It's All Relative ~ Our Recent Trip To See Family

We recently took a trip to New Orleans and its surrounding areas to visit family.  In the past three years, we've only been able to go there once a year, or sometimes less.   Now that we are located just 3-4 hours away from relatives, we hope to make the trip to see our parents, grandparents, siblings and other extended family members more often. 

Vivian sure loved the attention from her relatives.  We just had to get through the ride there first.  Thank goodness for Elmo DVD's and an Elmo pillow that we picked up along the way.



When will furry, red monsters get old for a child?  I don't know!  As long as the Diva is happy, I suppose it doesn't matter.



Our first few nights were spent in Houma where my parents live.  After a drive through flat roads and swampy bayous, we enjoyed the sight of my dad (Buddy)'s newest addition to their exterior.  See for yourself, pictured below:



No, that is not a image taken from a random website.  My father really had an outhouse just to the right of his driveway to enter the home.  My dad is having a shed installed in his backyard and the workers must use this Port-O-Potty to do their business.  The workers gave my dad the choice to place it in the back of the house for indiscretion.  But my dad said no, let's put it out there for all the neighbors to see.  Because that is how my dad likes to play folks.  :)

While we were in deep south Louisiana, the rest of the U.S. received record snowfall amounts.  We only received rain, wind, cold temperatures and gloomy clouds.  Still we made the most of it by just spending quality time with family. 

And taking lots of pictures, like this cute one of our family (below).  This is a rare gem indeed since one of us is usually not looking at the camera (Vivian), blinking (Kirk) or looking like she crawled out from a toilet bowl (Me).  But this one isn't so bad, I thought.




While in town, I made visits to see my grandmothers who I hardly ever see these days.  Vivian was a little scared of them at first.  It may seem hard for a two year old and an over eighty-year old to relate on any kind of level.  But when you think about it, they actually have a lot in common.  Both ages consist of daily routines that revolve around poop, food and sleep. 






On our second day of visiting, I suggested a round of bowling since there wasn't much we could do outdoors.  Vivian is both fascinated and slightly afraid of the balls, pin and alley.  Still, my parents made it fun for her anyway.









While in New Orleans, we spent a lot of time with Kirk's father, stepmother, sister and her children.  Unfortuantely, Kirk's mom was sick and we didn't visit with her.  The same went for my brother, his wife and my neice Brooklynn.  They were not feeling well either.  Lots of illnesses were floating around but we tried not to let it put a damper on our visit. 

Vivian had the best time with her older cousin Kristen (age 11).  She continually called her "Girl" or "Hey Girl" instead of her name.   They drew pictures, read books and played magic show together (pictured below).  She was all smiles when Kristen was around.  It makes me think that Vivian will probably make a wonderful older sister someday.




Kirk's sister and I spent an afternoon drinking and playing board games at their dad's home.  I hadn't done anything like that in awhile and really enjoyed it.   Plus, I beat her at Yahtzee too.  I actually love the rivalry and name calling that goes on during serious game playing.  I don't understand people who cannot enjoy an intense game of scrabble, trivial pursuit or scattegories.

You can just imagine the dinners, desserts and alcohol indulgences we had while there.  Still, despite it all and despite me treating myself, I didn't gain any weight during our trip.  Okay, so I gained one pound.  But I lost it real quickly.  I won't complain at all.

The entire trip mostly consisted of a lot of sitting around and talking.  Very casual.  Still, it was an enjoyable time.  Sometimes it's nice to have a low-key vacation where not much is planned or expected. 

We are lucky to have a terrific family.  I realize that not everyone is as fortunate as we are.  Like them or not, your relatives are a part of who you are.  We decided awhile ago to just embrace ours -- loving, comical, faulty, crazy, deranged and all.   It's all relative.  And our relatives are one of a kind.