Posts out of order

Check out the post from the beach. It is below the "Lousiana Fun" post. I don't know why it was posted out of order.

We Chop!

Last night we had tickets to a Braves game, compliments of Coca Cola (Thanks Brian). The seats were AWESOME!!! They were field seats between first base and home plate. We've had tickets to the suite before, but I think I enjoyed these seats more. We were right in the middle of all the action. You really had to pay attention to the game or you might get popped in the head with a foul ball......it happened a few times. Although, the Braves aren't very good this season it was still FUN!

A view from our seats

Another view from the outfield

Gracie was more interested in eating than anything else! A shout out to Coca Cola and Chick Fil A

There is a really cool "Cartoon Network" play area called "Tooner Field".

Louisiana Fun

I don't think Gracie had ANY fun in Louisiana. She didn't get to swim everyday, eat chocolate for breakfast, go to the beach, karaoke with the tweens or play the Wii. Who am I kidding? Of course she got to do all those things. I think Mommy and Daddy missed her more than she missed us! Thankfully my sister Rhonda toted her around pretty much all week. Nanny Rhonda is much more fun than Camp Primrose will ever be.

I'll share with you one story about her visit.

Rhonda took the girls to Walmart to get some of the few foods that Gracie will eat. On their way out it started raining really hard. Rhonda ran with Gracie to the van, put her in and then got the groceries in the back. As they were pulling out of the parking lot, Gracie chimes in from the backseat "UM, HELLOOOOO.....will someone please buckle me in?" "Oh Thank You for reminding us Gracie", says Rhonda. To which Gracie replies "You know I can get arrested for that! Then Ron and Rona wouldn't have a child anymore!!!!!" I tell ya, I don't know where she gets it from. Gracie and Maddy
Yes, she still wears a life jacketLee Lee, Gracie and Natalie in the hot tub
Maddy, Cade, Leah, Gracie and Natalie

Leah, Maddy, Cade, Natalie, Alex, Gracie and CarolineGracie, Maddy and Alex
The gang
Drying out!!

Nap time. NOT!!!!!

Life's a Beach

Enjoy these pics from our latest trip to Grand Isle

To the Beach!

Follow Me

Scoping out the waters Brianna, Gracie and Natalie
Beach Bums

Supermodels (Brianna looks like the ultimate DIVA)

Sweet Bee

The beach was FULL of seaweed. Of course Gracie couldn't keep her hands off!

Gross
VERY Gross

I Love my Daddy!!!!

Down Home

It's very hard to explain to my friends, who are not from Louisiana, the topography of our hometown. I always emphasize the fact that our homes are basically surrounded by marsh and water. While we don't live in the swamp, ride pirouges to school or have alligators for pets (as Hollywood portrays us Cajun folk), we certainly are not city slickers either. The towns of Cut Off, Larose, Galliano, Golden Meadow and Leeville make up the South Lafourche area......Lafourche being a "Parish". (Louisiana is the only state that does not have counties, they have parishes instead). This was a result of Louisiana being a territory of the Spanish and French Empire, both of which were Roman Catholic. Lafourche Parish is situated along the banks of Bayou Lafourche. Back in the day, the first settlements of Acadians were along Bayou Lafourche, thus associating the area with Cajun Culture. The bayou is paralleled by LA Hwy 1 on the west and LA Hwy 308 on the east. Yes, we only have two roads in and out......with only 5 stoplights.

The two industries that sustain the community are Oil and Fishing. Most people who live there are either oilfield workers, shrimpers or work in some type of business that support the two. My father worked in the Oil industry for 30+ years and my brother still works in the industry today. Growing up, it was common to see my dad for only 7 days at a time. He worked 7 days offshore and was home for next 7. It is a very dangerous occupation and I've heard many stories about what could happen if something goes wrong on a drilling platform. Not to mention the dangers of getting to and from the platform with Hurricanes to boot. Thankfully, my dad has retired, but we still worry every time my brother is on a job hundreds of miles offshore.

To get back to my point......I took some pictures on our drive down from Cut Off to Grand Isle (Ron's hometown). Grand Isle is Louisiana's only inhabited barrier island. As you probably all know, coastal erosion is a HUGE problem in South Louisiana. These picutres were taken along LA Hwy 1, the only means of land access to 1: Port Fourchon (which services 16 to 18 perecent of our nation's domestic and imported oil and gas) 2: LOOP (which handles 14% of U.S. imported crude oil whose pipelines are connected to 50% of U.S. refinery capacity) 3: Grand Isle (where Ron grew up and his family still lives)

As you can see, there is not much land here. Just imagine what a major hurricane, or minor one at that, could do to this CRITICAL highway. LA Hwy 1 is in an impressive class of only 44 "High Priority Corridors" in the United States as deemed by U.S. Congress. Please visit http://www.la1coalition.org/ to read more about the significance this highway is to the nation's energy supply and to the billions of dollars generated from oil and gas reserves in the Outer Continental Shelf. LA 1 Coalition was formed to secure the significant funding that is needed to make LA Hwy 1 a safer and more reliable highway.

Okay, maybe it's not so funny

I was coming here to delete my last posting because my husband doesn't find it humorous. But, you know what...I'm gonna keep it because I think it's hilarious. I just keep picturing that guy waking up and finding himself on the roof. Pauvre Bette, he must have been going really, really fast!

Translation:

Cajun French - Pauvre Bette
English - Poor Stupid

God Forgive Me

Lord please forgive me, but I can't stop laughing (out loud). This article appeared in one of the local newspapers that I keep up with from back home. The "Unexpected Flight" sent me over the edge. Thankfully, no one in the home was hurt. Bless his heart.

Vacherie man lands on roof following crash
Raymond LegendreStaff Writer

Published: Friday, July 25, 2008 at 9:42 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, July 25, 2008 at 9:44 a.m.

CHACKBAY – A Vacherie man who was ejected from his car after it left the road landed on the roof of a house off La. 20 Thursday night.

Darrell Favorite, a 39-year-old employee of the St. James Parish Council, suffered moderate injuries as a result of his unexpected flight, State Police Troop C spokesman Gilbert Dardar said. He was not wearing a seat belt.

Favorite is suspected of driving drunk in the single-vehicle crash that occurred shortly after 8 p.m. on La. 20 near La. 307 in Chackbay.

Authorities arrested Favorite for DWI first offense, improper lane usage and no seatbelt. He was cited at the Lafourche Parish jail then released because the jail is not excepting misdemeanor offenders, Dardar said.

Results from a blood-alcohol test are pending, Dardar noted.

There were no passengers in Favorite’s 1997 Ford Taurus. His car came to rest against the side of the house he landed upon. No one inside the house was injured.

For more on this story, read today's Daily Comet or Houma Courier or online at dailycomet.com or houmatoday.com after 3 p.m.

A Visit with Friends

Last weekend I finally got to spend some time with one of my best friends Nicole, her husband Philip, and their son Hayden. It's a very exciting time for them because they just found out that they are pregnant and they just moved into a brand new house. I'm hoping for a little girl with beautiful red hair like her mama! No seriously, I just pray for a healthy baby. Oh and their home is GORGEOUS!!!! Nicole has excellent taste in home decor.

We miss you guys!!!

Gracie and Hayden were quite the pair. I think if we lived close by they could be quite dangerous!

Rock Band
Snack Time

Before we left, Hayden gave this to Gracie. OMG, her first Love Letter!!!!!!

You said what?

Tonight in Target...............

Gracie singing loudly: "I KISSED A GIRL AND I LIKED IT"

I guess you just can't escape pop culture these days. I admit it's a catchy tune, but I'm not keen on the lyrics! When I asked where she had heard that song, she said "In Nanny's van with Sarah and Lee Lee". I had to explain to her that that was not a very nice song to be singing.......all the while Ron is busting at the seams trying to contain his laughter.

I Love You Nanny

Gracie made a friend at the nursing home. This little old lady just loved Gracie. She even followed her to the door when we left.


These past two weeks have been a whirlwind. I flew down to Louisiana two Fridays ago and flew back to Atlanta two days later. Then Ron and I turned around the following Friday and drove down to Louisiana to pick up Gracie and drove back home on Sunday. I'm beat. On top of all this traveling, my 100 year old godmother/Nanny (pictured above) was hospitalized and was not expected to survive this past weekend. The crazy thing about this is that these pictures were taken the first weekend I was back home in Cut Off.





Let me give you a little history.....





My grandmother Bella (who lived to be 100) was one of 9 siblings. 6 girls and 3 boys. Bella married a Guidry boy (Odon), whose brother (Elmer) married Edna, one of Bella's sisters. You follow? So back in the 60's when Bella and Edna both lost their husbands, Edna moved in with Bella. All of Bella's children lived down the same street (Uncle Cleve eventually moved to Houston) and the grandchildren all grew up together with Bella as their grandma and Edna as their "bonus grandma". I was the youngest of the 10 grandchildren and Edna' s only godchild. To say that I was spoiled would be an understatement. My Nanny is a very talented seamstress and she made most of my clothes when I was a kid. I used to love to visit with Grandma and Nanny growing up. As I got older and my life got busier, I didn't visit them as often, but every visit was treasured. I could always count on a good laugh when I visited because the two of them were just like Burt and Ernie from Sesame Street. Bella was always happy-go-lucky and Edna was always fussing over or fixing something..... that something was usually Bella. It was a comedy. I could also always count on a full recap of the soap operas. They were faithful watchers of all soaps on CBS. Especially the "Bold and the Beautiful", which they called "The Bulletin". Years passed and Edna, the younger one, took care of Bella (2 broken hips) until she could no longer handle the strain and that's when Bella's children stepped in on a full-time basis.



After Bella's death in 2002, Edna moved "Up the Bayou" to live with 3 of her other sisters who had never married and lived together all their lives. Fast forward to this past February. One day Aline, the youngest at 89, passed out while cooking and fell on Octavia, 98, who broke her hip. At that point it was clear that they could no longer "take care" of each other. The family reluctantly moved Octavia and Edna into a nursing home. It was the hardest decision for my mom, her siblings and their cousins. Neither Octavia, Edna or Aline had any children. Sadly, Octavia never recovered from the hip surgery and she passed away this May. My mom and her sister shuffled Edna back and forth between their homes for a month after Octavia's death because she did not want to be in the home alone. She always thought that she was in the home to take care of her sister because she wasn't sick herself. She had not been in the hospital once in all of her 100 years! Well, my Aunt's husband is ill and my Mom cannot get around very well, so they were forced to put her back in the home. Surprisingly, Edna adjusted wonderfully.



When we visited last weekend, she looked GREAT! She walked up and down those halls with such ease. She remembered us all by name. We made the veiller ("vay yay" - cajun for visit). She looked so comfortable there and that made us feel good. The only thing she complained about was a sore throat. A few days later she was in the hospital with pneumonia and congestive heart failure :(



This past Saturday, Ron and I visited her on our way to Grand Isle and she did not look good. I thought for sure that was the last time I would see her. She was not responsive whatsoever. We woke up Sunday morning to the news that she was sitting up in bed, eating and talking. WHAT? I couldn't believe it. I ran over to the hospital and she was cracking jokes. Now don't get me wrong she still looked and sounded very sick, but that turnaround was a miracle. As of tonight she is still talking, but not making much sense. I pray she finds peace.