October, the condensed version (aka "the world's longest blog post")

It's been over a month since my last blog post, and I have to admit that it's been pretty easy to backslide with the frenzy of activity around here. The last few weeks have been such a blur between all of our professional and personal obligations, and I literally can't remember the last time we had a free weekend at home to do simple things like clean the house or get pictures off the digital camera. I've been traveling like a maniac for work, Andrew's been busy with football band, we've had lots of company, etc. So... here is our October in review, the (kind of) condensed version.

LCSS Conference

It all started out with my commitment to chair the Louisiana Council for the Social Studies (LCSS) Annual Conference -- I won't go into specifics, but let's just say that it was an inordinate amount of work to be carried out in a relatively short time period and it almost drove me into an early grave. Other than losing a lot of sleep and having to recover the proposals and registration forms lost when my work bag got stolen from the car (augh!!!), I think the overall event went really well.

Here I am with the LCSS president and LA Secretary of State Jay Dardenne (right) -- he delivered an excellent keynote address on his top 10 recommended Louisiana books, introducing each book by pairing it with a song by a Louisiana musician.

Audubon Aquarium

Honey came to town to help out with Lucy during my conference weekend, and after it was over we all headed down to New Orleans for a little sightseeing. We had a shrimp po-boys and gumbo (Lucy loved mine and ate half of it) for lunch at Landry's and then spent the afternoon on the Riverwalk and in the aquarium. In hindsight, we should have saved some money and just taken Lucy to the park to run around all afternoon because all she wants to do right now is escape (see photo #2 below), but we still had a good time.

First Tigers tailgate -- LSU v. Auburn

Lucy donned her super cute LSU cheerleader uniform and we hiked (literally walked for miles) to campus for her first tailgating experience. She seemed to like all the booty music blaring from various speakers and tents and danced in her stroller, but was a little unsure about the crowds. We did manage to meet up with the Chaney clan for a bit at Jack's family tailgate spot and enjoyed the beginning of the cool fall weather, but... we quickly learned that toddlers + tailgating = trouble. :) We'll definitely try again next year.

Halloween

After a quick trip down to New Orleans to pick up my bridesmaid dress, we headed over to the James household for some trick-or-treat fun on Halloween night. They have the perfect neighborhood for it -- filled to the brim with young families. We loaded our little ballerina into the John Deere wagon with our sweet friend Cooper (the little golfer) and cruised the neighborhood at sunset. They seemed much more interested in the Goldfish crackers handed out at one house than the candy, which was fine with the rest of us! Lucy loved her tutu and has since played "dress up" with it several times.

P.S. I also made a trip to Shreveport during this time to present a 3-day workshop in the Caddo parish schools system. More on that adventure to come in the next post... Whew!