Cont. of 11/17: After getting back from our walk/hike, we all went to the McComb Train Depot. Uncle Raymond loves trains and knows pretty much everything about them. He was telling us how everything on it works.

We then went back to the cabins and had an early Thanksgiving meal--ham, artichoke casserole, mirliton/shrimp casserole, sweet potato casserole, homemade mac & cheese, rolls, and pie.  It was all so good!  We were supposed to be watching the LSU game but the cable in the cabins had gone out.  Even the radio station kept going out, so we just got updates on our phones.

Playing another game with Ben and his girls

Patty, Dad, and Raymond hanging out after the meal

The view from our cabins--it use to be a lake but had to be drained after its dam was nearly breeched during the passing of Tropical Storm Isaac back in Aug.

Our cabins

The silly glasses from the game

The girls cuddled up with daddy by the fire outside the cabin

Avery loves sweeping; she helped Brenna sweep the porch

Makenna thought she'd play some Chutes & Ladders by herself

The next morning, we got up early, ate breakfast, packed, and got ready and drove straight to church in Hammond. I accompanied the choir for their special musical # and played the hymns for sacrament.

Makenna discovered the princess vanity at Maw-maw's house after their post-church nap

That night, my mom got a phone call telling her that Uncle Kelly had passed away.  He was found in a hotel room in Kenner.  He had been staying at my parents house for a couple of weeks and I talked to him a bit the night we got there.  He wasn't able to come with us to MS because he had to work.  I so wish he had come!  We were all kind of bummed and tired from the weekend and just hung out at home on Monday (11/19).  Jared left that afternoon to drive up to his operation in Memphis to do some work there.  He ended up driving down to his operation in Bessemer, AL the next night for some kind of last-minute thing.  He got back Wed. night.

11/20: The twins and I went with Becky, Belle, Brenna, Nikki, Maw-maw and Paw-paw to the Audobon Zoo in New Orleans.  It was a beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun.

Paw-paw and Belle

Makenna enjoying the playground

The girls loving the sea lions

That night, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kathy and their three girls came over for dinner; Uncle Wayne came over, as well--he flew in town just for a couple of days to take care of some things regarding Kelly's death.  He had to get back to CA immediately due to his wife being due to have a baby that week--she ended up having her on Sunday.  Makenna started getting sick right before everyone got there.  She got a fever and started coughing--she puked on me from coughing so hard just as Uncle Mike gave me a hug goodbye.

Cousins (except for the little baby--that's Tiffany's friends baby that she brought)

Makenna had a rough night and was feeling terrible so my mom and I took her to the dr. on Wed., 11/21.  The dr. said she had an ear infection, some infection in her throat and a cold.  Poor thing!  We were supposed to go to the French Quarter in New Orleans that day with Ben and his girls but that obviously didn't happen.  We pretty much just stayed at home pretty the whole rest of the trip, since Avery and I also got pretty sick on Thanksgiving.  We were all coughing and miserable for days.  Completely ruined the rest of our trip as far as going places, eating out, and visiting people.  Another bad part was Makenna is AWFUL to give medicine to.  Since she wouldn't eat anything, we had to use medicine droppers to give her the penicillin.  She is so stubborn! She refused to take her meds, which consisted of penicillin, a cough med, and Tylenol. She screamed the entire time and spit out what we did get into her mouth. We ended up using the end of a wooden spoon to keep her mouth open and she still somehow was able to not swallow, then spit it out if she could get it to her lips.

We still enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner, though, and the girls were feeling good enough (after cough med. and Tylenol) to go outside and get some pictures taken:

Makenna reading a book to me while I was trying to rest on the couch

On Friday, 11/23, we decided to take the girls out for some fresh air and go to the swamp walk (only 15 min. away) for a short walk; they weren't feeling too good but cooperated pretty well:

The walk got messed up a little during Isaac--there were spots where it looked like the walkway had floated up and didn't got back into the right spots, so it was uneven and some parts had even become disjointed.  And a tree partially blocked one part.

We wore the girls out so much that, when we got home, Makenna went and lay on an air mattress in the living room with Jared and conked out.  Avery joined them not long after.  We watched the LSU football game that afternoon and watched football most of the next day (Sat.), as well. 

11/25: We skipped church on Sunday because we still weren't feeling all that well and didn't think the girls would put up with sitting in church.  I was really sad because we were supposed to go to our old ward in Denham Springs.  They hadn't eaten much for days, so we were happy that they finally ate just a bit that evening.

11/26:  While still not 100%, the girls and I started to feel much better on Monday.  We went out to eat at a seafood restaurant with Ben, Belle, (Brenna had croup and didn't go) Maw-maw, Paw-paw, and Nikki.  After dinner, we drove to a hotel right by the airport in Baton Rouge so we wouldn't have to get up quite so early in the morning and drive an hour to the airport.

Belle and Ben

Maw-maw

Nikki

There is a huge (dead) alligator in the lobby at Don's Seafood; I really thought the girls were gonna be scared of it but they weren't at all!

Belle and the gator

We woke up at 4:15 the next morning (11/27) to fly home.  The girls slept on the flight from BR to Memphis and were pretty good from Memphis to SLC.  I just wish Avery and I hadn't coughed so much.  Jared started getting sick the day we came home and all of us are still coughing--mostly Jared and I.  I hope I get over this soon 'cause there is way too much stuff to do this month!!!

Overall, the trip DEFINITELY wasn't ideal but there were some fun times.  I just feel like we missed out on so much we wanted to do and I didn't get to see many of my friends.  There's always next time, right?