Why is our GPS showing us driving in the ocean? Did we take a wrong turn somewhere?
Nope! I don’t think we would be smiling if Dan drove the van and Airstream straight into the ocean.
Check out our Airstream on her first trip on a ferry. The Galveston Island Ferry to be exact. It is Mila and Yoda’s first time too. But not for Dan, Ava and myself. We are old pros at this… albeit in a foreign country. I think the wait to get on the ferry was longer than the ride itself. But it was long enough to stretch out our legs on the deck above before buckling ourselves back in the van for what would be our longest driving day to date. 400 miles!
Dan drove us ladies along the beaches of Texas one last time before we hit the border.
Hello Louisiana! I know these state line photos are boring and taken through dirty windows, but I got it a picture of it. Not an easy task to do with Dan teasing me that I better not miss it or else. And after each state line we pass, he always has to rub in my face that I missed the New Mexico picture. Oh New Mexico! But little does he know that I missed the Arizona state picture too. Ha! Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn’t have just said that.
A few miles into the state of Louisiana, the girls were awake and I had to take a picture. My baby girl was about to turn 6 months old exactly. And for all of her life (and Ava’s), I take a picture at the exact minute they were born, each and every month. And here is my Mila. 6 months old. In front of her first casino. Touching grass for the first time. Touching Louisiana for the first time. And moments later, eating a mouthful of dry grass for the first time. Oops.
We parked at the edge of the parking lot and jumped into the Airstream to stretch our legs….
… and laugh.
And then we walked over to the casino. Stop rubbing your eyes. This is NOT an optical illusion. Dan is not only wearing pants but he is wearing real shoes too! I can’t even get this to happen when we are in the snow. Good job, L’auberge du Lac Casino. Good job!
Why did we take our kids to a casino? Well, the casino practically begged us to stop there with their 25 billboards as soon as we crossed the border. And it was brand new. And it is the perfect place for our kid to run around in without getting into too much trouble. The great thing about Louisiana casinos is that no one under 21 is allowed in the casino room and it was totally sectioned off from the rest of the place. So we didn’t even have to walk by any machines or tables or get any whiffs of smoke as we do when we visit Las Vegas. Score.
Not sure why we do this to ourselves but we always end up at the buffet when we are at a casino. And the L’auberge had a pretty good one. We happened to show up on crawdaddy night, much to Dan’s delight.
Sorry crawdaddys! Ava and Mila’s daddy is about to eat every last one of ya. Here is the before.
And here is the after. After all that work of peeling this pan of crawdaddys, this is all the meat that Dan had to show for it. But the amount of crawdads he ate was enough to get him to complain for the remaining 2 hour car ride and the following 24 hours. I think all the other crawdads in Louisiana are safe from Dan… for now.
And Dan wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the buffet. That’s my girl. Double-fisting strawberries. And if you know her, this will not come as a surprise. She loves those things.
After stuffing our faces, we waddled back to the Airstream and introduced “real food” to Mila for the first time. Most of the cereal ended up all over the bib, the table, herself and us… as expected.
Happy half birthday, my little one.
the end,
marlene
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