A Good Video of Bea Walking

Videos of Bea walking

Early Summer Lagniappe

It's nice to be in Illinois this time of year.  We still get temps down into the 50's at times and it's a far cry from the sweltering heat of the Gulf coast.  Here's Bea enjoying the nice weather in her walker.

                                                   

The big news this week was that Maggie Cakes turned 5 years old!  Thanks to Gran and Papa, she got a really cool bike and I'm sure we'll get a lot of use out of it before winter kicks in again.

Gabby left town for a conference, so I took the girls on a little trip to Bloomington to visit the children's museum.  Bea had a great time - especially in the grocery store, where she could help Maggie do a little shopping.

Maggie, of course, found plenty of stuff to do.

Sh even made this cool little man out of construction paper.

And she even found time to entertain her little sister.

Maggie is such a great big sister.  She is so sweet to Bea.  Here's a video of Maggie entertaining Bea (she does this all day long).

Bea is eating mostly table food these days and she is really developing a balanced palette.

While we're on the subject of eating, no childhood is complete without the obligatory spaghetti-eating pictures:

Last but not least, the strawberries that I planted last month finally seem to be taking off.  By July/August, these guys should be producing some berries.

Honey, Big Daddy, and a Little Disney

Sorry for not updating the blog in a while, but we've had a busy couple of weeks.  Sadly, Big Daddy passed away on May 24 after a short illness.  His last day on Earth as Big Daddy (coincidentally our anniversary, May 17th) was spent in the presence of most of his family at a crawfish boil at my Uncle Vince's house, where he ate a big plate of crawfish, drank a few beers, and did what he liked to do best - enjoyed being around his family.  I could not think of a better way to spend the last day of my life, and I can only hope to be as lucky.

Here's a picture of BD when he was in the army.  It's actually quite miraculous that he lived to be 82 - considering that if he hadn't successfully received the first arterial transplant under field hospital conditions, he would have been killed by a sniper bullet more than 60 years ago.

 

BD sure made the extra time count.  He married Honey in 1955 and they were married for 57 years, until Honey passed away in 2012.

I'd say they used their time well.

 

No Big Daddy requiem is complete without beer and stories of the old days...

 

...or beer and games of chance, for that matter.

 

 

Not to hard to imagine how the Thibodeaux boys got their good looks:

 

  

I remember this trip to the state capital.  Big Daddy showed us the bullet holes in the wall where Huey Long had been shot.  Because of this, I got into assassinations, which led to my interest in American presidents.  Shortly after this, I had memorized all of the presidents in order, which has proven to be a useful party trick over the years.  Thanks, DB!

I don't remember this, but I do see a slight resemblance to Bea:

I think I will miss the simple things the most.  I just feel incredibly blessed to have known all of my grandparents into adulthood.  It was amazing for me to  spend so much time with Honey and Big Daddy as an adult when I was in college - to see them enjoying the golden years of their lives after years of work.  We were always welcome in their home. We came exactly how we were and we were never judged.

Honey and Big Daddy, you were greatly loved and you will be greatly missed.  None of us would be quite the people we are without you.

Meanwhile, life has been going on in Illinois - especially at our new ice cream joint:

..and in the toy room.

That Bea sure is a sharp tool.

Soon, we'll post a few pictures from our trip to Disney World but, for now, here's a sneak preview.