We are just getting ready to go to bed; we just got in to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana about 2 hours ago, and we are all settled in our rooms, ready to call it a night. We drove about 12 hours from our home back in Nashville, Tennessee, meaning me, my husband, and our children (all 46 of them!).
WHATTATRIP!!! Mass confusion and mass excitement all around!
It is NOT easy traveling with such a large group of people....
We are at the Red Roof Inn, ready to call it a night. For tomorrow starts our BIG adventure at the annual Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival....
Bon Soir, y'all....
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Day Two:
We are at the one music pavillion, waiting for the scheduled entertainment to begin, a day that promises MUCH in the way of Cajun music, and MUCH in the way of dancing...we are awaiting for the first band, "Cajun Spice", to take to the stage.
The first band is one of the ones we really want to see, for the leader of the band so happens to be my husband's and my 9-year-old daughter, Ronee', who is showcasing her brand new band for the first time; so, naturally, we are all quite excited. Ronee' is a talented little Cajun vocalist and musician, and she has performed at several Cajun festivals in the past; but this is the first one where she has had her own band backing her up. We all hope they do well; and from what we had heard backstage earlier, it sounds as if Ronee' has picked a bunch of winners with these kid musicians! (The musicians range in age from 10 on up to 16.)
We also came to the Crawfish Festival to see groups like BeauSoleil, Sheryl Cormier and The Cajun Sounds, Hunter Hayes and Louisiana HOT!, and others; they are ALL terrific, and they ALL know how to work a crowd and get them onto their feet and dancing in the aisles!
Maybe Bill and I will be among those dancing, even though we are BOTH disabled..still, it IS fun, dancing to the Cajun music!!..
As promised, the bands delivered TERRIFIC Cajun music, and Ronee' ROCKED the crowd!! She was really having a BLAST performing on stage!! And Johnny even got into the act: Ronee' invited him onto the stage for a song, and he and Ronee' played a SIZZLING rendition of "Jambalaya" on twin Cajun accordions. After their duet, the audience screamed its approval, and Johnny was the enchanting little ham; he ate it all up, and he sported a silly little grin on his face the entire time!! Meanwhile, Ronee' rolled her dark eyes, but she was enjoying herself, too, you could easily tell!
And the other bands were no less stellar, especially BeauSoleil. They were OUT OF THIS WORLD!! (I happen to be a BIG BeauSoleil fan!!!) Bill and I both danced our legs off the entire time BeauSoleil was on stage, and now our poor achy bodies are BEGGING for mercy!! Maybe we shouldn't have overdone it, especially since we BOTH have degenerative arthritis and bad backs...
Between bands and between dancing, Bill, I, and the kids ALL porked out on crawfish until our bellies hung to our knees (not really, but we WERE rather miserable...). The kids were having fun dancing to the music and eating and riding the rides and playing the games; they were beside themselves with joy. They were having fun; to them, that was all that mattered. They were just being typical kids.
And Bill and I were both being typical parents, enjoying the camraderie of family and food and fun in such a special way.
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Day Three:
The last day. We had missed the first day of the festival, due to our long journey from Tennessee to Louisiana, but yesterday sure made up for it. We hadn't missed but one day's worth of food, fun, and music, and today, we did it all over again (except today, Ronee' didn't perform; she was now a typical festival goer who rode the rides, ate her share of boiled crawfish, and danced to the music on her crutches, having an absolute blast!). We ate more in the way of boiled crawfish (I sure am surprised there's any left, what with OUR ARMY!!), and we listened to the likes of Geno Delafose, Jo-El Sonnier, Don Montoucet, Don Fontenot, and others. We also went to the crawfish races, where our teenaged daughter, Barbara, had a crawfish entered, and that was really exciting; but she lost; but that was okay. It was still fun rooting for her and her "racing mudbug"! We sure made more than our share of noise; we were quite the rooting section!!
Those little mudbugs were like little cheetahs, they were so fast!
Afterwards, we listened to more in the way of Cajun music, and then, by 6, we packed up and headed to our hotel, where we all went to bed, exhausted, but incredibly happy. It was another successful Crawfish Festival Adventure.
CAN'T WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR!!!!
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Author's Note:
I have been lucky enough to have BEEN to the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival (back in May of 1992, ten years ago!!). It was SUPER!! I sure would LOVE to go back there; I miss those delicious mudbugs, and I REALLY miss all that GREAT CAJUN MUSIC!!!! :)
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