Spring--we hardly knew ye...

Hardly seems possible it has been two months since my last post...  That one had a spring-time theme, as March was focused on activities of that time.  I'll start this blog posting with another that feels like spring--First Communion at St. Marks in Monticello.  Here, Hope poses with some of this year's First Communion students, who she had had earlier as students in religious education class.

We also had an opportunity to visit New Orleans as a family while I had a business trip there...The picture above is NOT at New Orleans, but rather a few hours north in Louisiana at the headquarters of the Kistachie National Forest, for where I have some of my unit's staff stationed.  As you can tell, the kids were THRILLED to be posing with Smoky the Bear!

While I was doing my talk at a scientific meeting near downtown New Orleans, Hope and the kids explored parts of the area, including a pretty neat bug-themed museum and "zoo" run by the Audubon Society.  The display of a beetle above is composed of individual beetles...they got to see--and sample (ask Kenny)--a lot of other bugs there, too.

We also had a number of neat dining experiences on this trip, from some great Cajun food at Prajeans about an hour from New Orleans to beignets in the French Quarter (think a donut covered in way too much powdered sugar) to the kid's first experience with Korean BBQ (pictured above; we are grilling strip of meat on a heated grill).

We also went to mass at the cathedral pictured above, which was very ornamental on the inside:

Painted ceiling above; altar area below:

Shortly after we returned from New Orleans, I traveled to Fort Smith in western Arkansas for the Arkansas Historical Association's annual meeting.  Fort Smith is a smallish city (less than 100,000 people) trying to redefine itself as an arts and cultural hub on the border with Oklahoma.  Since the last time I was in the downtown Fort Smith area, they've added some interesting wall art:

These are two of a dozen or more paintings/sculptures with abstract themes in the downtown area.  There are also a number of more traditional monuments, mostly related to the national historic park in the downtown area:

The bronze sculpture above is of Bass Reaves, an African-American marshal who helped keep law and order in nearby Indian Territory before it became the state of Oklahoma.  I also helped teach parts of a silviculture training course for Forest Service employees.  Hope had the cookies made (below) for a cookout we did during one of those days:

The cookies were made by a friend of hers, and look very much like my agency's "pine tree" shield logo.  The kids were busy, too, with end of school year activities, such as band concerts and award ceremonies, including Kenny's induction into the National Beta Club (an honor and service society):

Beth also played in a concert (that's her in the middle):

Stephen is not in band, yet, but all of the kids were in award ceremonies for their academic performances this year.  Kenny and Stephen also had a number of scouting activities, including going to a minor league baseball game in Little Rock with their neighbor buddy Cole Nash (in hat between Kenny and Stephen):

In addition to attending the game, the scouts got to camp overnight that night on the ball field! 

The next day, Kenny went to a scouting activity in Little Rock to earn merit badges while Cole joined the rest of Bragg Family South in touring the downtown area.  Below, Cole plays Stephen in checkers at the Historic Arkansas Museum:

We also rode the trolley around the downtown Little Rock area waiting for lunch (I'm not sure what was said to get those expressions from Beth and Stephen):

I brought these three kids back to Monticello after lunch and some shopping; Kenny and Hope returned later that day.  The next day we drove back to Little Rock to watch the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra play the music for one of our favorite movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark:

Below, Kenny spent quite a while listening to the tales of a 4-year-old sister of one of his friends after the local scout troop had help set up the American flags on the Monticello downtown square for Memorial Day:

The older scouts also helped the younger ones with their rain gutter regatta:

 

 (note:  "rain gutters" in name only!). More recently, I made another business trip; this one to the Mississippi Gulf Coast (Biloxi area) for a meeting.  While there, I took the picture below of a historic plantation home with a bunch of old, spreading live oaks--a classic southern scene!

Hard to believe summer is here already, but we've had day after day of 90+ degrees, with no end in sight!