Mud Bugs

Saturday Travis and I celebrated our 5 Year Anniversary together. We went to Ariel's in the morning so Aiden could go down for his nap there. I was hoping he would sleep longer than he did. He woke up before we had to leave for the movie, but he did well with us leaving him. We went straight to the theater and watched The Hangover 2. It was the same concept as the first movie, but it did not disappoint. There were a few fairly disturbing parts, but all in all it was hilarious.

After the movie, we stopped for dinner at a Greek restaurant I haven't been to in a while. That really hit the spot. We managed to get back to pick up Aiden and have him in bed on time.

Sunday morning was similar to Saturday. Travis went to Home Depot to pick up some tools he needs for the new job. Aiden and I got up and hung out for a bit and ate breakfast. When Travis got back we headed to Ariel's before Aiden nap time.

One of our mutual friends is currently attending Texas A&M and he's in the corps. Part of being in the Maritime Academy is going on a summer cruise in the battleship-like boat. I actually don't know which boat they are going on specifically, but he is going to some pretty amazing places. If I didn't worry about being seasick, I would be more jealous of him. Ariel and Robert threw a bon voyage crawfish boil at their house Sunday afternoon.

One of Ariel's other friends just had a baby three weeks ago. Her name is Jodie Reef (hippie name - ha!) and she is SO tiny. I remember when Aiden was just a little frog like that. =}

We have been to many cookouts at Ariel and Robert's house in the past two years. This was the first one I thoroughly enjoyed because Aiden was able to entertain himself so well. It was always difficult in the past because there is usually only one other kid at their parties for Aiden to play with. He's also easier to play with now, so several of the other adults took time to hang out with him.



We introduced Aiden to crustaceans. He got to hold a crawfish and "pet" a crab! He was a little weary of the crawfish at first, but then we had to hold him back because he kept reaching in to play with them.



Aiden ate a good amount of crawfish from the first batch. The first batch is usually the least spicy because there isn't as much crawfish boil in the water yet. He really seemed to like it. He kept saying, "More? More?" The ladies next to me at the table helped peel some crawfish for him.

Allison (pictured on the right), is expecting a baby girl in a few months. Ariel and her took some time to dote over the baby so mom could eat a little and play a game of bags.

Saturday evening, Ariel went with a friend to catch blue crabs to boil as well. She caught at least 30!

It has been a long time since I've eaten blue crab. The last time I did, it was with Travis for an anniversary dinner at home. Travis caught the crabs himself and then we attempted a mini-boil at home on the stove. We turned down the lights and lit some candles for our romantic dinner. I took a few bites of the crab to find it was really mushy. I felt horrible, but I did not want to eat it, so I asked Travis if his was mushy as well. He said yes, so we turned up the lights to see if it was under or over cooked. Turns out we were eating the gills. The meat itself was fine, but I was so grossed out that I didn't want to have anything more to do with the crabs.

This time, I got a refresher course on how to properly open the crab so you can get to the meat the easiest. It was delicious!