Gone Fishin'

I have a dear friend that lives about 20 miles north of us - smack in the middle of the country.   She called last week and wondered if Gianna might like to go fishing in their poind. Well, that was an easy answer. YES! We planned for Sunday - which is wonderful since weekends are especially lonely for us.

My friend, C.C., is an agriculture and biology/science genius - as is her entire family.

And so it was - that this little un-country girl made her way to the country - with polka dots, bows, ruffles and all.

You can imagine her excitement when she was given her own pole.

 

They have about 42 acres and dug this beautiful, enormous pond themselves.

C.C. suggested they go dig for worms for bait.  She was reluctantly excited about the adventure.

 The worm was airborn within about 7 seconds.  (That's her momma's daugher, for sure.)

 The fish weren't biting, at first.

 She was as patient as any three year old.
"This is taking a long time. I don't like fishing."

 She thought Mr. Toby might have better luck.

 Mr. Toby thought we should move to another end of the pond.

 Boy, does HE have good instincts!  Those fish started nibbling right away.

 And lo and behold - someone caught her first fish!

A catfish, no less.

There was both squealing with excitement and squealing with disgust.

C.C. and Toby have two (very outdoorsy) boys.  They got quite a kick out of Madame Prissy-Fritz.

 The little fishergirl caught five fish in all. Impressive!

Zeke and Gino both helped releasing the fish.

(How cool are those names?)

The boys spotted a cottonmouth snake, so they kept an eye on it.

She called Toby 'Mr. Man' a couple of times when his name escaped her.  Then when she remembered, she called him 'Mr. Dopey'. Ha.

Then Mr. Toby had to clear out a drain in the pond.  Guess who voluteered to help?

There was a lot of pointing going on by Miss Bossypants.

 They asked if she wanted to ride the back of the truck toward the house.  Gianna quickly pointed out that a policeman would surely give them a ticket. 

 Gino and Jacob (the boys' friend) made her a seatbelt.

Check out the look of adoration in Gianna's face...

 I think the picture below has to be one of my favorites.

 I think this day held more excitement that she was prepared for. :)

 And then a quad-ride?  Yahoo!

The icing on the cake was the trampoline. Whew. 

What a day!  Thank you, C.C., Toby, Gino and Zeke.  We had a grand time.

And she was WHOOPED!!

Outside

Well, autumn may not have made it's way down to Southwest Louisiana quite yet, but the temperatures have allowed us to go outside for more than 30 seconds at a time without the risk of melting.

When we took a blanket outside to lie down and watch the clouds, Gianna put her hands behind her head and sighed,

"Ahhhh......the sounds of nature."

(I laughed so hard I could hardly catch my breath.  I asked where she heard that before.  "Peppa Pig," she said, "when they were camping.")

Some of precious friends came to visit and spent some time with Gianna.

She was eating it up.

And Gianna took great joy in showing (and pulling apart) lovebugs for Christa.  (I'm beginning to think that the lovebugs are a plague - not a season. How HORRIBLE are they this year?!)

Playing with her sandtable - with pink sand. Yes, they make pink sand.

(Wal-mart garden section. They have blue too!)

I just love these pictures of her on the swing.

Looking forward to cooler temps and much more time outdoors.

Have a good fall y'all!

Singing in the rain...

After having experiencing quite a drought in SW Louisiana earlier this summer, Giannaa started to notice the grass and the plants weren't looking very healthy. When I told her they were dying because they were not getting enough water, she started praying for rain. She'd bow her head, fold her hands, close her eyes and say, "Dear God, please send rain for the plants don't die."

They nexr day she was walking around in her rain boots and I asked her why she them on she said,

"It's going to rain today."

"Really?" I asked.

"Remember I prayed for rain?"

Ahhh....to have such faith!

It didn't rain that day, but it did several days later.  She was SO excited and exlaimed, "Mommy! God heard my prayer!!!"

So we definitely had to show our appreciation by 'Singing in the Rain."

She actually loves the movie (we've let her watch all the musical numbers) and knows the song.

 Thunder still gets her a little nervous (since our dern firework nightmare) but she's definitely getting better.

After the really loud claps we usually hear...

Alternatives

The last couple of summers, we've enjoyed our little above ground swimming pool.  It was a wonderful,  refreshing way to spend many of our hot summer days.

This summer, we opted out of putting up the pool.  We thought it would be too much to worry about with our house on the market and all that goes along with that crazy roller coaster real estate ride.

So a few weeks into our crazy 100 degree temps and LONG drought I passed a little blow up pool at Wal-Mart and thought it would be a great alternative for our transitional summer.

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Looks like great fun in the picture, doesn't it?

The pool looks exactly like the picture along with all the fun parts.

HOWEVER, they must have photoshopped the kids in the pics because they make the pool look MUCH bigger than it actually is.

What a disappointment.

Our resident munchkin, however, was tickled pink by her new 'water park' and it's good enough for the rest of the summer.

Shangri La Gardens - Part II

Just in case you missed the first post, you can find it here.

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I'm still so impressed just how much there was to see at Shangrila.  There was lots of little ponds and lakes showcasing the most amazing cypress trees dripping with moss and lots of visible wildlife.

 The nesting egrets took my breath away.  I was not prepared for the amount of birds we would see.  They have a little wooden observatory so you can watch them without interrupting their habitat.

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As you would guess, spring is an exceptionally wonderful time to visit Shangri-la Gardens.

The flowers are in bloom and there are splashes of color everywhere.

(Allergies were a little nuts, but not as bad as I expected.)

(Gianna watching the egrets nest in the observatory)

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We didn't make our way through the entire gardens because, well -- we had a two year old and we were infringing upon her regular naptime.  I look forward to seeing the rest of it.

I did want to mention that you can bring your own food for a picnic lunch.  They have tables set up restaurant style under oak trees.  I had my act together enough to prepare food for Gianna for the day, but not for my mom and me.  There's an awesome cafe they that makes really great food (gourmet sandwhiches, etc.) SO remarkable good.  It's a nice way to treat yourself.

Admission for adults is $6.

Seniors $5

Children 3-18 $4

and under 3 is FREE