Reliving Old Memories with My Children

Beware that anytime I go to Baton Rouge I may experience moments of nostalgia and you'll find me taking my kids to see all the neat things that I remember as special from my childhood.

For Christmas, Dad got us a family membership to the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History because we go there all the time. I was excited to find out that our membership is good for free admission to lots of other museums across the country, including the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum in Baton Rouge.

I remember Dad taking my brother and me to this museum when we were little. I love that they still have this giant totem pole. It was one of my favorite things there. Apparently, Rachel really likes it too.



We spent a lot of time in the children's science museum which is full of hands-on interactive activities for kids.

Rachel played with electricity.



Nicholas found some neat pictures of animals that when you put them up to the light box, you can suddenly see their skeletons. Cool surprise!



Nicholas and Rachel both had fun with mirrors.



We ran across another museum item that I recall from when I was little. This scary mummy of a young man that I didn't really like at the time but now I find fascinating.



It was brought to the museum in 1964. In the past, it was considered acceptable to unwrap mummies to learn more about them. Now we use radiology and CT scans to
discern age, sex, and medical history. In 2007, professor Mary Manheim of the FACES laboratory at LSU took over an investigation to learn more about the mummy.

Stuart and I are proud to say that we took an anthropology class together taught by the one and only, world renown Professor Manheim. She is an incredibly passionate teacher and made learning so much fun. We've enjoyed hearing about her in the news over the years.

Anyway, Professor Manheim corrected the erroneous belief that this mummy was a female. I recall learning that this mummy was a female back in the 1970/80's. An examination of the bones and teeth determined that he died between the ages of 25 and 32 years old. The FACES lab used bone structure and other evidence to recreate a conceptual drawing of the mummy's face seen next to the xray.



It was also discovered that the brain was still intact and several ribs were fractured indicating that there had been a crushing blow to his chest. Further CT imaging in 2007 determined that this mummy was not mummified in the typical sense. The mummy's organs had not been removed by embalmers and instead were still intact. The body appears to have dried out naturally in the dry, hot Egyptian sun rather than through embalming methods so all that was needed when it reached the embalmer was the simple wrappings. The final conclusion is that the mummy is from the Ptolemic Period (305-30 B.C) in Thebes.

Yes, I go on and on about the mummy. I know. It's just so exciting to see something that was so memorable to me as a child and then to learn all that's been discovered about it since then. Mary Manheim made anthropology so exciting for me that I really wanted to be Indiana Jones out there in the desert digging up bones and ancient treasure. Of course, you can just add that to the list of many other things I thought I would be when I grew up...professional ballerina, Chinese (I can't explain that one), concert pianist, manager at Wendy's (Dad likes to remind me of this one!), pediatrician, surgeon, world traveler, Nobel Prize winner, author, psychiatrist, microbiologist, and finally, a therapist in private practice. Yep, I'm none of these. I'm a married stay-at-home mom with a wonderful husband and two beautiful kids that I homeschool and run around town to karate and Gymboree class. I think God's plan for me couldn't have turned out better.

Boy, did I digress!

We spent a lot of time in the space section of the museum.

I like this cool display of star constellations using pictures of the characters and little lights to represent the stars. I think I could make something like this for Nicholas using some graphics from the Internet and old white Christmas light strings. Sounds like a neat project but I'll never find time for that one.



Rachel learned about planets revolving around the sun.



The museum has a great hands-on children's play area. I don't remember such cool interactive stuff here when I was little.



Here's a random picture of my hubby as he learned up next to a light box in the children's area of the museum. I like the way the light just softly highlights his face. He would have all kinds of fancy photographer names for the lighting and how to make the lighting even better. I don't bother with all that. I just see a shot I like and I take it.



I just love being in downtown Baton Rouge. There's lots of things to take the kids to see and it always brings back memories of hanging out down here when I was a kid. I will always love the sight of the Mississippi River bridge because it's our landmark on our trip to say we've finally arrived. But to me, it's also very symbolic of being home again.



Of course, Nicholas loved seeing the old state capitol building. He said, "Look! They have a Medieval Times restaurant here too!"



My Daddy...or Pops or Papa O.



I love that he always took us to see cool stuff like this in our town as we were growing up. I have such fond memories of all of our outings. Maybe this is why I take my kids to see so many places around here. Hopefully some if it will stick and make a difference for them someday.

Ok, on to the next nostalgic memory. I didn't ask anyone if they wanted a treat but decided I would surprise them with a trip to Frostop for some old-fashioned root beer floats.



I remember coming here many times with my parents but also with my grandmother. We may have eaten real food here on occasion but what I really remember are those floats. I just love the old diner feel!



We each got a root beer float in a frosted mug. I decided to just let Rachel share mine with me instead of getting one for her since they are so big.



Big mistake! She let me have a few sips but pretty much finished off that whole mug by herself. Note to self, get the girl her own float next time.



Double time!



Of course, a trip to Baton Rouge just isn't complete without a quick run through my old stomping grounds of LSU. I just wanted to drop by and let the kids say "Hi" to Mike the Tiger. We took tons of pictures of the kids with Mike in his cage in the background but none of them came out well. Either the camera just focused on the fenced and blurred the rest or Mike was looking away or (imagine!) one of my children was looking elsewhere.

So instead here is a picture of Rachel as she watched Mike stroll around while I talked to her about tigers. Yep, that's all I have of Mike.



Unless you count the kids on the statue of Mike. Say cheese!



Just to wrap up this really long post, here's a video of my Dad and Rachel being silly together as we drove to LSU. Rachel has picked up saying "huh?" instead of "what?" when she doesn't understand what someone says. I hate to hear "huh", probably because my mom used to correct me all the time when I said it, so naturally I've started correctly my kids when they say it. I tell Rachel, "Don't say HUH. Say WHAT if you don't understand." So she decided to explain all of this to Granddad and the two of them just turn it into the silliest conversation ever.



Thanks for being like my kids and just putting up with me as I relive a few of my childhood memories!

Hanging at the Skateboard Park

My brother was a great skateboarder when he was younger. I was surprised when he called me last month and said that he wanted to take Nicholas to a skateboard park while we are in town for Christmas. I didn't know he was still skateboarding but I thought I was really neat that my brother wanted to share his passion with his nephew. He even asked about a skateboard for Nicholas but politely accepted my worried mother "no". Instead he asked if Nicholas could bring his scooter with him when he comes to visit.

Nicholas was super excited to get to hang out with Uncle Steve doing cool stuff. He had fun watching Steve skate around on his skateboard.





Oh my goodness! That's scary!



When it came time for Nicholas to go down a small hill on his scooter, he got scared. Look how hesitant he was on his first try. Poor little guy.



But after watching Steve some more and practicing a few more times, Nicholas built up his confidence enough to go down the ramps without hesitation. He loved it!





Soon, he caught the eye of a young lady who was smiling at him. Double click the picture to get a close up.



Look at the cute expression on Nicholas' face as they flirted with each other. Too cute!



He even used Steve's skateboard to roll around some. He felt really cool.









Two rad dudes!



Even Rachel brought her scooter to the skateboard park.



She made it down the hills...with a little help. Note - that's laughter you hear from her in the video, not crying :)





But being only two years old, Rachel found many other things at the skateboard part that sparked her interest.

Like the standing water on the ground.



Of course, the next minute found Rachel sitting down in the puddle of water and completely splashing it all over her. And that is why I still have to carry a change of clothes for her in my purse at all times.

With all the skateboarding going on around him, Stuart just had to give it a try. Here was his first attempt

*ahem* with some assistance (but don't tell him I gave away his secret)




After some practice, even Stuart was skating around the park like an old pro.





Steve, thanks for sharing this cool sport and fun park with us. We all had a blast and Nicholas can't wait to go to a local skateboard park when we get back home.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez at Boutin's

Anytime we are in Louisiana, we seek out good Cajun food...because they just don't know how to make it right anywhere else. On this trip, we got to go back to Boutin's "A Cajun Music and Dining Experience". I love this place!



The restaurant has a real rustic, Cajun decor. Lots of wood, artwork of the deep South, and several antiques. I was excited to see this old Coke machine - cokes for a nickel! My Dad has this exact same nickel machine except that it hasn't been restored. There was some talk one time about getting rid of it because it was just taking up space at my parent's house. I said we'd keep it because I love it so on one of our trips, we hauled it back to Texas. Stuart did some work on it to get it running again and we enjoyed cold bottled Cokes out of our own Coke machine. But it's still unrestored and just hanging out in our garage for now. Maybe someday it will look like this again.



The food at Boutin's is great Cajun fare. Rich flavors and just the right amount of spice. I recall eating here when I was pregnant with Nicholas and everything was too spicy for me. Funny because I LOVE spicy food. Now I get to come back here and let both of my kiddos and let them try real Cajun cookin'.



After we ordered our food, we took a stroll on the deck overlooking the bayou (ok, it was really just a little creek but I'm trying to set the mood). There was a little coin operated vending machine where you could get food to feed the turtles and fish down below. It was actually Cat Chow and the stray cats came running when they heard the handle turn!



It was fun to throw the food down and watch the turtles come to the surface to eat!



Rachel loved my seafood gumbo. I think she might have eaten more of it than I did!



For my entree, I ordered the Catfish Boutin - Seasoned catfish fillet, lightly floured and grilled to perfection, topped with Boutin's crawfish etouffee and served with jambalaya, corn maque choux, and a homemade stuffed potato. Ca c'est bon, cher! (Cajun for, "That's good, my dear"!)



In the evenings at Boutin's, you'll find a live Cajun band and wonderful music. You just can't help but find yourself tapping to the beat when that real Cajun music is playing. We all took a turn out doing a little fais-do-do (Cajun for "dance") on the dance floor, even Rachel!



Laissez les bon temps roulez! That's Cajun for "Let the good times roll!"

Superior Grill

It's hard to keep up with old friends when we all have busy lives with children AND live in different states. But with email and now facebook, we manage to keep in touch a few times a year and hopefully we will always find time to meet up with each other at Superior Grill at Christmas time.

These are my dear friends from LSU.



BFF!

I met Kristina when I first joined Zeta Tau Alpha sorority at LSU. She was my "big sis" in the sorority. We became best of friends. She helped me learn my way around school, recommended classes and specific professors for me, and took me to my first frat party. She knew everyone on campus so I met a lot of new friends through her. I can honestly say that if it hadn't been for Kristina, I wouldn't have met the wonderful husband I have today. It was also through Kristina that I met Denise who ended up being the maid of honor at my wedding.

I don't know how but we managed to wrangle together 4 of our 5 little ones together for a group picture.

The Little House on Candy Cane Lane

Every family has traditions. One of our traditions is that we work together on building a gingerbread house at Christmas. We don't do anything fancy and there is no way I'm baking my own gingerbread pieces or decorating the house with handmade spun sugar. But when creativity and laughter mix with a whole lot of sugar, you can't help but have a good time.

And please note that a tradition can still be a tradition even if it happens a few days AFTER Christmas.

Nicholas started us off by helping to build the house. He was in charge of the icing that glued it all together. Then he used the rest of the icing for decorating and holding the candies in place.



Rachel was only interested in eating the "tandy" before it ever made it onto the house.



The kit came with several gingerbread cut-outs so I got Rachel to help me decorate the gingerbread Christmas tree with green icing and sprinkles. I think as many sprinkles made it into her mouth as made it on the tree.



Eventually we got her interested in actually decorating the house. We let her use the icing too - because neatness has nothing to do with decorating gingerbread houses!



I loved watching Nicholas and Rachel work together on our family project. It warms this mama's heart!





Welcome to the little house on Candy Cane Lane!



And now it's time to eat! Yes there is no more wasting time with formalities here.





I've tried many gingerbread kits in the past and they were all fine. However, this year I tried a new kit that I found at Sam's Club. I really loved it and I will definitely seek it out again next year. The gingerbread pieces all have slots along the sides so the pieces actually connect to each other like a puzzle and then you glue them together with icing. This makes it much sturdier than the other houses where you just stick the two sides together end to end and hope the icing holds it all together. Not only was it sturdy but it was the easiest and quickest gingerbread house I've ever put together that was still standing 30 minutes later. The kit came with lots of candy for decorating and get this...the candy and the gingerbread actually tasted good. Imagine that!