Cowboy Up

We finished up the Summer Tour 2006 at my folks' house in Louisiana. Around the One Bridal Ranch, the expression "Cowboy Up" is taken very seriously by my boys and my godchild, Tyler.

Cowboy 1 loves to ride and his buddy is Vinny, the 15 year old that apparenly never tires of hearing "giddya up".

Cowboy 2 got his first riding lesson this summer and proved that he could keep up with big brother any day.

Cowboy 3 is still not aware that Clarisse the hen got 'et up by "something" in the barn. He thinks she's on vacation... in Chicago.

The girl cousins in Louisiana were thrilled with the belly dancing gear I brought from Dubai - so much so, that our backyard game of baseball was accompanied with the jingle of silver coins.




If you happen to be in the market for a Peruvian Paso - Mom and Dad will set you up. These horses have the smoothest gait of any horse. In fact, it's so smooth, ladies, you can even ride without a bra! Here's an aerial photo of the ranch. Ya'll come on down and cowboy up.

Next Stop - DC and the Pleistocene

Granny and Grandpaw wanted to take them to the Capital of the US and the Smithsonian. Antoine says that his career as a geologist started here. When Grandpaw bought Antoine and Maxime Amethyst specimens from the natural history museum gift shop - this sparked Antoine's budding interest in rocks. He'll have lots to look at in the desert mountains of the UAE.


We spent a day touring the museum and the monuments. I discovered that this statue of Andrew Jackson in Washington Square behind the White House is the same as the one in Jackson Square in New Orleans - whaddya know!

100 Miles Down, 2100 Miles to Go

My parents came up from Louisiana in their new minivan to spend a week with us on the Big Rideau. After the R and R in Ottawa, it was time to hit the road back to Maringouin. Equipped with a built in DVD player, maps and 3 bags full of chocolate from the Hershey factory, we started out on the minimum 3 day journey by stopping in Niagara Falls after only 3 hours of driving. It was well worth it. We opted for the full tour - 4 hours of guided visits of all the very well organized and highly frequented tourist facilities.


Yes it's kitch, yes it's full of tourists, but this is part of what makes it cool. In our group we had an Italian honeymoon couple and an Indian family. Over the roaring falls people were speaking Japanese, Arabic, any number of recognizable or not European languages. There were Muslim women wearing veils, Amish women in 19th century dress, Indian in saris and others in various forms of jeans, shorts, skirts - all donning the blue plastic panchos to try and keep dry on the Angel of the Mist tour boat.

The boys favorite part was the Hurricane Deck. Granny and Grandpaw stayed behind on the walkway while the boys and I walked into the storm. Unfortunately there was so much water, I didn't dare take my camera out beyond this point.

If you think Niagara Falls is too touristy and corny to be worth the visit - GET OVER IT!! It's amazing and lots of fun.

Wet and Wild Canada

Crossing the Atlantic means exchanging the brisk sea air in Brittany for the cool, green tranquility of the Big Rideau lake in Canada. Visiting my sister, Laura in Ottawa means relaxing at the cottage on the lake. But the boys manage to liven things up - within minutes of arriving on the dock, the fish were jumping onto Antoine and Maxime's hooks.

And not long after, the tubing that petrified them last year, became a fast-paced thrill ride with Uncle Perry adding his antics.

A trip to the Hershey factory in nearby Smiths Falls was the highlight of a rainy day - especially for cousin Ava who apparently LOVES chocolate.

The garden swing was a hit as well, where Ava had lots of volonteers for pushing.