#SILintheSouth; Walks, Worship and Walmart

Hey sweet peas! I missed posting yesterday as Jesse had the computer but we just got back from a walk so I've got lots to share with you from the last two days!

We've had some free time this weekend so Jesse, Josh and I have been taking walks around the neighbourhood. Well, yesterday we walked/jogged but tonight we'd just eaten dinner so we decided it was safer just to walk ;P

Plus, this girl is not a runner. I only know one pace - fast - so that doesn't work for running distances and I'm also terrified of falling over and scraping myself because I'm so clumsy. I like walking, it's way safer and much more enjoyable.

Yesterday we started our day with some shopping and a haircut for Jesse! We headed over to Alexandria Mall to look around and I got some presents for my family, two new plaid style shirts (because Jesse thought this one was cute) and some new shoes for both of us!

I needed a new pair of Skechers as I've been wearing my old ones for far too long (seriously like... 5+ years of exercise has been done in those shoes.... but they still feel as good as new!).

Unfortunately the style I had was super old so I went with a pair of GOWalks that were super comfy. I'm a white sneaker girl - unless they have straight pink or pink and white, I'll always look for white on white sneakers as they match every outfit and don't look boyish like black sneakers do. 

Jesse has been wanting Vibram Five Fingers for ages but we couldn't get any in Australia so when he saw this FILA toe shoes at Shoe Department for $30 he couldn't pass them up.

Now we've just got to get toe socks for him to go with them. I don't know if I could wear them personally... they're kind of ugly  (the vibrams are a bit cuter though!) but so far he thinks they're pretty comfy and is happily walking in them.

We both have dead flat feet so finding shoes to work for us can be tricky!

  

After shopping, Jesse said he was taking me "somewhere I'd never been before" which turned out to be the car wash.... 

Apparently he forgot last time we were in Louisiana we did the same thing because he treats his car (which is now his Mom's car) like it's a baby and needs to have it washed and cleaned and presentable. He just about died when he found out his Mom hadn't had it washed in over a year! ;P

Then Jesse and Josh were hungry so we headed to Outlaw's to get some lunch for them. Apparently Outlaw's is Louisiana's Most Wanted Barbecue and you could tell it was a barbecue place as soon as you walked in the door. 

It had that smokey, bacon-y, barbecue-y smell that Southern barbecues are known for. 

The boys went for a Sheriff Burger with Fries and Jesse quickly remembered just how much bigger US portions are to portions at home as he wasn't sure how he'd make it through... 

Especially when the "Onion Loaf" side order came out. Jesse thought it might have been a single "blooming onion" (ie: deep fried onion) but instead it was a MASSIVE loaf tin (from the looks of it) that had been filled with battered onions and deep fried. 

The boys maybe ate 3 pieces each and the server gave us a to-go box to put the rest in which is now sitting in the refrigerator untouched. The grossest part? As Jesse put the onion loaf into the to-go box we saw the swimming pool of grease that was sitting underneath it. 

Jesse's eating habits have definitely changed as we left the restaurant with him saying "I think I'm only going to order just a burger if we go to a place like this again...." and then him asking me if I could make him a salad for dinner ;P 

 

 The rest of our night was spent with me being stickered whilst reading books and entertaining our nieces as Jesse and Josh were playing video games together (and being schooled by our oldest nieces who were pro's at the game and telling them how to play).

For the last week, I've been getting a new sticker collection every half hour - I find them on my arms, my shoulders, my back, my knees, our bed - everywhere. I've been Dora-fied, Hello Kitty covered, Disney Princess-ed and smothered with puppies.

It's also really odd reading American children's books as they have different sayings that our children's books don't have. Today I was reading one that said "We are fixing the pizza" instead of we are making the pizza so that was definitely a Southern translation ;)

This morning we hit the road to go to church. We joined Jesse's Pawpaw Buddy and Dad Hondo* at their church which we got to by going through the Kisatchie National Forest (where Jesse proposed!)

*Someone asked me if Jesse's Dad's name was really Hondo so I thought I should let you know its actually Alejandro/Alexander but no one calls him that :P

The church was a baptist church and it was very different to what we're used to at home. The service started with a little girl singing God Bless America and included speaking in tongues, a singing preacher, a full choir, ambient music played on the piano whilst the preacher talked (and the music got softer/louder as he got more or less dramatic - just like in a movie) and the whole service is broadcast on a local tv station so you can watch it from home.

But after church we needed to get some groceries so we headed to Walmart. Australian friends, if you're wondering why I said I was so overwhelmed shopping in US grocery stores after our 30+ hour traveling ordeal this is why. That's just the bread aisle... don't get me started on how many options there are for plain yogurt ;P

Everything is super-sized too. Here's Jesse and my idea of heaven - for him, a giaaaaant bottle of Sweet Baby Rays and for me, a huge tin of peanut butter that was bigger than my head.

And to finish things off, here's Jesse posing with Goldfish crackers... don't ask me why... I just took a picture like he asked me too :P 

But tell me, what's one food you'd like super-sized?

And what was your favourite book when you were a child?

I loved Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl books but Disney books were my favourite!