Woke up in Lafayette and it felt like a differnt plant.  It was in the 40s and rainy when we left Vermont. This morning is was in the low  70’s and clear. The folks in the hotel  thought that was cold, so they startted the firepit for us 🙂 

 

We were determined to get in a run.. there wasnt much open space so we opted to run through some  really nice neighborhoods. Reminded me so much of Houston. Lots of big trees, big houses.. and spanish moss !

 

I’d forgotten how much Acadian french culture was still around here. The announcements in the airport wer in English and Acadian French. many of the people and place names are french.. We though this was cute.. Geaux !

 

the place was already decked out for halloween 

 

then back to the hotel . we enjoyed the run.. nice to be hot and sweaty this time of year. 

Around  11:30 Leslie and Brett picked us up .. we wnated to get soem good cajun food. When we were little we’d soemtims stop at Lake Charles at a place called Don’s .. they had one here in Lafayette… so thats where we headed.  It was a great choice !. DIane had a shrimp po-boy and I had crawdad ettouffe .. It brought back great memories !

It was lots of fun catching up with Leslie and Brett. We talked about old times.. stories abotu our dads (brothers).. and our grandparents.. We loves teasing our grandfather. Man.. I remember that  house. it was before air conditioning.. and there were fans everywhere..   it was a beautiful time . We swapped stories of our grandmother when she married jules after my grandfather died.. THye lived in a beutiful old house in Audubon park.. 

We also exchanged origin stories. Here’s a picture of them when they first met 

After that we dropped Leslie back at the hotel. She needed to go help Brig get ready. That left Diane, Brett and me with soem time. We decided to drive out to the Acadian Museum which was only 4 miles awy. It was a great choice. It wa a historically accurate reconstruction of a small cajun town of. the late 1800’s eary 1900;s. THe building were real and had bee moved from tehir original locations. It was nice and quiet there.. not many people.. so we took our time looking around.   They had an old store, an apothecary/doctors office, a church.. all really nicely presented with lots of documentation. in english and cajon french

We stopped and watched some big turtles lazily swimming around. 

Found a tree in honor of organ donors.. I left a samstone there

 

We met a guide there wha was cajon.. he was very(!) full of stories. We had to break free in order not to be late for wedding prep

We headed  back to the hotel.. and fell asleep by the pool. then it was time to get dressed. We called for an uber.. and took almost 30 min to come.. we just made it to the Cathedral in time for the wedding ! It was a big beautiful Catholic church. 

THere were no pictures during the ceremony. but ti was nice. Chase and Morgans 2 year old Reid stole the show as the flower girl.. she ran up the aisle towards her mother Morgan who was waving a cookie 🙂

We got to take pictuire afterwards. Meet Mr and Mrs. Morel !

 

Then we all filed out and headed to the reception.. We had some great Uber drivers during this trip. We learned lots abotu the town from them

THe reception was in a really nice ballroom. Food was a great buffet.. there was an open bar and there was a very good live band. One very cool thing was that there was an artist there painitng the whole event in real time.. I’lls. show you some pictures of that  in a sec

Firt thing we saw were tributes to Hannahs granfather, my Uncle JM (we called him Bird) and Leslies daughter Rachel  As well as some of Keths relatives. 

Bird would always cover his hand with his head and put his finger on his upper lip to try to look like my dad. He’s say :Whom aye, Whom aye”. . I had to do it again as a tribute to Bird. 

 

THey had pickled Okra. Another treat from my past. .its disgusting when boiled.. but delicious when pickled. go figure !Yummmm

 

 

My cousin  and Lisas brother Jeff, his wife Shelly and Jeffs daughter Skylar were here. I havent seen Jeff sinc ei was hear filming part of the Colony sason 2 in 2010 ! (Dang.. no pictures of Shelly or Skylar… ow wait.. I found one. Sheely in the white dress, Skylar in the background )

And here they are !  Mr and Mrs Morel !

Then the dancing. the couple, and their parents

Then a surprise. Kieth and Hannah jumped on stage.. and Keith whipped out a trumpet.. and played beautifully. for two songs. !!!.   ( o think one was Stevie Wonders Superstition.. ) He was so good..!!!   He even had the jacket !

 

And the crowd went wild !

Lisa and all her kids.. 

 

and then came cake

Speaking of cake. THat reminds me of Julia.. For some  reason I cant find a picture of Pops and Julia, Keith’s grandparents . We ended up talking to them both yesterday and today by the pool and at the reception. They’re both great storytellers.. Julie is an amazing cake maker. Check out her instagram 

She makes cakes for all occasions. She loves making  grooms cakes (wjihc is a thing down here_. In all sorts of crazy designs.. and they are 100% edible !. She showed us a cake she made of a bucket of beer.. all the bottles were made if sugar as were the ice cubes.. It was unreal Check these out from her instagram

Then more dancing.. Little Reid who’ Brigett’s great-granddaughter was  the center of attention 

It was getting to be late.. and we have an early flight tomorrow.. so we said goodbye to all the family. On the way out we checked on the progress of the live painting. Here are some pics I made of the progress

What a full and wonderful day.. so glad we came

Congratulations Hannah and Keith .. 

nite all, nite sam