our southern holiday

We had a great break. It was a little different since it was just the 2 of us. On Christmas Eve we went to a local restaurant where they were serving German dishes. The food was really good and our waiter even wished us a "Happy Festivus" which we thought was hilarious. On Christmas we used the web cams to watch everyone open their presents. It was so much fun getting to see our families. Everyone was so generous and we love all of our gifts. Seven got Carhartts from my mom and camo gear from Ben's so he made out pretty well too. We spent the afternoon visiting with friends at a fun little open house- so the crowd and the kids made it feel more like Christmas. We didn't get too many pics since we used web cams, but here are a few.

Ben has spent as much time as possible duck hunting in flooded timber. He seems to be enjoying it and not bringing home too many ducks to eat- which is great with me. He's a little tired after waking up at 3 am and wading through a swamp.


Of course we took Ace out on a run. He even made a retrieve, which was a pleasant surprise to both Ben and me. Here he is bounding through the cover. He's pretty crazy when he's out on a hunt.

We also took a road trip to Western MS aka the "Delta". Since we know you are all dying to know more about MS we made a slide show highlighting our trip. First is the Catfish Capitol. MS produces 70% of the United States catfish and this little town has a museum dedicated to the little creatures. Next we stopped at a state park that has the only hot springs in MS that is inhabited by 12 alligators, which we were excited to see, but unfortunately it was too cold (you know 60*F is pretty cold) for the alligators to be out and about.

We had read about a restaurant called Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, MS. This place has received many rewards and is ranked as one of the top steak houses in the US. We spent about 30 min driving around the ghetto trying to find it. By the time we did we were so ready to get out of the questionable neighborhood, that we didn't end up eating there. Be sure to check out the picture of the house right across the street from the restaurant. The restaurant now has a few chains, so we might have to check out the much safer branch in Starkville. We saw the MS River and huge levees. Then we headed north to the some historical Indian mounds. Finally we headed back home and made a few stops along the way including Leland, MS the birthplace of Kermit the Frog (this is where Jim Henson lived when he made his first puppet Kermit). We also stopped and got some delicious pecans from the Indianola Pecan company. Well here's the slide show with your mini road trip of the south.

Friday's the big day! Ben gets his assignment and it Seven's due date (but we're not really sure when he will actually be joining us). Here's Ben in front the timeline board. He is class 09-04.