Over the River and Through the Woods to Mickey's House We Go! And Grandma is in Tow!

[mickeystoontown]

Initially, we said we wanted to go to the First Monday flea market in Canton, Texas on Good Friday. However, the Weather Channel was predicting thunderstorms in their area on Friday. So, it was decided that we would run a few errands on Friday and we'd go to Texas on Saturday.

Friday before last, John and I had gone on a hot date to Applebee's, Sam's Club and WalMart. To end our frisky night, we went to the Dollar Tree. Hunter stayed home with his Mamaw so he could watch the Kids' Choice Awards on Nickelodeon. Well, when he found out we went to Applebee's, he was a little upset 'cause we hadn't been there in a long time. We told him that we would go again so he could go with us.

Good Friday would be our Applebee's night. John worked in the yard all day Friday and Hunter lazed around. I ran to Target and Old Navy and came back home. To beat the crowds, we left early for Applebee's and were seated a little after 5:00 p.m. I ordered the blanco queso with chips, wonton tacos with pulled pork and the honey bbq boneless chicken. John ordered the sliders, wonton tacos with pulled pork and dynamite shrimp. Hunter had the sliders with nothing but meat and bun. The boy is so picky. Gosh just talking about the food makes me hungry again.

When we left Applebee's we went to Old Navy to see what was on sale. We bought John a polo shirt which was on sale for $12.00. That's all we bought there.

We left Old Navy and went over to Michael's. I didn't really need anything but still wanted to look around. I had been talking about getting one of the coupon holder things to put all of my Disney receipts in. Problem was, I couldn't find one anywhere. I lucked up and found them in the $1 bin at Michael's. Even better, they were half price! I bought myself one and Mama one. They also had some really cute suckers in the shape of flowers and I bought six of them to make a flower bouquet to put in Lacey's birthday box I'll be sending her. My bill was less than $10.00.

So, once again, we spent a wild Friday night out on the town throwing money around like we were millionaires or something.

Saturday morning, we were up and on the road by 7:45 a.m. It takes about 3 1/2 hours to get there. The weather in Texas was supposed to be good and I was looking forward to spending time together. Now, I said the weather in Texas was supposed to be good but that wasn't the forecast for Louisiana. For about 45 minutes, I was driving through spots of fog so thick I couldn't see very far in front of me at all. It was a little bit scary. But, finally, the sun started shining. Here's Hunter in the backseat watching the portable DVD player and playing his DSi at the same time. He has a jacket throw over his head to keep the sun from reflecting off the screens.

The further and further we got away from home, the better the weather got. We pulled into the pasture where you park to enter the flea market about 10:45 a.m. From the looks of the number of cars in the parking area, it would be a busy day. The flea market covers acres and acres and acres. It's huge! So huge that we have never seen all of it. You could stay there for two days and still not see it all.

I tried to take pictures but it was so busy that I couldn't get any really good ones. Some of the vendors are in pavilions and some are outside.

After a while, we were getting hungry so we found the nearest food vendor. We bought some homemade corn dogs and a hot dog. I amost forgot to take a picture. Here's half a corn dog.

***I'll stop for a minute but will be back.

 

[KatMark]

Friday before last, John and I had gone on a hot date to Applebee's, Sam's Club and WalMart. To end our frisky night, we went to the Dollar Tree. Hunter stayed home with his Mamaw so he could watch the Kids' Choice Awards on Nickelodeon. Well, when he found out we went to Applebee's, he was a little upset 'cause we hadn't been there in a long time. We told him that we would go again so he could go with us.

You and John sound just like me and Mark for our "frisky nights."

 

[aprilisis]

I can't wait to read more about the flea market!!! I love flea markets.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Sorry, had an attorney stop by the office and then I ran to get something for lunch.

Carrying on:

Beside our table was a vendor who was selling the most gorgeous hanging baskets. I didn't stop to see how much they were but they must have been a good price because people were buying them like they were going out of style.

We didn't linger too long over our corn dogs and hot dogs because the sun was shining down on us and there was nothing to shade us from the heat.

I forgot to tell ya'll that there were three things that I wanted to look for at the flea market. One was an automatic dog waterer, another was the Rada knife lady that I always buy from and the other was a pair of Crocs for Hunter. We knew that the Rada knife lady was in one of the pavilions but we didn't remember which one. Off we went in search of the knife lady and we hoped to find Crocs along the way. The automatic dog waterer, we weren't even sure that anybody would have those but we'd keep an eye out.

We made our way to the closest pavilion we saw and began our shuffle along with hundreds of other people. I swear the crowds were worse than at Disney. We'd squeeze our way through the people stopping to look and then we'd run into dozens more people. Then, we wind our way through more people only to be stopped a few feet down the way. It was busy.

We saw a shoe vendor who had Crocs at a really good price. Hunter tried on a couple of styles but we couldn't find his size. Too bad!

When I saw an opening in the line of people, we squeezed back in and continued our search for the knife lady. We got all the way to the end of the pavilion but there was no knife lady to be found. It was getting hotter than heck in the pavilion so we went back outside where the wind was blowing.

We looked around at the various vendor booths outside and came upon these cute metal sculpture things:

I would have loved to have bought one but the littlest thing he had was $35.00 and I didn't want to pay that. So on we went. It's neat how some vendors have really cool stuff to look at and then others have nothing but junk. I mean who would want to buy this?

No, it's not a real saw, it's fake. Where in the world would you put something like that? Oh well, one man's junk is another man's treasure.

I am always on the lookout for anything Disney and there was this one man who I had bought Disney McDonald's glasses from. I ducked into his booth and went to see if he had more. Hunter took this picture which captures my behind and not much of the stuff for sale:

By this time, we had made our way to another pavilion and we started the shuffle walk again along with hundreds of other folks. Hunter saw some really cool laser cut crystal dragons that he wanted to look at. The lady said it was the last one (which I don't really think was the case but she was doing her sales pitch so I didn't want to stop her) and talked John into buying it for Hunter. It was just $4.00 and the stand was supposed to be $4.00 but John told her she needed to give it to him for $3.00 and she did. He's such a sweet talker. We tucked our purchase into my bag and off we went again.

Finally finally, we found the knife lady except it wasn't the knife lady. It was her husband. He said they had done so well with the one booth that they had expanded and now had two booths. I bought two paring knives, a tomato knife, a vegetable peeler and one longer knife and it was just $32.00. I took the guy's card and promised that we would be back the next time we came to Canton.

Well, that was one thing we could check off our list. Still to go were the automatic dog waterer and the Crocs. And, it looked like the pavilion we were in would have either of those. Back outside we went.

John spotted a man who sold handles for shovels, rakes, hatchets, axes, etc. and he stopped to get one for his axe. While he was talking to the guy, Hunter and I walked around a little to see if we could find any hidden treasures. No treasures but we did find more metal sculptures:

John met back up with us with his axe handle in hand and we were off again. We wandered and wandered and wandered but no dog waterer and no Crocs. We were walking along and this guy yells "I have better handles than those at a better price!". Dummy John stops and asks the guy what he said. I kept on walking. The guy pulled John to the side and started showing him handles and walking canes he makes from Crepe Myrtle trees. Poor John didn't want to be rude to the man and stood there for what seemed like forever.

Hunter and I sat down on the side of the walkway and took a load off. Here's John listening to the guy:

Across the lane, there was a man who sold furniture made out of cow horns. I don't know if you can see them very well in the picture because he was pretty far away:

Finally, John was able to get away from the guy and we were off again. We stopped and looked at a lot of stuff but only bought a cutting board. After wandering for about 4 1/2 hours, we decided that we had seen all that we were going to see that day and that we needed to go ahead and head back home.

John napped most of the way. Hunter and I laughed our behinds off at him because he'd fall asleep...even be snoring a little...but would wake up and start talking as if he had never even fallen asleep. It was the funniest thing. Just before we crossed back into Louisiana, we saw a picnic area. The shelters over the picnic tables looked like oil derricks. I asked John to try and snap a picture. It's not the best but what can you do when you are going 70 miles an hour?

And, then, when we got to Shreveport, Louisiana, I tried to take a picture of the huge cowboy outside a western store. It's another one of those pictures that doesn't come out good 'cause you're driving so fast:

Even though we only found one thing on our "we need to find" list, we still had a lot of fun.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

You and John were really tearing up the town that night!! Goodness! Isn't it funny how much we change? That sounded like fun to me....dinner with the hubby and then shopping!

Those meals at Applebee's sound YUMMY!!

That flea market sounds like a great way to spend a day. Sometimes it's not about what you find, but about the experience! Those metal sculptures are cool, but I'm with you on not spending the money. I'll save my $35 for a new Disney bag, thanks! Apparently John does not know the cardinal rule for getting through flea markets or carnivals.....NO EYE CONTACT!! Once they catch your eye, it's all over!!

Cute picnic area....clever!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm trying to get my non-Disney updates posted so I can move on to the real stuff this pre-trip report is supposed to be made of.

Easter Sunday: We decided not to go to Easter morning church services. On a regular Sunday morning, our church attendance is about 600 people in what we call "big church" meaning that doesn't include children's church, Wee Worship or Youth. Our church is undergoing major major reconstruction. When I say major, I mean there's no front on it any more, the sides are down to the metal studs, the parking lot is full of construction equipment, etc. We've been holding services in the church basketball gym. Even on "regular" Sundays, we are smooshed in there like sardines. We could only imagine what it would be like on Easter Sunday.

So, we decided not to go. We watched the Sunday morning service of another local church on television and then Hunter and I dyed Easter eggs. We only did 8 real eggs and it wasn't until we had several done that we thought about doing Disney themed eggs. I did a M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E egg on one side and drew a hidden Mickey on the other:

Hunter said we should do a Monster's Inc. egg. I drew Mike. Hunter drew Sulley and Boo's door:

Test Track:

The flash on the camera reflected off the eggs so you can't really see the designs very well but they turned out cute.

One of my sisters was out of town and wasn't going to come to Mama's. My other sister and her two girls and their families came to Mama's though. None of us really wanted to cook so we decided to just have finger foods and chips and dip. After our linner (that's between lunch and dinner), the kids were ready to hunt eggs. There's just three kids that are young enough to hunt.

Before I post pictures, I am going to apologize right now for the way some of the people are dressed. They don't think about dressing up for Easter (or anything else really for that matter) and were just in t-shirts and shorts. They also just let their boys wear whatever they want. Doesn't matter where they are going. Sometimes they look like ragamuffins. Since we didn't go to church we went for the more casual clothing too. Now that I've thrown the disclaimer in, I'll post pictures.

Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

A couple more of the egg hunt. The lady in red is my niece. She had gastric bypass surgery a couple of years ago and has lost about 200 pounds! She would love to have some reconstructive surgery done to have the excess skin removed but she can't get her insurance company to pay for it.

All year long, I buy little goodies from dollar stores and on clearance for prizes at Easter. I put slips in the plastic eggs and the kids bring me their slips to claim their prizes.

I had my niece take a picture of John, Hunter and I:

Mama and Hunter. She doesn't know that I was trying to get a good picture of them together so I could make her a t-shirt with the two of them on it.

The kids spent time outside playing with their prizes. My two nephews are pure boys and are really rough so I have to take them in little doses. I love 'em but they are rowdy!

 

[aprilisis]

I love the photos! The one of the three of you is great!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

HI Lisa....great Easter pics! Is that polo that John is wearing by any chance the one he just bought at Old Navy?? Just asking because Jeff bought the same one!

I love the idea of the prizes for the eggs.....my Gram does the egg hunt with my boys and she does chocolates and coins.

You all look so cute in your coordinating yellow shirts!!

 

[MHTeacher]

I mean who would want to buy this?

I have been looking for one of those for years!

 

[MHTeacher]

Now, you know I was just kidding!

I love the fact that John has on a Mickey Mouse shirt at the flea market!

That's a great picture of the three of you on Easter! I love your hair!

 

[Bridora]

Great Easter pictures! You guys were so cute in your matching yellow...made for good pictures, too! My DS has that same football "basket" Hunter does. They convinced me, however, that it was a Halloween bucket, so he didn't use it. I knew it was Easter, though, because it had a stuffed bunny stuck down in it! Oh well.

Gosh, that flea market is huge! Loved the cow horn furniture man, my Aunt & Uncle would probably need a couple of those chairs for their front porch.

 

[laashley]

Joining in. Only on pg. 2, had to comment. Such a small world. I am orginally from west monroe, graduated from wmhs in '98. Was just visiting my parents who now live in Monroe Have to finish your ptr quick cause we are headed to wdw in just 11 days!

 

[scooby9932]

Hey, Lisa! I've been off the board for weeks (details as to why in my PTR), but wanted to drop in & catch up on everyone's PTRs.

I'm so happy to hear about Lacey's tests! I wouldn't do the "just checking" tests, either. The expense is just not worth it IMO when 2 doctors have already assured you she's okay.

Computer troubles are something I can relate to. Such a pain in the patootie!

Your ghosts sound an awful lot like the ones we live with! Luckily, we're so used to the strange goings-on that it hardly causes a blip in our radars. It's only when company comes over & mentions it that we notice anymore.

Great date nights! Dinner out & shopping are 2 of my favorite activities!

The Canton flea market has been on my list of things-to-do for years. I'll have to make a weekend of it one of these days. The knives sound like a great deal!

Your Disney themed eggs are so cute! Love the Sully & Mike ones! The pictures of the 3 of you are great...such a lovely little family you have.

Your DisMeet sounds like so much fun! One of these days I'll be there at the right time to join in on one of those.

Well, I'm off to catch up on a few more PTR's. Hope you have a great weekend!

 

[Kathy Jetson]

Looks like you had a great Easter loved the picture of the 3 of you. We had an egg hunt too. Instead of putting slips of paper in the eggs I just hid Rivers toys around the yard he had a blast. The flea market looks fun I wish we had something like that around here.

 

[Nettaboo]

Lisa,
I am not not sure if someone has already told you but you can set your program to autoback up every couple of mins.(you should be doing the save your file thing yourslef- anyway..I am sorry I am a HelpDesk person and have to give this speech everyday!!LOL)

When I saw that your husband and son had on yellow shirts.. I said I BET she has on one..and then I saw the cutest pic of all three of you guys!! I love it!
hopefully I will get my camera from my mom today and post some easter pics.

 

[BPATSMouse]

Hi,Lisa

We are all doing good, We are all getting better at keeping Mom busy. I have not been posting much lately because I've been "busy", at least thats what I'm claiming . Actually I've been fighting a bug that turned into severe respitory and ear infection's . Took a month before I "got sick enough" to be prescribed antibiotics to fight it. Been on the AB's for a week now and feeling 100X better. I love your house and where its built, we hope to build one like it some day . We have a flea market up here in Shipshewana, Indiana in the middle of Amish country that's decent sized it can be done in a day but its obviously no where near as big as the one in Texas. The Amish stores, shops and farms in the area offer a lot of shopping and sights though. The giant hedge clippers almost look like they could have be used as one of those kiddie rides with the big spring on the bottom that you see at playgrounds? I know that would be a big time safety issue.

 

[leamom2princesses]

The flea market looks fun Lisa! I could have a big time at a place like that. Your Easter pic of the three of you is really nice Lisa. Love the yellow-so bright and spring-like. Y'all are a nice looking family.

I have to say your Mama is really cute too. I'm naturally drawn to older folks. I used to spend a lot of time just chatting with my grandparents and hanging out listening to stories of old times. I loved listening to the stories of how my Grandma used to buy 4 loaves of bread and two gallons of milk every day to feed her 14 kids. Even after the kids were gone she still cooked everyday for 16. She never learned how to scale back her recipes. I loved spending time with her.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Hello Lisa!
the Flea Market looks like a fun way to spend the day! I wish Danny liked to do things like that. I have managed to get him to the Flea Market in the French Quarter last time we went but that's it. They have a somewhat large one of I10 in MS...I would love to see if I could find a mantle (still do not have one and we are going on 11 years)...
Easter looks like a lot of fun! your mom looks great! and I love the picture of the three of you...

 

[racefanof88]

Sorry I Disappeared for a while; I have been such a bad Disbuddy .

It looks like ya'll had a great time at the flea market, I can't believe what some people try to sell at them though . Dallas likes Applebee's too. The last few times we have been out to eat he has asked to go there, but we usually end up getting Mexican.......yummmmmmm. The pictures of the flea market are good; I've never thought to take my camera with me .

I have to agree with Leanne, ya'll are a very handsome family . I don't think I posted any Easter pictures, but we dress in shorts and tees too. Too warm to go outside in our dress clothes, yeah, yeah that's it . That's my story and I'm sticking to it .