Oak Alley Plantation

On Saturday, in celebration of my birthday, we had a family outing.

We picked up some sandwiches and drove an hour to Oak Alley Plantation.

It was our first time at a plantation.  This one was a sugar cane plantation that is on the Mississippi river.

We started with a picnic.

Then started touring the grounds.

The slave quarters.

This plantation is famous for its beautiful alley of oak trees.  We saw a picture of it and that is why we chose this plantation.

But when we got to the alley of oak trees it didn't look the same as the pictures and was pretty but not amazing like the picture had made it look.

We were kinda disappointed but took our posed pictures in front of it.

But then we realized we were at the back of the house, and that the real oak alley was at the front of the house.

And it was amazing.  Lined with 300 year old oak trees.

So we redid our pictures.

Aren't they amazing!

Here is a picture that will help give you some perspective on how big these trees are.

Exploring with Daddy.

The house.

 We did a tour of the house which was interesting but not nearly as grand as I expected.

Alice being silly on the balcony.

After the tour we walked down the alley of oaks.

Here comes Alice!

This girl loves running around and the outdoors.

Oak Alley as seen from across the street.  Isn't it amazing how much the oaks sprawl out!

Across the street from the plantation is the levy and the Mississippi river.

So we climbing up it to see the view.

"I made it!"

The Mighty Mississippi.

Then it was back home for dinner and my choice in movie which was the documentary Babies.

Stephen took it like a trooper with minimum complains :o)

The end.

Bluebonnet Swamp

The weekend before finals started for Stephen we decided we had better do something together since he was going to be locked in his office for the next week or two.

So we decided to go to Bluebonnet swamp and get our first real taste of the "bayou".

In the parking lot there's a pond full of turtles which Alice loved, especially because she can say "turtle".

And it's really cute to hear her say it because she kinda over articulates it.

 We went into the nature center and she got to see a snake up close.

She was interested in all the reptiles, not so sure of them, but not really scared either.

Then we went on the walking path that goes through the swamp.

It was really beautiful and a really nice day.

We saw a bunny, which had a swarm of mosquitoes attacking its nose.

It was really gross, and I felt really bad for it.

There were lots of crazy looking caterpillars.

Which meant that Stephen and I spent the whole day with the "Caterpillar, caterpillar, tickle tickle on my arm" song stuck in our head.

So pretty, right?!

We had to keep a close eye on Alice for fear of her falling into the swamp, especially since we saw a couple snakes in the water.

It was a really fun outing and we will definitely go again.

Papa and Grandma Visit

Papa Wolfe and Grandma Patti came to visit us during Spring break.

We met up with them in New Orleans.

The weather had been really nice but it suddenly turned cold that week.

We walked around the French Quarter.

And went to the Children's Museum, which Alice loved and had lots of fun playing with Grandma.

Afterward she was very ready for a nap.

The next day we drove to Baton Rouge and showed them around.

At LSU campus showing them the football mascot, Mike the tiger.

He was pretty boring since he was just laying in the dirt but Alice still liked it.

We also took them to the capitol building where Alice discovered the fun of an echo.

It was a fun visit and Alice really enjoyed some Papa and Grandma time.