:  Another fun week!  Mary Virginia had character dress up this week.  Of course, I forgot to take a picture before she got in the car...The students were to dress up as their favorite book character as a fundraiser for the library.  MV chose to dress up as Barbie the Pet Vet.  She looked so cute in her pink Barbie dress, lab coat, and her doctor bag.  The school also had a team spirit day this week.  Now, living in Louisiana and just coming off of a loss to LSU, MV wasn't too inclined to wear her Auburn gear, so we compromised and wore Saints gear!  She looked adorable in her Saints jersey! 

That night we had Math & Science night at MV's school.  The kids have so much fun and it is great to see the classes and other families in the school!
I must say corn hole was the highlight of the games...MV was great but John Bay got it in the hole every time!

Friday brought another day at the barn.  MV rode Cayenne and she did great as always.  She even was able to move up to a level 4 on her jump! 

Cayenne tried to cooperate as much as possible...he was getting tired by the end of the lesson which is when I shot the video.

Next week we are getting ready for fall!

Respecting Authority

Week 69:  We are looking forward to a great week! 

Mary Virginia had her Girl Scouts meeting on Thursday night.  We had so much fun!  The girls were learning about respecting authority, so we took the troop to the Fire Department!  The girls loved it...I don't think the firefighters knew what to do with 8 girls!

They let the girls climb all over the trucks as they learned about all that the fire trucks can do!

Our favorite part of the visit...shooting the fire hose!  The girls had a blast watching how far they could spray the water.

The next day we headed back to the barn and MV had fun as always riding Cayenne!  She loves this horse - she sits up a little higher when she rides him.

She moved up to a Level 4 on her jumps!

On Saturday, we watched football with some B & G friends!  It was fun to hangout with friends and watch some pretty good football!  We were hanging on a thread during the LSU/Auburn Game!  The kids all loved playing outside which gave the parents some much needed time to visit!

Sunday was a special day for our family.  Ed was baptized at church.  He was baptized as an infant, but now as an adult he felt moved to be baptized by submersion.  The kids were able to watch his baptism - we were all so proud of him.  What a wonderful example he set for our children and an exceptional way to end the week!

Stomach Virus...

Week 68:  There is not much to say for this week, except that the stomach virus hit us hard...all of us!  Trust me, you don't want any pictures!  We stayed in the house all week and tried to recover!  I don't think that I have ever used so much Lysol or Clorox!  Hopefully we will be back to normal next week!

Assessing the Damage

Week 67:  This was a short school week for us.  We made it back from the lake on Monday and it was time to get back in the swing of things.  As we pulled into town on Monday night, we were expecting the worst from storm damage.  There were still remnants of flooding throughout the area and lots of fences were down!  Thank goodness, our neighborhood was spared from too much damage!  Monday night was a little rough...we spent most of it cleaning up the mess of a house that had been without power for a few days!  Tuesday morning came way too quickly, but I think the kids were ready to get back into a routine, I know that I was.  We were excited for Thursday, it was time to start Girl Scouts!  We can't wait for this year - the girls have a wonderful new leader and lots of new girls!  I can't wait to see what is in store for us! 
Friday, we were back at the barn!  We were so happy that the horses were all ok after the storms.  The barn and arena had quite a bit of flooding and our favorite tree fell down.  It was a huge oak tree with the perfect swing for the kids!

 

While Mary Virginia had fun riding Jack, John Bay decided to help spread the dirt left from the fallen oak tree.



He was filthy when we left, but he had a great time and MV was amazing as usual!  She had complete control over Jack.  It has been months since she has ridden him and she even jumped with him!  I can't help it, I am a proud momma!

Labor Day at the Lake!

After the hurricane break, we headed to the lake for a long weekend.  We had been planning on taking a trip to the lake for Labor Day, but the unexpected school holiday made it even more of a vacation!  Friday, we headed to the lake as usual and then it was off to the kids favorite place, Niffer's with both families, but not before catching a quick ride on the tube!

Now, Princess had never been to the lake.  She had only made one trip home before the storm, but of course we didn't leave her behind!  Bandit and Princess stayed at Gigi and Jaja's and of course, by the end of the weekend, she was spoiled rotten!  (Please note that she is usually kenneled when we leave the house and she sleeps in our bathroom at night - but not at the lake...)

 

On Saturday, the Youngbloods came to play!  We were so excited!

The kids had a blast as usual!  They played on the tube, we took a boat ride to Chimney Rock and swam a lot!

After a fun day of playing, this was the view from the back porch! 

We also spent some time in the pool!

John Bay had fun surprising Jaja!

And we spent lots of time on the tube and swimming in the lake.

What a fun weekend.  I couldn't believe that it went by so quickly, but now it was time to head back to Louisiana and check on the house and our friends!

Hurricane Isaac

Week 66:  As we were sitting around the house on Sunday getting prepared for the next week of school and other crazy activities, we started to watch the weather and realized that Hurricane Isaac had made a bit of a turn and was headed our way.  By Monday, it was definitely coming our way - and our kids being fearful of storms anyway were starting to get worried.  I made the mistake (and yes, I am owning up to it) of describing the hurricane as a storm that spins like a tornado, just a lot bigger and over the water.  That was enough to make them worried and their stress levels sky rocket. As I was trying to pack up a few things, I sent Mary Virginia on to school and then worried about her all morning.  Ed and I decided that it would be best to go ahead and drive to Birmingham so that their anxiety levels wouldn't be as high and so that they wouldn't have to be in the storms.  The schools were going to be closed for the next day, so why not take a little vacation.  Driving through Mississippi, MV sent the Youngbloods a quick email telling them that we were going to be there about 5:00 and they met us at the house!  Our first evacuation became a fun reunion!

We were a little unsure about what to do with ourselves.  We kept an eye on the weather in Louisiana and the news about schools closing.  As the rains started, they closed schools for Wednesday and Thursday, so we were in Birmingham for the week to play.  And play we did!  We went to visit some old friends and Gigi at work and then we were so close that we had to make a run to Yogurt Lab.  

Jaja had never been to Yogurt Lab - I think he liked it!

We were able to play with Gigi for a few minutes before she had to go back to work!

With Ed back in Louisiana, we were trying not to worry about him, but keep an eye on things with all of our friends in the track of the storm.  There was lots of rain and wind and some flood waters near our house, but nothing that did any damage to our house - just the power being out for a few days.  He had fully prepared the house for the storm and once the worst was over, he headed up to meet us and surprise the kids!  They were so excited to see him and once he arrived, they knew a fun weekend at the lake was ahead!