Spring Break - LCH '09

For Spring Break this year Zane and I flew down to Louisiana to visit Todd and his family in Lake Charles. We all had a blast and it was so nice to be back "home." Roy, Todd's dad, made his famous bbq - smoked alligator, pork, and chicken! Yum!! And another night we ate crawfish and boudin.

Todd's parents drove us out to Kaplan to see all the work they've done on their property out there. It is so amazing! They've built a pond, complete with fish, in the back... put up a big barn with an apartment inside and have done some really neat landscaping. They've got a gazebo in the front as you drive onto the property with a family memorial stone and they are still working on their house. It is going to be such a fun place and it will be fun to have family reunions there. Zane liked it a lot there and had a great time exploring and running around, but mostly because he got to feed the fish!

Lake Charles has a wonderful children's park downtown near the lake where kids can play in the PPG fountain and explore through the maze fort, which is really quite elaborate. Zane had so much fun. We had to coax him into the fountain and show him how to have fun getting wet.... he saw the arcs from the water and would bend over clear to his waist, even though the top of the water was plenty high from his head!

 

Todd's parents live on a small farm just outside Lake Charles. We spent several nights visiting the animals, watching movies, and visiting. Zane was a great flyer too. We flew from SLC to ATL - spatula in hand. (the spatula has since been replaced by a toothbrush). And he was absolutely perfect until we got inside the terminal bldg. in ATL. He was all over the place and I was wishing I had brought some kind of leash! But we did fine. We bought a couple treats for the next plane ride and rode the tram to the other concourse and caught our little CRJ to Lafayette. All went perfectly except they lost Zane's suitcase, but we got it back the next day. 

Todd suggested buying him a few things anyway, which ended up being a great idea... I'd forgotten how to pack for the south! Zane got to meet Granny and PawPaw again. He hadn't seen them for a few years and it was so wonderful to see them interact and to see Zane respond to them. He seemed to take to Sandra after a day or two and wanted her to take him for a walk. He'd grab her hand and drag her down the road.