Catching up...Part II ~ New baby, rock concert, ghosts & a jackpot

Can I just say that "catching up" is really hard to do when you're still finding yourself in the middle of something constantly?

Oh, and a 2 yr old who refuses to nap most days slows the process down a bit too.

Some may have even noticed that my life was full enough this week to cause me to miss (and completely forget about for the entire day) my Music Monday post.

But I will forge ahead with the hopes of having caught up to myself by say...January?

So I left off last time about the end of August.
Summer was winding down, school starting.

Then the ball really started rolling.

On September 3rd, my good friend who also happens to be my sister-in-law, Leslie, blessed the family with a little girl.

I now have a niece!

Those that know me, are aware that she had a son (Ryan) a month before Jude was born and we were very excited to be having two boys almost the same age.

But Grandad (my father-in-law) was adamant that she make sure and also give him a granddaughter (and I also was eager to buy girlie things again!).

So Les and her husband Saleem did their best and granted our wish.

My precious niece, Camryn, who is almost a month old now!



And Camryn napping with her big bro Ryan...

Leslie and her family live in New Jersey, so unfortunately it will be a while before I get to see them.

But since I have no siblings to provide me with nieces or nephews,

I am so blessed to be able to have these two call me Auntie Andrea!

A few days after Camryn was born, Cecilia went to see Paramore in concert with Terry.

They are her absolute favorite band.

We bought the tickets last spring as her end of the year, straight a's gift.

We like to reward her after a good academic year.

Unfortunately I have no pics to share from the concert.

I asked Terry several times to attempt to get a pic of Cecilia in the concert environment, but all I got was a shot of her face. That wasn't quite what I had in mind.

A week or so later I was able to join my mom on one of her Travel'n Gals trips.

Basically it's an organized trip attended by a bunch of ladies (most from our church) to various spots around the state and bordering areas.

They typically shop, tour, socialize, eat, etc.

This is the first trip of this type that I have been able to attend and our destination was Natchitoches, Louisiana, the oldest town in the state.

Now if you aren't from around here, I must teach you how to pronounce that.

It's nothing like it looks.

It's pronounced NAK-A-DUSH.

Weird huh?

Yeah, but it is Louisiana...haha.

We shopped, of course, in Natchitoches.

Lots of little shops with lots of cute things.

Oh, and it's also the town in which "Steel Magnolias" was filmed.

So we took a horse buggy ride around the main part of town and saw some of the areas where they filmed.

I so need to watch that movie again.

Here are a few pics from around town:

A VERY old cash register in a VERY old general store.

Register still obviously in use.

They have to crank it and everything!

A spiral staircase from Bordeaux, France with it's very own ghost story.

"Meat Pies" sampled by my mom and I.

Very tasty by the way.

But in Texas we call them Empañadas.

My view from the front seat of the carriage ride

The best shot I could get of the "Steel Magnolias" house

After Natchitoches, we headed to Alexandria, LA, where we stayed the night.

The next day was full of plantation tours.

Very interesting and very beautiful.

And all included some extremely large trees.

A few plantation pics...

African house built by slaves

This is a window on the side of the African house that something wouldn't let me take a picture of.

I must have tried 20 times to take this pic, but my camera would malfunction every time.

I finally went inside and took the second picture and then was able to come back out and take this.

Weird. 

The Kent Plantation in Alexandria was built by hand, by slaves.

Slave fingerprints can still be found in the bricks.

Inside the Kent Plantation dining room.

The "tile" flooring was actually just painted canvas!

Slave quarters at the Magnolia Plantation.

(duplex style with two families living in each building)

The show "Ghost Adventures" investigated these buildings in one of their episodes.

But it wasn't until I walked into one of the buildings and recognized this sole chair in the corner that I realized that this was the same place.

After a tiring day of traversing large plantations, we enjoyed a leisurely dinner and then off to the casino!

Too bad casinos aren't legal in Texas.

I did pretty well actually.

And it was definitely needed.

So I am certainly grateful.

The next day we started heading back to the Houston area and on the way, stopped at another casino.

This one was way nicer, but wasn't as forthcoming with the jackpots.

So home I went with my pockets and memories much richer.

Well, it is time once again for me to break away from the catching up and get back to the doing.

I will be back sooner than later to finish up.

To be continued...and finished?...next time...