 Back in February 2019, I had an opportunity to head to Grapevine, TX to check out Great Wolf Lodge. It was a night with tons of other homeschoolers taking advantage of great rates at the lodge, while taking a break from day to day life. We decided on going out the night before, staying in a hotel near the lodge, and exploring a few places in the area. I hopped in my back office and found a great deal for Legoland and the Aquarium. I booked us a hotel and we were off! Legoland was our first stop! It was super cool to see all of the pieces built out of legos. I'd say that if I had to pick between Dallas and Orlando, Orlando would be the spot to go--much bigger! But, Dallas did NOT disappoint! We walked right across to the aquarium, where the kids continuously impressed the workers with all their knowledge they had about the animals ;) Tends to be the theme --- skepticism sets in when the word homeschool is mentioned, UNTIL ... did you know that these right here, sir....... and the endless facts come spewing out!  Back in February 2019, I had an opportunity to head to Grapevine, TX to check out Great Wolf Lodge. It was a night with tons of other homeschoolers taking advantage of great rates at the lodge, while taking a break from day to day life. We decided on going out the night before, staying in a hotel near the lodge, and exploring a few places in the area. I hopped in my back office and found a great deal for Legoland and the Aquarium. I booked us a hotel and we were off! Legoland was our first stop! It was super cool to see all of the pieces built out of legos. I'd say that if I had to pick between Dallas and Orlando, Orlando would be the spot to go--much bigger! But, Dallas did NOT disappoint! We walked right across to the aquarium, where the kids continuously impressed the workers with all their knowledge they had about the animals ;) Tends to be the theme --- skepticism sets in when the word homeschool is mentioned, UNTIL ... did you know that these right here, sir....... and the endless facts come spewing out!  We tucked into the hotel for the night and waited anxiously to head to Great Wolf the very next day! To my surprise their HUGE FIREPLACE was BURNING! Y'all you're in Texas in 90 degree weather--- it's HOT!!! I know, I know it's supposed to add to the atmosphere of the lodge--but it was HOTTTTTT!!   My girl is not fond of the water. We stayed right where you see her now. Standing at the window--watching everyone play in the water! Momma wouldn't' have had it any other way--- she's only little for so long! Although, the day we were to leave, we did go out and sit on the chairs and watched everyone play--- but let's not forget it WAS HOT!!!  We soon realized we were not too far from Waco--the home of Magniolia Silos! My son is set on flipping houses when he's older--- we don't watch much TV, so he wasn't familiar with Chip and Joanna, but once we got there his heart was on fire! He even convinced me to buy a tumbler there so that one day when he attends college there and he works for them, he can show them that he bought a tumbler from their store all the years before! So we headed out to spend the day there! It did NOT disappoint guys! Inspiration for my son, an unexpected adventure for the adults and memories with the little ones! My heart was set on fire!
It was time to head home. We decided on going through Houston-- staying on major highways as much as we could, because let's face it--- four kids, two women on the road---- you MUST be safe.
Emerson, the oldest kiddo on the trip, tends to get sick in the car. We're just about past Houston and she starts to feel queasy. She ends up sick, so we pull over to clean her up and get the nastiness out of the car. Imagine: no lights. All interstate. Cars flying by. Us on side of road. OF COURSE it would only be us who are confronted by a MAN FROM THE WOODS!! So Em climbs from the back into the middle section, steps out the vehicle, takes out the trash and hops back into the car. We decide to let her stay in the middle in case we need to get to her on the way home. ...... I'm sitting in passenger seat.. facing Stacy..... talking to Em......... Stacy: ****slaps my arm****** ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Me: what?!!!!!!! Stacy: WHATTTTTT DO YOU WANT! WHATTTTTT DO YOU WANT!!!!!!!!!1 Kids: Silence. Me: ****rolls down window**** Stacy: what the HELL are you doing!! Me: what do you wanttttt!!!!!!!! whattttt do you want!!!!!!!!!! Man from woods: are you ladies okay? do you need some help? Stacy: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Me: yes! she's just sick! What do you wantttttttttttttttt???????????? Man from woods: I'm just checking to make sure you are okay. Me: getting light headed. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! What do you wantttttt! Kids: silence Stacy: grabbing my arm as tight as she can! ahhhhhhhhh Man in the woods: chuckling! Hands facing car (he wanted us to make sure we knew we were safe) phone light facing the car so we could see his face. Me: where did you come from? ******hysterically laughing***** Man from the truck behind us: I pulled over and walked to the car with the light on my phone facing you guys hoping you'd see us! Stacy: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Me: OMG! *****snort**** ****cry laughing***** snort*** I thought you were going to kill us! I didn't see you! I thought for sure you were coming from woods! ****snort**** cry laughing**** Stacy: OMG if you would have come out those woods with a clown mask on... I would have SHAT myself! That was IT! I was hollaring screaming crying laughing all at the same time. I think it took me 24 hours to get back to my normal feeling self. I literally, in that moment, thought we were going to die. I think about it now, and chuckle, BUT lesson learned--- we probably need to carry mace with us--- LUCKILY he was only trying to help, but it's our reality that we live in--- that's not always the case!
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 Months back I discovered an Abandoned Louisiana Facebook group. Scrolling through a post about abandoned old cemeteries, I learned of a cemetery (not abandoned) not far from our house. I told myself we'd go out there one day. The Istre Cemetery located in Mermentau Cove, Louisiana is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of their "grave houses." This morning we woke up and I decided we were going to check it out. Let me preface this post by saying I am adventurous, but I am NERVOUS. I had 20% battery life on my phone. I had never been anywhere close to this cemetery and I know VERY LITTLE about this area. I held my breath as we drove out. Crawfish ponds and small winding roads is all that was out there. I took a snap shot of the directions to the cemetery posted in the Facebook Group and pulled up my GPS directions and practically burned it into my memory. NO WAY was I getting lost out in the middle of nowhere with no phone!  I drive up and notice a truck pulling up the road behind us and out pops this little ole' Cajun man. Jon and I walk out to the two first grave houses we see and so does he. I ask if he is from the area and he says in the most down right Cajun accent you could have " well yeah, cher' I am the President of this Cemetery!" I told him we were homeschoolers and that I had found out about the cemetery and the houses from an Abandoned Louisiana Facebook group. I asked if he knew of the documentary that was made about the cemetery and before I could finish he said " well yeah I was the one on the documentary!" Talk about perfect timing!  Mr. Leonard Smith walks straight to the two grave houses Jon and I were interested in and tells me that those two buried there were his daughter, Tammie Smith, and granddaughter, unnamed. I ask if it's rude to open the doors on the houses, and he excitedly says " well, no!" "The doors were put so you could open them up!" My heart is racing at this point! This really could not have been a better planned day! Or so I thought!! He tells me how he comes out regularly to check out the grounds and on the grave sites. He puts out a Christmas wreath on each of the houses and is planning to put a few eternal lights on the fence posts. He mentions that windows are made of Plexiglas because there are problems with people breaking actual glass. He hasn't put up the eternal lights in fear of theft. Broke my heart. He tells me that at one point there were 60 grave houses in that one cemetery, but only 5 are left standing. Two of those are the two he built. Each of the five still standing are from old cypress lumber. He tore down an old house to get the lumber needed to make the grave houses for his daughter and granddaughter. The inside of the grave house is beautiful! From my research, at one point, there was a beautiful rosary behind the cross laid out. If you look closely at the cover picture of this post, you can see what looks like once was a pinkish rosary! Next, we start to walk to the next grave house when I ask him the reasoning for these houses. He chuckles and says well, there are two stories. And I just brace myself. I knew this was going to be great!!!  Before I tell you of the two stories, I want to tell you of the next grave house. Mr Smith tells us that Mr Pierre Istre was a wealthy man who owned 1,000 acres of land in the area. He made it very clear that did not want to be buried exposed to the elements and so immediately following his burial, this house was built over it. As you can see here, Mr Henry was born in the early 1870s and passed on in 1935. One thing I noticed was the odd spelling of his name. I did a bit of research and from what I gathered, it's simply due to the illiteracy of people from that time period. Records show Pierre. Grave shows Pirrie. No wonder tracing back family roots is such a challenge! I ask if he could show me the oldest site and he tells me that it is rumored there is an old Civil War soldier buried there. As we walk to the back corner, he says to me " if you put your camera phone in this hole you can see the skull." No, sirry! Not I! Jon on the other hand was crouching down trying to see the skull. He tells me of someone who stuck a camera in the hole and was able to see the skull inside the grave. He says "now if your camera falls in there, I am not going get it for you!" Now to what we all have been waiting for... the story of how these houses came to be. Rumor has it that long time ago a husband was going to build a beautiful home for his wife. She passes on before he was able to do build the home for her, so he decides he is going to be build a replica over her grave to honor his word to his late wife. Interesting. Other rumor has it that back in the day cattle roamed in the area and would " do their business" all over the grave tops. So, the solution was to build a house on top of the graves to keep them... protected ;) I am not sure which I believe, but I can tell you this much, whatever the reasoning, the houses are beautiful! Even the abandoned one in the woods.. yes you read that right!  My heart pounded the entire time. I saw bullet shells. Glass bottles. Beer cans. Soda cans. I knew that meant someone would frequent the house, but I had to see what was there. An old table. Chimney in the middle of the house. An abandoned boat. I forget the story of who once lived there; guess it's reason to reach out to Mr. Leonard for another tour of the property! We walk back to the cemetery grounds and he leads up to the final grave house. This one is unique in that it houses two grave sites.  THIS BY FAR WAS THE MOST ENTERTAINING MOMENT OF THE TRIP OUT! I am almost died. In a cemetery because what I just knew had to be a WICKED thingamabob watching us from somewhere, I just didn't know where.... The doors were shut. Mr. Smith is telling us of stories of the area and I hear this wicked screeching sound. My heart stops in my chest. He keeps talking. I keep smiling and nodding my head all while thinking... what in the world is making this noise? Before I know it Jon is standing at the door of the house and says to me Mom!!!!! There is a ....... CAT!!!!!! Y'all. I almost left my child in the cemetery by himself. I had a grand plan to hop over the grave sites and into my car faster than the cat could hide. Thankfully I didn't have to do that!  I thank Mr. Smith for the tour of the cemtery and quickly start walking back to my car. Along the way we come across a grave that has crumbled into the ground. He mentions that there is no name or year on it for them ever know how to get in touch with family members.
This seems to be a common theme. No way to know who is buried in marked sites. I can't imagine how many are buried in sites unknown to any of us. Edited to add 10/26/2019: we have since been back to the cemetery to meet up with Mr Smith with another homeschool family. The boys enjoyed the history of the cemetery. We even stopped at another cemetery in the area where we learned about the history of that area and did some exploring along the bayou!  Part of why I love to travel, is learning about culture. I especially love to learn about the uniqueness that Louisiana, particularly, south Louisiana, has to offer. I set out to find a Cajun French speaking, Mardi Gras'er to teach our kids about the history of rural Mardi Gras. Through social media, I was connected with Mrs. Jackie Miller from Iota, La. I gave her a call. Set up a date/ time and anxiously awaited the day we would learn of the traditions surrounding Mardi Gras.  We had families from the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas. Two places that celebrate this holiday quite differently than what you will find in Tee Mamou. Mrs Jackie greeted me with open arms. She was ready for us with tables, supplies and bowls of water--just in case one of us burned our finger tips with the glue guns ;) She began the session with the history of the Tee Mamou Mardi Gras and ended it with traditional mask-making and of course a group picture!  Mrs. Miller explained that the tradition comes from Europe quite some time ago. Tradition has it that peasants would dress up in extravagant costumes begging for food from the wealthy. Costumes were made so that faces were covered up, in order to hide their identity. After long winters, the peasants often were short on food. The peasants would literally run from house to house putting on a show, hoping for the wealthy to give them a bit of food to eat .
Today, you will find very similar traditions. Tee Mamou Mardi Gras is the only groups to have been continuously running since the Acadians were exhiled to south Louisiana. Mrs Jackie's husband, Mr. Miller, shared that back during WWII, many of the groups in the area had to stop their traditions because the men were fighting in the war. In Acadia Parish, rice was farmed, which was a staple for the soldiers out in the Pacific, so the government allowed one son from each farm to stay behind and farm the rice. This allowed the tradition to continue as it was only men who would run Mardi Gras. Now, you will find that women, children and men all participate in the running of Mardi Gras, however, Mardi Gras day is reserved for the men only. Women typically run on the Saturday prior and the children on the Sunday before Fat Tuesday! Just like the peasants once did, the runners, dress in costume, from head to toe, run from one house to the next begging for food. The runners chase chickens that will be used to make a huge gumbo for all to enjoy! Mrs. Miller wrote a children's book, " Why Run Mardi Gras?" We all left with our own signed, personal copy! Check out the YouTube videos of La danse de Mardi Gras in Cajun French: youtu.be/pr_HcNzNBXg I am not a writer. But I am a storyteller. I write like I tell my stories. Very casually. I remember learning in English that what we were being taught was "the formal way of writing." I anxiously waited to learn about the "informal way" for years. So, I made it up myself. If the emotions can come across the computer screen and you enjoy what you are reading, I am happy.
Memories, not stuff... As a child, I was never fond of the knick knacks or "things" that collected dust. But ask me to share a memory about my grandparents and you would quickly realize, those memories mean way more to me than some figurine on a shelf. I will share details that would make one believe that those events had just taken place, when in fact, my grandmother passed 17 years ago. The trend I have been seeing as of the last few years is families really trying to do away with clutter and focusing on making memories with their families. Even moreso with the COVID outbreak and families being quarantined together. I hope this "trend" becomes the norm--- because I truly believe that memories will long last any material thing. As a mom, creating memories with my children are just as important to me as raising them into loving, caring and responsible adults. As a travel planner, I love watching my clients create those memories with their own families. It's the BEST part of the job... besides the traveling ;) Here, you will find stories about our ventures together---some far from home, others right in our own backyard :) Enjoy! Brandi |
AuthorAs a homeschooling mom who found that her children thrived more when living life together instead of being stuck in a classroom 8 hours a day, I turned my love of travel and educating my kids into the perfect mix: unschooling. Archives
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