Things to do if you come to Fort Polk

I like to make a list of things I want to do and see when we get stationed to different parts of the world with the Army.  Most people will tell you Fort Polk is the arm pit of the Army.  We have really enjoyed our time here and have seen lots of different things we wouldn't have otherwise.  Louisiana is a party state.  There is always a festival going on for something; oysters, watermelon, mardi gras, and crawfish festivals. I hope this list helps others who might get stationed here. 

Things to do in Louisiana

1. The museum of West Louisiana
2. Hodges Gardens DONE
3. Kent Plantation Home, Alexandria
4. Alligator Park, Natchitoches DONE
5. Natchitoches- plantation tours, shops, and restaurants DONE
6. Blue Hole DONE
7. Alligator Lake DONE
8. Camping/kayaking at Toledo Bend State Park DONE
9. Historical downtown Leesville- shops, art galleries, farmers market DONE
10. Alexandria Zoo DONE
11. Hunt an alligator
12. Eat an ice box pie at Strawn’s Eat Shop, Shreveport DONE
13. Blueberry picking DONE
14. Anacoco Lake, Vernon Lake DONE
15. TREE House Museum, Alexandria
16. Leesville Race Track
17. Dixieland Water Park, Baton Rouge
18. Splash Pad, Fort Polk DONE
19. Bourbon Street, New Orleans DONE
20. Swamp Tour DONE
21. Grant's Christmas Tree Farm DONE
22. Eat alligator DONE
23. Audubon Experience, New Orleans DONE
24. Splash Pad, Leesville DONE
25. Book-Lewis House, Leesville DONE
26. Tabasco Pepper Sauce, Avery Island DONE
27. Cemetery Tour, New Orleans DONE
28. Shreveport Boardwalk
29. Steamboat, Mississippi River DONE
30. Creolenaturetrail.org- crabbing, shelling, crawfish hunting
31. Festival of Lights, Natchitoches (December) DONE
32. Mardi Gras Parade (January/February) DONE
33. Gonewildsafari.com (318-787-6902)
34. Suck crawfish DONE
35. Fish at Sunrise Catfish Farm, DeRidder
36. Biking/running trail near BJACH DONE
37. Eat at Tonk’s DONE
38. Baton Rouge Temple
39. Anderson Farm DONE
40. Sabine ATV Park
41. Old School House Mall, (Washington, LA) DONE

New Orleans (bachelorette style)

My neighbor, Jennifer, invited me to celebrate her best friend's bachelorette party in New Orleans.  It was a little different this weekend, than my family weekend.  Jennifer planned the weekend out to a "T" and it worked out perfectly.  Everyone had fun.     

 Jennifer's mother, Fran, and I went for a 5 mile run through the French Quarters on Saturday morning.  We didn't care that it was pouring down rain- we had a good run.

 Before we headed to the lingerie party, Fran and I made a stop at the Audubon Insectarium.  Check!

 The lingerie party was at one of the oldest residential houses in the French Quarters- one of Jennifer's friends.  The walls were cracked and the paint was chipping off from the ceiling.  The house was furnished in the old French style.  There was hardly enough lighting in the house and the kitchen was super small.  I loved it.  We had awesome food catered and played awesome games and showered Brandy with underwear.  I won the play dough shaping penis game.  Haha. Must be from all those penis's I see in my line of work.

After the lingerie party, we went back to the hotel and got ready for the bachelorette dinner and a night on Bourbon Street.  Some of the girls had a make-up artist fix them up. We ate at Broussard's Restaurant.  I had the Oyster Menage Tua and Ostrich.  So good.

Afterwards, we partied on Bourbon Street until 1 or 2 in the morning.  We had a petty cab (bike with carriage) peddle us home because our feet hurt from our heels. One buck per block per person! Holy money!

Jennifer did a wonderful job planning out everything! Thanks for the good time! Can't wait to do something like that again, Europe style!

New Orleans (family style)

We finally ventured to the Crescent City.  We had a wonderful time.

 We went to the Audubon Zoo first.  Kate enjoyed seeing the animals, especially the ones she has been working on the animal sounds (monkey, ducks, alligator, and BIG cats). We climbed around in the kids area and got wet in the splash zones.

 Cute picture of Kate on a duck statue. She probably could have played on that for an hour.

 Family picture at the French Quarter.  Lots of art work, food, music, and crazy people!

We went on the Natchez Steamboat. It cruised up and down the Mississippi River while we ate lunch and learned the history of the area.  Highly recommend!

 Waiting in line at Cafe Du Monde, a must! I think Bryan waiting for an hour in the to-go line for beignets.

We made it to the Aquarium of the Americas and an iMax show! Kate fell asleep during the movie so it was perfect.  The shark tank was being cleaned by 2 scuba divers and 2 other scuba divers guarding off the sharks.  We had lots of fun!

Crawfish Boil

One thing I wanted to do before we left Louisiana was a crawfish boil.  It is a lot of work and money. We invited our neighbors and friends.  I bought 35 lbs of live crawfish from Market Basket, along with red potatoes, mushrooms, corn, and onions.

We put the crawfish in a cooler full of salt.  It slows down their nervous system and makes them throw-up whatever is in their stomachs.  I was brave and picked up a couple to put in the boiling pot.  

Dexter, our chef.

 Kate even got friendly with the crawfish. 

Happy Easter and April Happenings

 

Time has gotten away from me.  I haven't been able to keep up with work, being an awesome mom and wife, and my church callings.  We had a great Easter.  We taught Kate how to look for eggs earlier in the month so see would be prepared for the real deal.  I wanted so badly to have matching Easter outfits, but then I just put us all in Blue.  Works for me!

 The Lions Club held an egg hunt for all age groups.  Our category was 0-4 years old.  Kate only got 3 eggs because she was fascinated with everyone else.  Kindof a rough crowd with all the 4 year olds...

 Kate's first bouncy house.  Like the egg hunt, she mosly watched the other kids.

 We finally made it to Alligator Farm in Natchitoches, Louisiana.  Super fun and hot! We got to see alligators jump out of the water for raw chicken on a stick and they had a petting zoo full of alligator food- goats mostly. 

 And I just love the way she is smiling in this one. 

Germany Bound

We are excited to announce our upcoming move to Hohenfels, Germany! We have really enjoyed our time in Fort Polk, Louisiana and look forward to many more adventures in Europe.  I will be completing some mandatory army training in June for 2 weeks and then headed to Utah with Kate to visit family before we head out of the country for 3 years. Bryan will follow shortly after his change of command ceremony July 2, 2014.  We leave for Baltimore July 21, so we would love to try and see all we can before we leave.

Here is a picture of our beautiful home Bryan re-built. If you know anybody moving to the area looking for a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home, let me know!

Grandma came to visit!

 We were so excited to have grandma come visit us for the week.  I had made some fun plans throughout the week.  Before we picked her up, we went to the Alexandria Zoo.  For such a small zoo, it was really nice.  There were high decks to look in the cages and we saw all the animals.  We even went on a train ride, although you don't see much on the ride.

 Tiger!

During my mom's stay, she helped me plant grass seeds in the front yard and plant flower beds to help make our house more presentable for sellers.  It would be nice to sell before our upcoming move!

 We drove to Lafayette, LA on Friday and stopped for lunch. We had our first crawfish and shrimp po-boys.  Basically, a fancy sandwich with fried meat inside. It was in a cute little down town area of Breaux Bridge, LA.  

 We had to hurry to Champagne's Cajun Swamp Tour, which I scheduled for 1 o'clock... and because we were eating at a fancy French restaurant, we kind of had to tell the cook to hurry... Yikes!

 The swamp tour was fun.

 It was a little difficult for Kate to be held for 2 hours on a boat with hungry alligators all around us.

 This alligator is HUGE!

 We went swimming everyday at the hotel.  Kate LOVES the water. She has no fear and will just jump into the pool so we had to be extra careful with her.

 We went to Avery Gardens, LA on Saturday.  The Tabasco Factory is on the island and we took a tour of the factory.

 Then we drove through Jungle Gardens and Bird Island, located on the park.  It is so beautiful there.  Alligators were sun bathing around the lakes everywhere.

 Kate loves her grandma Sue! We can't wait to see you in June!