The Joy of Family

This past weekend Scott and I went down to the good ole South LA to visit with my family for my parents' anniversary and Fathers' Day. We left (of course) later than we wanted to, but we got a chance to hear Scott's favourite, Jimmy Buffett live from Massachusetts on Radio Margaritaville, XM55. We were well into Mississippi after stopping in the Southaven at Chik-Fil-A (our have-to-stop-on-a-road-trip place) before we hooked up the portable DVD player that we got on my first-ever Black Friday purchasing trip to the auxillary input in the car.

That is freaking awesome, by the way...the whole movie plays through the sound system in the car so that we can both actually hear it. It's like being in a movie theater, only in car. I got to choose since I was the passenger, so I forced Twilight, House Bunny, and New Moon on him. He didn't complain too much, endured it like a (real) rock star.

Anyway, the reason we went down there this past weekend was, of course, Fathers' Day. I hadn't spent a Father's Day with my dad since 2007, when I went to visit him and my mom in St. Croix, USVI. Not to mention the fact that my parents celebrated their 40th anniversary on Sunday!!!! How awesome is that?


We got there around 3:30am Friday morning, which actually wasn't bad. We didn't stop that much, and we really didn't get tired like the last time that we traveled through the night like that for Easter. It was really nice to wake up the next morning to the smell of good community coffee, grits, and eggs cooking on the stove!

Mom and I went to run some errands with my sister while Dad and Scott went to play some golf, and then she and I went to a Physical therapy appointment. Later that evening, we had fried fish, shrimp, and I did beer-battered onion rings, which were awesome. We had a pretty nice spread and my sister and brother-in-law came over with the kiddios. My Godchild spent the night with me, which is something that she looooves to do! She loves slumber partyin' with her nanny.

Saturday morning, we went down to bayou country to visit my grandmother and parrain and nana. It was a good visit, and we stopped for Sno-Balls on the way. I got a dreamsicle with extra condensed milk....mmmmmmm...soooooo good! They definitely don't have anything like that up here in yanksville (as my mom would call it!).

When we got to their house that evening, as a gift to my parents on their 40th, my sister and I and Scott (because he loves doing this) made pizza for them. We purchased the ingredients and did all the work while they got to play with the grand-babies for a change. As my sister, her daughter, and I all are gluten-free, we made everything of the gluten-free variety. It came out very good, actually. We will continue to work on a pizza crust that actually looks like pizza crust for the most part. It was good and they liked it, too!

Sunday morning, we awoke to pan perdu, my favourite!!! Of course, I couldn't have the real kind, but I got the g-free version, which is pretty good. We went to mass with the parents and then came back for dinner. We had grilled steaks, brats, andouille, potato casserole, boiled carrots, and shrimp salad. Oh, it was soooo good!

As always, our trip was way too short, but at least we got a chance to visit. Hopefully, we'll be entertaining them for 4 July weekend, if my dad can get off from work on the Friday, 2 July.

It always fills me with such joy to be around and spend time with my family. We may have our picking, teasing, fighting, and what not, but we are, after all, always family, and we love each other! I thank God for them, though not often enough as I should. In any event, it was a great visit, filled with lots of good food and good times! Can't wait until the next one!