Louisiana 2012 - Part 1

We left last Friday for our annual summer trip to see Granny and Grandpa in Louisiana.  Turner had been talking about catching fish for weeks and weeks, so she was ready to get after it early on Saturday morning!  She pretty much runs back and forth between me in the water and Mark on the pier fishing...for hours on end.  She just loves being there!

There are some sweet friends who live next door and they were kind enough to take us for a boat ride one afternoon.  Turner didn't want to go tubing after her experience getting tossed off last summer, but she was good for a boat ride!

Sweet neighbor Mac pushing Turner in the swing in the huge tree between the two yards.

Turner had been talking about how she wanted to catch a fish and eat it for dinner.  This is a lot of nasty work, but Grandpa and Daddy weren't going to let this opportunity pass if that's what Turner wanted!

Now...this is my child who gagged in the trash can when they made slime at school and refuses to touch the inside of a pumpkin (also produces gagging).  I wasn't sure how she would react to the cleaning and beheading of the fish.  She didn't even flinch!!  Seriously??

There were two fruit trees down the road that some neighbors had offered to allow us to pick, so one afternoon we headed over to get a few really fresh, organic apples. 

It was a special treat that Aunt Arlene (Mark's mom's sister from North Carolina) could be there to spend the weekend with us.  If you recall, she's the one who sent all the adorable knitted Barbie clothes to Turner at Christmas?  She has been hard at work preparing a selection of Barbie clothes to sell for a church fundraiser and she brought the for Turner to try them out!  The two piece outfit and the purples are all swimsuits (and one cover-up) that Aunt Arlene made for Turner to take home with her - is that not the most clever thing??

Turner loved playing with these new clothes and accessories and quite often we'd find her squatted in front of the table as you'll see below.  Barbie even made a visit to church with us on Sunday and below you'll see Turner getting her outfitted in her church dress!

And of course some family shots...which Mark and I jokingly call "the hottest pictures of the year".  (Louisiana actually was a little cooler than Alabama while we were there, but there's just something different about that Louisiana heat!)