A trip down south...

...and it was full of surprises.

Being that I have not been able to venture far from home since the end of June I have not been able to travel to see my family in South Louisiana. Well this weekend, Matthew agreed to take me home to see my family, which we had not done since Memorial Day weekend.

We left Friday night and headed to my mom's house where we stayed till Sunday morning before heading to my dad's house to visit his side of the family.

This summer my mom and step-dad have had some issues with raccoons near their home. These creatures have declared the pool deck, boat deck, and carport their own personal litter box. On top of the fact these masked creatures carry many diseases, rabies to name just one, with them. So my step-father with the use of a humane trap has been relocating them one by one to the woods nearby. Well he thought he had caught them all, but apparently not. He placed the trap out Friday night and to Patrick's amazement when he woke Saturday morning there was a kiddie raccoon in the trap set near the pool.
Later that afternoon, once all of Patrick's cousins arrived, they all went down the road and released the little creature into the woods where he/she belonged.
Once this excitement was over, all the kids continued their day long marathon in the pool while the adults enjoyed catching up and enjoying the fruits of my mom and step-dad's labor in the food department - jambalaya, white beans, boiled shrimp, corn and potatoes.
It was a beautiful day with my family. We did end the night watching our beloved Tigers play the UNC Tarheels to open up the college football season. (And if that game was any indicator as to how the season will be it will sure be a LONG one for the Tigers!).

Sunday we headed to my dad's house to visit with that side of my family. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch and Patrick enjoyed playing with his cousins.
We had a wonderful weekend blessed with much love from our family, delicious food, and tons of fun making wonderful memories!

Happy Labor Day everyone!