One Weekend, Four States...

We had an opportunity to spend time with our good friends, Patrick and Kaity. They were in Florida for the week, so we decided to meet in Pensacola Beach, Florida. I must admit, I greatly enjoy weekend trips that do not involve airports. It was nice to pack everything into the Jeep, and hit the road. What was even better, we travelled through four states in less than four hours! Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

People told us the beaches near Pensacola were nice, they really are.
Soft, white sand, and clear, clean water.
Not too crowded either!
This was the view from our room.

More photos from our weekend...

Ryan took the opportunity to train for his upcoming Ironman.
A long bike ride to start his morning, and an afternoon swim.
I will say he was the only one I saw wearing a full wetsuit at the beach. :)

Looking good...

The weather was great, the sun was warm, but the water was still cold, the wetsuit was needed, especially swimming as much as he did. 

I can tell I am getting older, and caring less what others think of me.
32 weeks pregnant and posting a picture of myself in a bathing suit. 

The birthday boy enjoying one of many ice cream treats.

The McGuires posing in front of the McGuire bus. 

The Langs posing in front of the McGuire bus, just not the same. :)

It was a fantastic weekend, spent with fantastic friends!

And, for the weekly bump update, 32 weeks down, 8 more to go…

First Lang Crawfish Boil

Last Saturday, Ryan and I were officially inducted into the State of Louisiana Resident Association. We did not receive any fancy document, or a call from the governor, I self-declared us a member of the SLRA (State of Louisiana Resident Association). Don't look it up, it doesn't exist, at least I don't think it does.

For our family in the midwest allow me to explain how a crawfish boil works. Anyone from the South, do not judge my description, I still don't completely understand.

First Lang Crawfish Boil Ingredients

Large Boil Kettle
Large bags of seasoning
Bags of baby potatoes
Bags of Sweet Corn
Bags of Onions
Bag of garlic
Containers of mushrooms
Bag of Lemons
Bag of Oranges
4 Pounds of Sausage
40 Pounds of Crawfish (you read that correctly 4-0, and that was only one bag)
Plenty of awesome friends
Plenty of alcohol
On the side, we had some barbecue chicken wings, oysters, blue crab, snacks, pecan pie (for Pi day), and a special birthday ice cream cake.

Everything from the seasoning to the crawfish are thrown in the pot to boil for a specific amount of time. Then the pot is dumped onto a table, everyone gathers, and the eating begins. We did this three times, splitting the above ingredients into thirds. In between batches, you play games, hang out, eat other food, and drink.

If you research online, they recommend 4-5 pounds of crawfish per person if they are from Louisiana, if a person is not from Louisiana, they recommend 1-2 pounds of crawfish per person. I ate 4…total. Not 4 pounds, 4 crawfish, and that was only because 2 of the crawfish were cleaned for me, and the meat was handed to me. I could not partake in the margaritas flowing freely from the margarita machine. Even without the margaritas, and not being a huge fan of crawfish, it was still an incredibly fun time. I have said it before, people of Louisiana know how to have a good time, and they enjoy every minute.

More pictures from the event…

The cooler of live crawfish.

Macy likes oysters. It was grilled, not raw. She also ate some pieces of crawfish shell, and unfortunately licked up some spilled hot sauce. She was a hot mess. Luckily, she kept it all in, no vomit or explosive diarrhea. 

After all the rain from last week, we had a decent size mud puddle in our side yard, Macy found it during an extreme game of fetch. Pull out the hose. Haha. She also got a proper bath at the end of the night, like I said, she was covered in mud, snout stained orange from the hot sauce, and plenty of crawfish juice to make for a smelly dog. 

Grilled oysters between batches of crawfish boil.
100 oysters were consumed, I learned that's how many come in a "mini" bag

Crawfish boil with a side of margarita

Photo documentation I ate a crawfish. 

We had a couple birthday boys (Ryan included) at the party, birthdays within a week of each other. I felt it was appropriate to make an ice cream cake. Homemade thin mint ice cream (thanks to our KitchenAid ice cream maker and the girl scouts in our neighborhood I stalked to buy cookies from). Purely delicious. 

If you want to see the rest of the photos click on the link below. You will notice, I even did a purple background, with yellow photo borders for LSU. Haha, points for me.

First Lang Crawfish Boil

The Crescent City Challenge...

In our constant effort to stay active, and create goals for ourselves, Ryan and I (mostly I) have created the Crescent City Challenge. The idea was sparked almost a year ago, when Ryan signed us up for the Crescent Connection Bridge Run, it was within our first couple weeks of moving to Louisiana, and Ryan thought it would be a great idea to run 4 miles, across a bridge in the heat and humidity of Louisiana. If you know me, you know I do not enjoy running. I love to workout, have even been known to run a race or two, but the time is usually spent thinking about things I hate more than running. Usually, I think, and think, and cannot think of anything I dislike more. Surprisingly, each time I finish a race, I say that wasn't so bad, and tell Ryan to sign us up for another.

Since I am pregnant, and gaining weight like it's my job (which right now it currently is), I decided to embark on the Crescent City Challenge. A great way to stay active while pregnant, and a great way to shed the weight once Baby Boy Lang arrives. Five races that take place in New Orleans through out the year. The first race took place this past weekend. Check one off the list, four more to go.

St. Patrick's Day Classic

I must give Ryan lots of credit. He chose to walk the race with me, even though you could tell it pained him when all the runners took off, he was very sweet and walked the short race with me. He got to experience my insanely awesome pregger power walking. We finished, even passing a few others along the way, collected our "Kiss me, I'm a runner" badge, and t-shirt. The next race takes place April 4th, and Ryan has already said he would not be walking with me, I completely understand. 

The only race I am concerned with is June 6th, depending on when Baby Boy Lang arrives, and how my recovery goes, I may or may not be able to participate, but I will try my best. The great thing, they allow strollers in all the races, so baby boy can join!

And, 31 weeks pregnant, feeling good…

The Final Ten...

We are officially in the final ten countdown. Week 30. Ten weeks (give or take a few days) until we meet Baby Boy Lang.

His hand is the blob in front of his right eye. After much poking, and words of encouragement, we were unsuccessful in our attempts to get him to move his hand. 

His cheeks appear chubby, but that may be the only chubby part about him. So far he is not taking after me in any way, Baby Boy Lang is skinny. Ryan was at the doctor's appointment when we were told this, and Operation "Virginia Must Eat More" began. I can definitely say I have been eating a lot more, I have stayed off the scale, that is a number I no longer care to know. The results are an ever expanding belly, and I assume, an ever expanding baby. We will see how he measures at the next appointment.

It has been far too long since Ryan and I have taken a picture together. We changed that last night, while attending a fundraiser gala for the future Northshore Children's Museum. Good food, good music, good friends.

An underwater theme. 

With our friend, Natalie, and one of the "sea creatures."