Plantation, a home by any other name is just a home.

We visited this lovely plantation home over the weekend.  I have been wanting to visit some of the beautiful plantations in East Texas for some time, and this past weekend offered up the opportunity to see this one.

As it looks today

As it looked 100 years ago

The formal dining is set and ready to serve

beautiful china and waterford crystal

The family room used for entertaining

The formal salon right off the front entrance to greet guests

I love the blue refridgerator. I wonder when it went out of fashion for us to have colorful fridges.  Seems we only have the white, black or silver options these days.  I know my kids can get a fire engine red one from pottery barn, I want one.  ;)

More views of the kitchen

I am not sure what a Sweatheart book is, I should go do an internet search to see what this is all about.

So that was our day on the plantation. Hope you enjoyed it through pictures.

Monday, May 24, 2010

New Zoo

Well, it's not new exactly, but it is new to us.  We drove to Tyler to spend a day and went to the zoo there. It was fantastic. The layout of the park was very nice with winding paths and beautiful scenic views. The nimals were also much closer to us than they seem to be at the larger zoos we've been to. 

L and lil C at the entrance to the zoo.

Some brightly colored birds

Hangin' infront of the flamingos

My guys..C seems to be the only one enjoying himself...haha, L was hot and lil C was more focused on what animals we'd see next.

All smiles!

The look, 'mom, you're such a dork' lol!

lil C wanted to have his picture taken with  the turtle swimming by behind him, but couldn't look at the camera long enough for me, he was so focused on all the turtles in that pond.

A lazy longhorn

Aren't they just majestic birds? Beautiful!

Looking across the way at the alligators

Here's one now, looks as though he's smiling for the camera.

This sweet little cardinal flew down and landed right in my path.  These are my absolute favorite birds so of course I had to snap a picture.

Heading back out of the park

One last picture before we go.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

1st TaeKwonDo Tournament

We finally got to witness our first Taekwondo tournament and it was exciting.  L did a great job. He started out a bit nervous but then about half way through he really started feeling confident and doing well.  What we thought would be about an hour of our day lasted from 10:30am to 5:00pm with an hour lunch.  It was a long day, but at least we know what to expect for the next one and can plan accordingly.

Here L takes a break before begining team competitions.

Sparring, he got 3rd place, but he fought against 3rd and 5th graders...Super job!

Being goofy with his friend Mitchell.

Some more sparring

Winner of this round! :)