More from the Capitol Building

I know we've been to the Capitol Building a few times already, but I plan to go a few more times before we move away from Baton Rouge. And here's why: I want to have a series of pictures of Claire taken in the same place so that we can chronicle her growth while we're here. (I mean, look at her the last time we visited the Capitol Building; she looks so different!) So, with Jordan having somewhat of a surprise day off, we went to the Capitol Building on Monday!

She's so big that she didn't need to be in a stroller this time, and she LOVED that!

(I know we all know it's been a mild winter, but can you believe the azaleas are already blooming so beautifully?!! I love seeing them all over town these days!)

So big, yet so small

TEXAS!!!!


Jordan and Claire always seem to have some great photos on the top.



I love this one!



On the way back down, (Claire with snack in hand), we thought to have her pose for a Louisiana photo.

On the way back to the car, Claire ran around. She evidently thought that the grass was much more fun to walk on than the sidewalk.



I've seen some of these trees around town, and I think they are BEAUTIFUL!!! On this outing, I learned {from the man spraying weeds in the sidewalk cracks} that they are called Camellias. I really think they are gorgeous. I would love to have one - and some azaleas - in our yard one day!

Then we went back to the car and stopped at a local place, Frostop, for lunch. They had some interesting homemade root beer, which I got used to by the end of our meal.

I love unexpected days off!

Bed Head

Claire took a super long nap this afternoon. We must have worn her out during our outing this morning. (More on that later). She woke up with some awesome bed head!

Funny Girl

She's funny, don't you think?




I think so!

23 Months

Claire is 23 months old today!

During the past few weeks, Claire has seemed very unlike a baby and very much like a little girl to me. Her baby days are long gone!

She is such a sweet, happy, joyous little girl! And we love her so much!

Peek-a-boo!

After emptying all of the blankets from this little box, Claire wore it as a hat and played peek-a-boo with it.


Fun times!

Slinky Time

I love it that simple toys, (like a slinky), can bring such happiness!

Winter Blooms

Last week I took some pictures of the winter blooms we've been enjoying. I guess needing to run the A/C on New Year's Day was indicative of what the weather would bring us so far this year!

Happy Mardi Gras!

Happy Mardi Gras! Thanks to the generosity of someone Jordan works with, we were able to go to a Mardi Gras parade in Lafayette and celebrate Mardi Gras in a big, fat sort of way!


Claire seemed to enjoy herself!



Claire explored the area a bit and found some fun places to play and some fun things to play with.




We got to watch the parade from the comfort of the Bonaparte Krewe headquarters for the day. And, as seems to be the case with Louisiana traditions, I had no idea what we were in for. They provided breakfast, lunch, snacks, and drinks. They had tents set up for shade. They had a huge blow-up slide and a huge blow-up bouncy area for the kids to play in. (Claire wasn't big enough to play in there, but she wanted to!) I had heard that the parades would last all day, and they certainly did. There were three parades. We only stayed for one, and we left around 1:30. - Who knows when those second and third parades ended up rolling down the street in front of the Bonaparte Krewe! But it really seemed to be an all day affair! And there were tons of people! And lots of the people were all decked out for the holiday.



We must have been towards the very end of the parade route because the parade started at 10:00, but we didn't see it until after 12 noon.

But once that parade rolled by, the beads were flying through the air! - I can't begin to guess how many beads they must have on each float. Those floats drove by slowly, and sometimes they had to stop. - But the people were constantly throwing beads to the crowd.

Claire saw a few floats, but she wasn't too interested in them. But she did like walking along the fence line and playing with the items she found along the way.
We got some beads!

There were plenty of these carts rolling around.



After seeing a few floats, it was snack time!

We had lunch and watched the rest of the parade from our shaded blanket seats.

We had some umbrellas so we could make our own shade when we weren't under the tent.

We're glad Kelly and Brian were there, too.


Someone gave us LOTS of beads before we left. So far, they have kept Claire occupied for a couple of hours this afternoon!

Happy Mardi Gras!