If you’re ever traveling along the Southern coast from Texas to Louisiana, be sure to stop and stretch your legs at the Louisiana Welcome Center on I-10 East. Mama C took us out here on our visit, and surprised us with a boardwalk tour through the swamp. I posted a sneak peak earlier, but I just uploaded the rest of these photos into the Independence Day with Mama C set on Flickr.  The newest photos are on the top.

Now, we may just be showing that we’re not from around those parts, but it was a really cool place. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a swampy area quite like that.  We started at a little flower garden where we found some beautiful dragonflies, and a huge grasshopper.  Most of the dragonflies were blue, but there was one red one that stopped and posed for us.

Then we found the head of the trail. There was a view of a lake, where we saw a Little Blue Heron wading in the water. Thomas spotted a frog and was soon bouncing around and singing that he felt like it was his birthday. I think he will forever be a frog-nut.

We saw a sign that said beware of snakes, but we didn’t see any. That’s okay though, because we saw two alligators. A lady passed us and saw us taking photos, and later came back to show us where the baby alligator was swimming. She thought we might like to take a photo of it. :) I haven’t seen an alligator in the wild since I was a kid and we would canoe in the Everglades. The baby was right by the boardwalk, and the Mama was out a ways, still keeping an eye on us.

The trail was beautiful - very thick with a peaceful shade of green covering it. It was a hot, humid day, but the trail was only a quarter-mile, so it didn’t take long, even with our photo-stops. When we got to the end, we snapped a few shots of a green anole and then climbed back in the car to head to our actual destination. Those will be the last of the Texas photos - I’ll try and post them this next week.

P.S.  There supposedly is a similar rest stop on the otherside of the road going from Louisana to Texas, but we only stopped there to use the restroom, so I’m not sure if the boardwalk is as cool.

1. Nickel glued to the window sill, 2. 50 year old handmade swingset, 3. Outside a Mexican Restaurant, 4. Dallas, 5. Church Door, 6. Mama C Driving, 7. Mama C on the back porch, 8. Feather on Grass, 9. Mama C standing outside

I edited and uploaded about 30 more trip photos today. The mosaic shows some of my favorites. This bunch included fireworks, hanging around the house, a nearby fancy church, and a couple restaurants we went to. All I have left now to finish are the photos from our day trip to the nature preserve. I’ll work on those this weekend.

All photos are here:

• Independence Day with Mama C

While visiting Mama C, we spent a lot of time in the kitchen. It always seems to be the central location where people gather at her house.

Whether we’re eating…

Mama C’s Chicken and Dumplins

Playing Canasta

Or Rummikub

Or just sitting and visiting…

I have great memories from our kitchen growing up too - laughing at dinner till I cried, stirring my ice cream until it was soup, climbing on the cabinets to sneak sprinkles, seeing if I could melt crayons in our giant microwave, watching the lizard that lived on our window eat flys, talking on the phone with the long spiral cord, listening to the pressure cooker rattle, and so on.

Right now, Thomas and I eat out a lot, and we really don’t spend much time in our kitchen.  I hope, though, that someday, we will have a kitchen like Mama C’s where people come together, and like my childhood home where so many memories were created.

Do you have any special kitchen memories?

More kitchen photos from Mama C’s have been posted on the Flickr set: Independance Day with Mama C

We went to downtown Beaumont to watch the fireworks this last weekend, and before the show started, Thomas and I walked around a bit. These three shots were taken by Thomas, but I’ve added some more in the Independence Day with Mama C set on Flickr.

Julie Rogers Theater on Pearl

Church on Forsythe and Pearl

Corner of Forsythe and Orleans

I was a good wife and surprised Thomas with a Wii Fit on his birthday in May, the day it was released. Unfortunately, though, the sync button used to connect the Fit was jammed, and we had to send the Wii back to Nintendo to repair before using the Fit. $75 later and the Wii arrived today - good as new. Thomas isn’t here tonight, so I reprogrammed a new Mii and tried it out. Needless to say, I didn’t get any trip photos edited tonight.

For those who don’t Wii, the Fit is a balance board that you stand on while doing little games and activities on the Nintendo Wii System. It measures your balance and weight, and calculates your BMI and Wii Fit Age. At first, it reported that I’m 44 - 14 years older than me - but then I realized I had the board turned backwards. I practiced a few games and tried it again, and this time it reported I am 33. That’s only 3 years older. I know I’m not in tip-top shape, and I’m far from having good balance, so I stuck with that age for now.

It was fun. I’m going to try it out more this week, and I’ll let you know if my stats change any. Any of you have a Wii Fit? What do you think of it?

We’re back from Beaumont, Texas, where we spent the holiday weekend with my grandmother. That’s her in the middle of the picture - Mama C.

While there, we got to see one aunt, who drove an hour each way to pick us up from the airport, and another aunt and uncle (in the photo) who took us back. Thank you so much. It was great to not have to rent a car. We loved seeing everyone, and we had a wonderful holiday.

And now, onto sorting the 2200 photos we took…

I’m sneaking the neighbor’s wireless connection, so I’m making this fast.  It was a wonderful day.  Mama C took us to a newly-opened nature center in the next town over.  It was beautiful and I have many photos to come, but here’s a quick preview — these are just from the rest stop on the way there.

Bayou Swamp

Baby Gator

Mama C

Dallas and Thomas on the Boardwalk

Grasshopper

P.S.  I can see your comments on my blog, but they’re not emailing to me right now.  If you notice anything else weird, please let me know.