Curtis Orchard

This weekend, we went to Curtis Orchard, a small farm about 5 miles from where we live. As it turns out, farms are relatively common in the Midwest. Who would have thought?

The orchard had a very rustic ambiance. There were a variety of animals, some of which could be ridden for a small fee (see below), a restaurant that sold home cooked food (everything had apples in it), apple orchards that you could walk through and pick apples, and some guy with a guitar and a drum machine singing karaoke to Shania Twain. His only audience were toddlers who were trying to dance. It was cute, but also kind of pathetic.

Here, we can be seen sitting in an over-sized, hand-made rocking chair. Believe it or not, there are probably several dozen regulars at the Calcasieu Parish Bingo Night that could fill this monstrosity on their own. Luckily, this element was nowhere to be found when we arrived, so, with the assistance of some kind strangers, we took advantage of the photo op.




Here is Maggie exploring one of the obstacles strewn about the Orchard. She had a lot of fun, and there were a lot of other kids her age there.




One of Maggie's favorite past times is running up and down handicap ramps. Here she is (in full toddler sprint) making her 8th trip down this particular ramp.



Here is Maggie walking across a little bridge that leads to a slide. This was her favorite obstacle at the Orchard.





This is Maggie's friend Alexei, the son of our friends, Sveta and Yuri.




You could also purchase pony rides (for a nominal fee of $4). I think they were miniature ponies, and there may have even been a couple of mules thrown in there, but it's all the same to a 15 month old baby. After we observed Maggie staring, pointing, and talking to the ponies for 5 min, Gabby and I decided that she must be interested in them, and that she would probably enjoy riding one. As will be seen shortly, however, one should interpret the body language of a toddler with caution.







Maggie was initially shocked to learn that the thing she was sitting on was a living animal that moves all on its own.




Shock then turns to fear when she realizes that she can't make the pony stop.




Finally, she gets the hang of it, and stops crying long enough to (cautiously) enjoy a few seconds of the ride.






Shortly after the traumatic pony experience, Maggie fell back into her normal, animated personality, as evidenced by her many silly faces:











Where does she learn all this stuff?




To close out this post, here are few other good recent pictures.

SCROLL DOWN!!!!

I posted some new pics, but for some reason, they got posted AFTER an earlier post.


Here's some pictures of Maggie in some of her new clothes. Enjoy.




Doesn't she look so happy to be with her momma (please note the sarcasm)

Code Brown

Hey all, I'm writing from Illinois.


Yes, 24 hours after leaving austin, the good people at American Airlines finally got me to my destination....well, almost.

The tale of my nearly 24 hour excursion is filled with twists of fate and unexpected turns and would most likely have made Odysseus even a little jealous. Let me give you a recap.

1. Fri. 5:40 PM - Finally get off the ground after a 40 minute rain delay in austin (a problem with my 60 min layover in Dallas)

2. 7:00 - sit on runway in Dallas for 20 min, I can see my plane sitting at the gate as we taxi to the terminal

3. 7:00 - 7:05 - run to terminal to catch my connecting flight

4. 7:06 - Discover that I have missed my connection flight

5. 7:10 - Discover that (quite unbelievably) there were no other flights (or combinations of flights) I could take that would get me to Champaign on Fri

6. 7:11 - book flight from Dallas-Chicago-Champaign for first thing Saturday morning

7. 8:00 PM - 6:30 AM - spend a lovely evening at the extravagant Motel 8 on West Airport Freeway in Irving, texas

8. 8:30 AM - flight for Chicago departs Dallas without incident

9. (happening concurrently with 10.) - Large moist air masses from the Pacific and Gulf begin to merge somewhere over Iowa and Minnesota

10. 8:30 - 10:30 AM - Enjoy the nice scenery from my window seat, but notice that it is unusually cloudy

11. 10:30 AM - Informed by the captain that major thunderstorms in Chicago have forced air traffic control to direct all incoming flights into circling patterns

12. 10:30 - 11:30 AM - Circle Chicago

13. 11:30 AM - land in Chicago, taxi to terminal is a bit quicker this time.

14. 11:30 - 11:35 - run to my terminal to catch my 11:30 connection flight (even though there should be delays - I mean, I flew around Chicago for an hour, so surely my connection flight leaving Chicago will also be delayed, right?)

15. 11:35 - Wrong

16. 11:36 - Book yet another connection flight to Champaign at 4 PM - a mere 4 hour layover

17. 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM - Drink over-priced beer and watch football at the Airport Chili's

18. 2:30 PM - Discover that the 4 PM flight to Champaign has been cancelled. Next flight is at 6 PM

19. 2:31 PM - book flight from Chicago to Bloomfiled, Il. Phone Gabby to ask if she would mind driving the 45 min to come pick me up

20. 2:30 - 3:00 PM - run across three concourses to get to my gate, all the while thinking that O'hare could probably host a marathon

21. 3:05 - get on plane and depart from Chicago

22. 4 PM - arrive in Bloomfield with Gabby and Maggie waiting for me.


Perhaps my story, The Thibodyssey, if you will, can someday find its way into an inner-city high school curriculum.


Now, for the highlight of this post:

Code Brown. I will leave the following set of pictures to help you discern the meaning of this deceptively simple, cryptic phrase.











Here are a few of Maggie playing (dog) house







I'll try to post another update sometime this week. If my return trip goes anything like my Thibodyssey, I may end up posting a drawn-out, cantankerous diatribe.

As promised...

...here are some pictures of the house that we recently finished moving into, in the quaint, surprisingly wooded Prospect-Kirby nighborhood of Champaign, Il. We are located about 5 min from our respective places of employment. Our address is deleted for security reasons (email us at gabbythibodeaux@gmail to find out our address and phone number). We also have a home phone number: deleted for security. (I hope none of my enemies, nemeses, and/or loan holders read this blog on a regular basis).

In lieu of a more formal, logical presentation, you will instead receive the Chris Thibodeaux version of the "house tour" which will begin with the first picture that was loaded onto the blog site and will progress until we reach the final picture. So, be warned: there is no order to the pictures shown, so if you have not had your morning coffee, this could be a little confusing.


Here is a picture taken from the backyard (from near the tool shed). Note the ample patio space that will soon be filled with a nice BBQ pit (as soon as I start making some "real" money).




I was initially excited to see the two small juniper bushes near the patio, and for a few seconds, I had visions of concocting home-made, gin-like libations to impress my neighbors at block parties. However, I soon realized that my propensity for chemical experimentation could potentially convert this tasty dream into a disgusting and toxic nightmare. Thus, if I ever serve you gin at my house, I promise it will have come from a reputable commercial vendor.


Here is a different view of the backyard (taken from patio near said juniper bushes).




Here is another view of the backyard. There is a big sycamore tree on the left and a nice, multi-trunked oak tree on the right (this is about as big as they get in Illinois). There should be plenty of room for Maggie to play.




This is looking down the side of the house towards the tool shed.




Here is the front of the house (notice the awesome truck in the driveway). There is also a really nice sycamore tree in the front yard. Now, I could be mistaken, but the cozy 1960's aesthetic is somewhat reminiscent of the famed architect, I.M. Pei, don't you think?




In the evenings, large flocks of robins forage on the grass seeds and we have a cotton tail rabbit that seems to live by the compost pile in the back yard. I'm thinking that I need to stop by walmart and pick up an air rifle so that I can impress my Midwestern neighbors with one of my favorite southern delicacies - parts and potato stew.


Now for the inside of the house. For an additional $50 a month (over what we are paying for our cave-of-an-apartment in Austin), we will be getting 2 extra bedrooms, an extra bathroom, 3 times the living room space, a larger kitchen, a garage, and a fenced in backyard with trees in a middle-class neighborhood. All I can say is: "Thank God for the Rust Belt and its unbelievably cheap property values!"


Here's a picture of the living/dining room (taken from the playroom). The beige sofa came with the place (I guess having your Ph.D. comes with perks).





Here is the playroom, which is actually an addition to the house.




Here is the playroom with all of Maggie's stuff in it. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Maggie's grandparents for buying most of this junk (which dwarfs the amount of junk owned by Gabby and I combined).




Here is the kitchen. After moving all of our stuff in, we still had empty cabinets.




We had so much cabinet space, that we decided to dedicate one of them to china which, after nearly three years, has finally been removed from the boxes it was shipped in. Hopefully, it will be used sometime within the next three years. DeeDee's china tea set is in the adjacent cabinet.



We were also surprised to discover that the house came with a sasquatch, seen here emerging from his lair in the shadows of Maggie's toy room. Don't worry ladies, we were able to scare him off to the local pub when we informed him that, due to our lack of cable television, he would be unable to watch the LSU game.



Here is a picture of the Master bedroom, with some of DeeDee's furniture that my parents recently refinished.



Here's the rest of the master bedroom.




Here is Maggie's bedroom





Here is the office





COMING SOON!

Maggie will model her fashionable autumn wardrobe and we will all learn the meaning of the phrase "Code Brown."