Last minute trip to Louisiana

Wow, we hadn't been back to Louisiana for 3 years! We really needed to go and now that we did, I am really glad. It was stressful and a lot of traveling though.

We decided literally on Friday morning that we were leaving that night!

These were the main reasons:

We of course want our kids to know thier Grandma Dorothy and Great Grandmother Mom Rose and all of their cousins.

Grandma Dorothy and baby TJ

Our sweet Mom Rose (who practically raised Jonas) is getting older and we wanted to make sure that we checked up on her health and home, etc.

Shayden with Mom Rose, not a great picture, I wish I had more.

The home Jonas grew up in

The family really wanted to see our kids of course.

Three of Jonas' cute little nieces

I didn't know when the next time that I would get to go would be, with the new baby coming.
So we made all the last min arrangements and headed out. I realized once we got there that this was the reason that in almost 3 years of working for Jetblue we had not made this trip. We fly on the red eye flight to New York and then still had another 3 hours flight to New Orleans and then still had another 1 1/2 hour drive to Baton Rouge from there!

We went first to Baton Rouge which is where his mom and a couple of sisters and nieces live. I was surprised (once again because this happened with Shayden when he went as a baby), that the kids were okay with the everyone screaming and mauling them. I had planned on warning them that they needed to be okay with that, since these relatives miss them very much and that is how they are but I didn't. Many times Jasmine gets anxious around strangers but she didn't make a peep, she let them carry her and hug her and love her. It was great. Shayden of course was off playing with the cousins. That day we went to see Jonas' nephew in the Juvenile Detention Center. It was a very good visit because it painted a better picture in our minds of how he is living and being treated in there. He is making good progress and we tried to uplift him as much as possible without lecturing too much. That night we took Jonas' mom out to dinner with a couple cousins at this super yummy Chinese Buffet.

We spent the night in Lafayette at a friend of Jonas' that was so kind to let us into their home in such short notice! In the morning the kids had a blast playing and we went to church with them to the only LDS ward in all of Lafayette (Jonas' home ward).


We only went to Sacrament and we met Mom Rose there. Then as Jonas was talking to some people and we were getting ready to leave, she had her blood suger drop and suddenly she couldn't talk or anything. (She has diabetes.) It was really scary for us to see but I am so glad that we were there. The people in her ward just scrambled all over to help and were so concerned. That was good to see because we know that she has a ward family that takes care of her. It also gave us a chance to buy the glucose lozenges that she needs so that she can keep them in her purse.
That afternoon we went back to the home where we were staying and packed and visited with them. The kids of course played.

Then we went back to Mom Rose house for a big barbeque orchestrated by his littlest brother Trey, who is not so little anymore. The boys played and wrestled and there was minimal drama. It was quite nice and I had some really deep talks with a couple of his siblings, where I posed questions about their environment that I wouldn't have dared before. It was facinating from my little Social Worker's perspective.

Jonas wrestling with his younger but bigger brother Brock

Jonas with niece Shawndrea and her mom Shawndricka

Jonas' sister Jalana and her new baby TJ

Trey by the grill and other siblings/nephews

We had decided to leave that next morning and his sister said she had plenty of room and was planning on us staying there. So we went back to her house and started visiting. Well we ended up talking to her until 1am in the morning and she told us some things that were really devestating to hear, and by that time we were so emotionaly spent that there was no way that we could leave that day. We decided to leave on Tuesday.

Drea was so cute with Jasmine, they were little buddies

The next day was Memorial Day and we had a nice little breakfast at Dricka's house and then a few of us got to go see some horses that they own in the outskirts of a town called Breaux Bridge. Jasmine was in heaven, of course. She didn't want to leave the horsies, she said.

That afternoon Jonas went to visit his father and grandparents graves. This was one of the main things that we had wanted to do but had ran out of time the day before.

Being Memorial Day, it was perfect timing.

After that we went to this hotel where a friend of Dricka's works and they let us swim for free. It was awesome because we had the entire pool to ourselves and we got pizza and just played and laughed. It was so great to see everyone together. We were there for about 3 plus hours. The weather was so hot and muggy that it was nice to get in the water. I realized I don't fit into a regular swim suit though. I don't know what I was thinking. :)

The boys had so much fun racing!
The last thing that we did was go back to Dricka's house to dinner and then Jonas was able to give everyone that wanted one, a Priesthood Blessing. He sat down with most everyone of his siblings, nieces and nephews and his mom, and had a talk with them, and then gave them each a blessing of comfort. What a wonderful thing that was! I am so glad that we ended up staying because we could have missed out on those experiences. The next day we left at about 6:30 am and flew back into New York.


The Atchafalaya River seemed so much higher to me than before, they have had some flooding recently. Can you believe the trees are almost covered completely?



We had a 7 your layover so we took the train into the city and went to the Sony Wonderlab which I have been dying to take Jonas too. We basically did that and got shakes at Johnny Rockets and then headed back to the Airport.
The flight back was nightmarous. We were delayed in the airport for over an hour, then on the plane for another hour, then our bags were the last ones back so we didn't get home until 2:30am! Wednesday I was a walking zombie but it was worth it!

Oh one more thing since it was a Memorial Day Trip.
On the way back through NYC airport, Shayden started talking to a soldier who was just coming home from Iraq and the man even gave Shayden some Iraq currency! (I don't even know what it is called.) What a nice man and it gave us a chance to thank him for his service. I wish I had a picture of him and Shay together.