Introductions

Remember the tragedy with my brick mailbox a while ago?  Well, we finally got the check from her insurance company, and hubby made up a plan.  We decided not to go with brick, because it was cheaper this way.  And hopefully the plants will fill in the boxes and make everything look great next year.  There are wild flower looking plants on the top box, pink sunflower looking plants on the two sides, and the transplanted purple ones in the front little one.

Introducing our NEW MAILBOX! :)

Now we finally have a mailbox to be proud of again, instead of a stack of cinder blocks and the old, beat up mailbox trying to balance on the top.  This was also the project we came home early from vacation to finish...  Yay!

Going home

I thought this was a cute picture on the ride in.  Dylan was hot and sweaty, but he had enough of sitting by himself.

 The girls too, apparently.

 When we got back to the visitors center, Nana and Aunt C were nice enough to buy us a few "snowballs" to share.  They were kinda like icees, but the flavor went all the way through.  They were pretty yummy :)

 Brain Freeze!!!

 Dylan wouldn't touch the red, but he really liked the blue.

With that, the next day we left our little vacation, and came home to finish a project.  Isn't that like us.  Leaving the fun to do the work?  What is wrong with us!?!?!

People

These are pictures of the people who went on the wild animal ride :)

Pop, with his cool new hat.

 Hubby and Dylan feeding the elin.

 See Dylan...  Its not so scary.

 Now the girls can get in on the fun too.

 Hubby was very smart, and instead of buying cups of food, he bought a bucket worth.  And, we ended up using every last drop.  Mostly through Kaitlyn, who didn't want to actually feed the animals, but just dump little handfuls over the side.

 The girls petting Abu, the camel.

 Say cheese Kaitlyn!

 Dylan looking out at the big new world :)

 We had a covered wagon all to ourselves.  I am not sure I noticed when I took the picture that Dylan looks like he is about to fall right over the edge.  And the blue bucket at hubby's feet is the food that we went through, plus a few additional cups.

 Hubby feeding the bison.

 Uncle D feeding the bison.  Check out that tongue!

 Hello Mr Zebra!

 Feeding the long horned cow.  Again, check out the super long tongue.  And, my poor sweaty boy.  Yes, it was pretty warm and humid, but the boy just sweats a lot...

Onto the conclusion tomorrow....

Global Wildlife Center

While we were in Louisiana, we had the chance to go to something very unique.  Admittedly, it wasn't specifically Louisiana-ian, but we had never been to one before, and it was very fun!  We went to the Global Wildlife Center, and went on the safari ride to feed the animals.  We went first thing in the morning.  It was pretty warm, but it wasn't unbearable, and the animals were pretty amazing.  I took a bazillion pictures (which is, of course, a technical term), so I think I will have to break this into several posts.  We'll start with the animals themselves, and I will do my best to identify them.

There are several animals in this picture, but they didn't want to come over to the wagon train. 
However, I also thought the view was very pretty.

I don't remember what this animal was called, but I remember that the more black the coat, the more dominant the animal.  This one, apparently, is just an underling :)

Zebra.  We weren't allowed to feed these because they show affection by biting.  They also show aggression by biting.  Lose/Lose, ya know?

Some of the long horned cows.

Bison.

Baby Zebra! :)

Elin.  These were the ones that followed us the longest and ate most of the food.  Apparently, they were pretty hungry.

Baby Giraffes eating from the feeder.

Grown up Giraffes standing under the tree in the shade.  I also liked the setting of this picture.

Deer of some sort.  But, the girls kept calling them reindeer.

Camel.  This one's name is Aladdin.  And he is a cup stealer.

Aladdin's friend, Abu, the other camel. :)

Baby Rheas.  With a semi rare white Rhea on the left side.

Baby Fallow deer :)  Very cute.

A short video of feeding a zebra (yes, I know we weren't supposed to feed him).  But I really just wanted you to hear how loud it was.

LA

After we had our own fireworks celebration, we headed down to Louisiana to visit with Uncle D and Aunt C.  They were very gracious about sharing their home with 3 small, loud children, and we did some fun stuff.  Here are just a few pictures of the countryside.

I really liked this view, but check out the water.  I took the picture from the van, which is right on the road, and the water is not 20 ft away....

 This is the Lighthouse off the Tchefuncte River.  Very pretty from this far away :)

 And this is my next house ;)  Also, right off the Tchefuncte River...

July 4th

It is a shame that the child whose birthday is right by Independence Day is scared to death of fireworks and all the noise.  We were down at Pa's house, and were able to set off our own gun powder extravaganza.  Uncle "Map" and Aunt Stacy provided a wonderful show.  My camera is not particularly great at taking fireworks pictures, but you get the general idea.

 Kari with her sparklers.

 Cheese!

 Once the loud ones were over, we got Dylan outside for just a second, but he doesn't particularly like fireworks either.  Maybe it will be better next year.

Happy Independence Day!  Many thanks to those who made it possible!

The presents

This year we had a difficult task in front of us.  Every time we asked Kaitlyn what she wanted, she would spout of some thing Kari had, well, basically told her to want.  In fact, it had gone so far, that Kaitlyn was going to ask for Jessie and Bullseye (who I had honestly thought about getting her already until I heard of this plot) just so she could trade them to Kari for a toy toaster, a half used bottle of bubbles, and an old pencil.  One day I will have to teach Kaitlyn about fair trading :)

We were down at Pa's house for the celebration, and were lucky enough to be surrounded by family.  These next two pictures don't have much to do with the presents, but they were cute enough to make it into this photo dump.

Karley smiling at her cousin Dylan.

The four present grandchildren.

 And then the fun began.  Kari decided to get Kaitlyn the Hungry Hungry Hippos game, which was a good fit, since Kaitlyn actually wanted it.  I honestly have no idea where they even heard of this game, since we don't have cable, and none of their friends have it (that I know of).

 Kari also colored this wonderful clown picture with Ms. Margie, and wrapped it up. 

I think her love language is giving....

 Thankfully for us, Kaitlyn had mentioned about a week before while we were watching Tangled, and she wanted to have a dress.  "Jutht like Rapunthul".  Daddy saved the day by going out and finding one.

 To follow the Princess/Dress up theme (which is one of the few things Kaitlyn plays by herself), Mommy found her some new "beautiful thews".  She wears them everywhere, with shorts, or ballets, it makes no difference.  All I can say, is this girl is gonna have some great calves.

 Daddy also found (on the same aisle I would guess) the Rapunzel doll.  Barbies are one of the few other things Kaitlyn will play with that Kari doesn't particularly care for.  We were on a roll, Baby!

 She also got this cool, pop up chest thing to put all of her dress up dresses in.  She previously had one made out of cardboard, and it was very cool looking, but from a few years of wear and tear, it just couldn't stand up to the pressure of a 4 yr old and 2 yr old.  Notice it is a Tinkerbell chest ;)

 From Aunt Stacy, Uncle "Map", and Karley, she got this fabulous doggie (appropriately named Softy) in a "purthon" (she calls purses persons...  Don't ask me )  She takes him just about everywhere. 

 Aunt Kim also contributed to the Princess-ness by provided several pairs of shoes.  We have already had a Princess Shoe parade, where the shoes matched the PJ's.  Yeah.  We are that good.

 Nana and Pop got her a SilverMist costume.  It goes great with the heels.

 Trying on Rapunzel.

 The complete ensemble.  Softy, beautiful shoes and all.

Sometimes, I can't help but wonder:  Can "Princess-ness" be contagious?