Summertime in Mississippi...

I haven't blogged very much since we left Houston...

it's been a more difficult transition than anticipated.

It has reminded me so much of how I felt after serving an 18 month mission in Poland.

I lost myself in a Polish world for a year and a half; serving and loving the people there.

Then my time was up, and I had to return to a world that I wasn't comfortable with. 

I left a piece of my heart there.

We spent five years in Houston.

I lost myself in a Texas world, and found myself serving and loving SO many people.

And just like that, our time was up and we moved on to yet another world that we weren't yet comfortable with. 

I left a HUGE piece of my heart there.

It's been hard.

Change is hard.

But I suppose that's how we progress and grow.

So... onward and upward.

Let me share with you some of our fun Mississippi moments from this summer.

We've picked blueberries several times...

 

And made some delightful blueberry concoctions!

 We've played some Rock Band...

 Celebrated our nation's birthday in downtown Vicksburg!

  

We've celebrated the arrival of mission calls...

 

 Taken advantage of our local Chick-Fil-A and free food!

We've spent lots of time in the sun!

 And taken many road trips down to Louisiana for football, Costco and temple!

 Oysters in New Orleans!

We love the late night half-priced shakes at Sonic!

 We've done some exploring of Civil War sites...

AND as the summer closes we are finally settling down...

and closed on our house!

Official adults.

So although life is full of changes,

life is still good.

Now bring on the baby!

Exploring Natchez...

Jon is in an internship program here in Mississippi and this year we became great friends with fellow interns, the LeMontes. 

We wanted to do something fun for their last weekend in Mississippi and entertained thoughts of beach trips, etc. But when we found the beaches in Mississippi to be wave-less, we opted for a more historical alternative. 

(blurp from wikipedia)

"Established by French colonists in 1716, Natchez is one of the oldest and most important European settlements in the lower Mississippi River Valley, and served as the capital of the Mississippi Territory and then the state of Mississippi. It predates Jackson, which replaced Natchez as the capital in 1822, by more than a century. 

The strategic location of Natchez, on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, ensured that it would become a pivotal center of trade, commerce, and the interchange of Native American, European, and African-American cultures in the region for the first two centuries of its existence. 

 

In U.S. history, it is recognized particularly for its role in the development of the Old Southwest during the first half of the nineteenth century. It was the southern terminus of the historic Natchez Trace, which provided many pilots of flatboats and keelboats a road back to their homes in the Ohio River Valley after unloading their cargo in the city. Today Natchez serves in the same capacity for the modern Natchez Trace Parkway, which commemorates this route."

First stop on the itinerary was "Mammy's Cupboard".

We've driven by this place each summer (on our way to Baton Rouge) and, as you can imagine, it is kind of intriguing!

Built in the 1940's, she found herself politically "incorrect" in the 60's and so they painted her a lighter shade of brown...

Good ol' Mississippians.

We had lunch inside her *ahem* dress-

and it was delicious!

The blueberry lemonade was especially delightful.

Next stop was the Natchez Visitors Center to get an idea of places to explore...

Afterwards we found lots of cool houses on our "driving tour".

Remember how Mississippi is hot?

 We got out to explore one of the southern mansions...

it was massive!

And the grounds were huge and expansive.

And it was home to a super creepy swamp...

 *shiver*

 Natchez gets it's name from the Natchez Indian Tribe that lived in this area at the time it was settled by French colonists.

So we set out to visit the "Grand Village" of the Natchez Indians.

They had a quaint little visitors center...

"Are there venomous snakes in there?"

 "It's hot!"

 Burial mounds...

 Climbing up the burial mound 

(of course on Jon's back to not be attacked by said "venomous snakes")

 It doesn't look all that big once we're on top of it...

hmmm...

 And this face brought to you by Josh LeMonte photography...

 On the way home we got pulled over!

So lame.

And we got a ticket.

Boo.

PS- Jon was driving... just sayin'